After This

In linked vignettes, we follow the Keane family from Mary and John meeting after World War 2 to the children growing up and experiencing Vietnam and the beginnings of the sexual revolution.

This was a quiet sort of story that I spent most of the book not sure if I really liked it or not. The format gives a sort of distance from characters and events - we're given a very domestic scene with most of the emphasis on the experiences of the women of the family and though there are some snapshots of the boys, large experiences such as Vietnam are told more from the perspective of those left behind. There was more general commentary on changes in family life, religious outlook, "the calm before the storm" as one of my book club participants show more called it. This isn't a particular family with characters you want to know, this is your average Catholic family on Long Island, and the author leaves it up to the reader to fill in the blanks, perhaps from his or her own experiences. It's not a book I'd make a point of rereading, but McDermott can certainly write some lovely sentences and creates some memorable images, so I would try another book by her. show less

I loved Child of My Heart by Alice McDermott so I had high hopes for this book. McDermott writes beautifully and it's because of this that I saw this book through to its end. The first half was so slow and dull that I nearly gave up on it. I kept thinking that it would get better with the next chapter. It did, but only marginally so. The story's pace picked up and the story became more interesting, but I felt as though it was unfolding from a great distance to which I could never quite get close enough. I'm not really sure what the point of the story is or why certain bits were revealed or why they came to light when they did. Not everything needs to add up in order for me to appreciate a book but they need to not leave me puzzling over show more all that just didn't make sense, as was the case with After This. show less

'After This' follows the life of a middle-class couple, the Keanes, as they struggle to raise their children amidst the backdrop of Vietnam and sixties-era America. McDermott, a proponent of the 'Speak quietly but carry a big stick' school of writing, eloquently offers a tale of the Keanes' progression from marriage, to children, to marriage once again. McDermott writes in a spare, but lyrical and musical style, and understatement is the key - the most powerful moments in the novel are left to the reader's imagination, rather than stated explicitly. This results in a novel that's subtly affecting rather than overpowering. No tour-de-force, torrential maestrom, but rather, a gentle mist and very affecting in its own way. Definitely show more recommend. show less

AFTER THIS was a most enjoyable read. I don't think I'd ever read any Alice McDermott before, but this one has certainly piqued my curiosity. An old-fashioned kind of story about a normal Catholic family on Long Island that covers nearly four decades, beginning in the post-war years when thirty year-old Mary, who has nearly lost hope of marriage, meets John, a handsome veteran. They marry and have four children, and we watch those children grow up, progressing through Catholic schools and how they all change as they live through the tumultuous sixties and beyond. I was reminded of a couple old TV shows we used to watch, like FAMILY, or that one about the Philadelphia family with the dad who ran a TV sales and repair shop and the show more daughter who wanted to be on American Bandstand - ah, Britanny Snow, on AMERICAN DREAMS, that was it. The show that was canceled in mid-story, when the girl rode off on the back of a motorcycle with her ne'er-do-well boyfriend. And the brother who went off to Vietnam. That was the one. Only in McDermott's story we kinda get to see how the story ended, sort of. There's a son who goes off to Nam in this one too. And another son and two daughters. But hey, AFTER THIS is just damn good story-telling. You have to read the book. It's really good. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less

i really love the way she writes. i am not sure that i love this book or what she's doing, but i almost didn't notice that until i was near the end, because of the way she puts words on the page. i think if she were to write a book with a plot or characters that i could really relate to, that i would absolutely love it. (as far as this one goes, i'm not sure the characters are as fully developed as i'd like, and certainly i didn't care much about any of them or what happened to them. it was told as an overview, as well, without much of the detail about how incidents in a life are dealt with or handled; it's almost a cold appraisal of living. the details given aren't important, and the ones missing are crucial. so from that perspective, show more i'd have preferred she had written this differently. but the way she wrote it? stellar. and alone enough for 3.25 stars.) show less

All in all, I really liked this book. The slow, languid pace somehow fits the story perfectly. My one complaint is that the story treats time almost like a stone skipping over water. At the end of one chapter, two people meet each other, and at the beginning of the next, they are married with three children and a fourth on the way. Then, suddenly, we are another 5 years or so in the future (references to WWII and the Vietnam War anchor the story generationally, but there's very little to give solid reference points as to how much time has passed from one point in the story to another). I understand that all the day-to-day details of family life are not the point of this book, but I did find it more satisfying when McDermott allowed us show more deeper into the lives of the Keane family rather than just skimming the surface. show less

“A lot of lessons, but it seems I’ve always known how to play”, responded the young pianist to the family’s priest. “It’s a gift, then,” the priest said. Such is the story of the Mary and John Keane family. Daily events in their lives were being repeated in many families in the 50s and 60s. Author Alice McDermott deftly builds dimension into each character of the Keane family. Like the symbolism that one can pull from the story one can also determine how an attribute or action more fully defines the character.

Four children in the John and Mary Keane family make the way to adulthood in the post-war working class world of Long Island. Jacob, the oldest, on the day he was to leave for Viet Nam, picked up Clare, his youngest show more sibling, from her elementary school to drive through their community. Perhaps to establish points of interest in his life for her to remember in case he didn’t return; to anchor his life within hers, to be remembered? “...it was, perhaps, the first memory in which she saw him distinctly, on his own, apart from their house and their family, separate.”

Michael, younger than Jacob but the headstrong and the more outgoing of the two boys, could be the first to use his fists, and he knew what buttons to push to rile his brother. Michael could feel tenderness, thinking, he would have saved Jacob from whatever it was he had felt when he asked Lori Ballinger to the Prom and she said, “No I can’t”. Michael took Lori to the Prom.
Michael could easily look in disgust at a discarded cadaver in the bar alley and continue on his way to bed with his bar pickup. Michael’s actions and his thoughts didn’t necessarily intertwine.

“...it was intolerable. Catherine dead and their baby dead. Intolerable and terrible...(there in the softly lit waiting room of the abortion clinic) that despite war and death and pain, ‘life was lovely, rich with small gifts and a nice hotel, a fine meal, love.” Annie had accompanied her friend to the clinic and found the threads of life.

Rebuilding families and neighborhoods; reconciling new sexual freedom with Church teachings and social mores: finding one’s footing on the Viet Nam War; and dealing with the tensions of social transitions, faith and religion -amazingly, John and Mary have been able to pull their family through; not unscathed, but with heart for others and trust and reliance for each other. The Keane family extended their arms to include (with varying tensions) Pauline, Mary’s lifelong friend. Forever the spinster with words for any occasion, Pauline’s life experiences came through Mary Keane and then her children. And there was always room enough, after this...

McDermott’s writing flows, not only in writing style, but as neatly as any 8mm home film capturing a family’s life during the 50s and 60s. I knew families like the Keane family. It wasn’t mine, but I depended on them when I was growing up.
sh1/9/12 show less