Anyone read "After You'd Gone" by Maggie O Farrell?

[bintofbohemia]

If so, which way do you think it went at the end? I've just finished it and am still wondering whether she pulled through. I suppose ultimately it isn't the point, but still...

i read it as she dies,all left hanging.i need to revisit again

An amazing book. Unfortunately I don't think Maggie O'Farrell ever lived up to the promise of this book again :(

I thought it was blatantly obvious that the end is her coming back to life in response to FIL's voice? At any rate, MO'F herself seems to have cleared up the confusion!

blatantly obvious? lol,perhaps just not to me

I got the impression she was dead or not going to recover - but it was a long time ago that I read it - if she was coming back to life, then it was very, very ambiguous . I thought The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox was as good Bue but remember being very underwhelmed by My Lover's Lover (is that the right title?).

scottishmummy, it never even crossed my mind that she hadn't survived. As I said the other day, I read it as her FIL's name being the thing she's hearing as she comes round.

I didn't know people thought it read the other way.

is left hanging a big ambiguous imo.ethereal quality.but hey i guess MO'F is the definitive source

I didn't like My Lover's Lover as much as the others. It seemed a bit far-fetched. TVAoEL is very good. The Distance Between Us was different to the others but I enjoyed it a lot.

She has a new one out I think but I'll wait for the paperback.

only read AYG and my lovers lover.both good

Wasn't it blatantly obvious? I might have to go back and re-read because I was sure it was! Well I never had any doubt at least

Maybe I'll have to give Esme Lennox a chance. I tried My Lover's Lover next, then The Distance Between Us and I didn't really enjoy either.

its on my bedside table i shall peruse with new vigour

"then I realise that all this time I am beign carried forwards, or up, and I'm not sure this is what I want and I'm panicking now, unsure if I shoudl be trying to tread wateror swim back down against this force, but it seems there's nothing I can do, my head rushing rushing towards some surface I didn't know was there or that I'd forgotten was there, and I'm gasping now, my lungs tight and airless, strings of bubbles streaming from my mouth like pearls."

Now to be honest, I think that's quite ambiguous. It depends on whether being carried up/forwards is back to consciousness, or onwards to another plane/death. And her lungs being tight and airless I didn't think was a very promising sign for her.

genuinely read it as she died.to me wasnt clear cut at all.took it to mean physically slipping away

I completely read it as she was being forced back to consciousness and didn't know if she wanted to. She had tried to commit suicide after all.

I also found myself weeping, I did think she lived because she was in the hospital and felt that she was in some way accepted by her Jewish father in law (who had resolutely ignored her existence throughout her husband's life).

I also read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox - which I found less affecting and more angering. Especially when the heroine found out whose daughter she actually was! That sort of thing really happened - it was called moral degeneracy (I think). It made me furious - especially as some of these women were still incarcerated in our lifetimes.

should get o'farrell on for webchat

Just read through the thread. I actually liked the journey of discovery in My Lover's Lover - I found it interesting that she rather lost interest in her 'partner' and became obsessed with (was it Maggie?) It was almost as though her self-esteem was caught up entirely with comparing herself to another woman. I found myself recognising this in some other women I know. Or is that a crime against the sisterhood?

she links AYG in my lovers lover

I love all Maggie O'farrell's books. Didn't reread this one when I last read them all because I ball my eyes out at it. My memory is that she begins to recover? Or maybe my memory is fogged by time?

The hand that first held mine is her latest. Lovely reflection on motherhood.

I was nearly put off by the first few pages because the heroine is annoyingly feisty but I liked most of her other books so I read on. I think it's my favourite.

She's amazing. I read her latest (The Hand that First Held Mine) in hardback and want to re-read. Beautiful. The heroine, as EmmyVonN says, is a bit annoying at first, but hang in there. It's my favourite, too.

I just can't get into it. Did anyone else find that?

A dead thread - of course I want to reactivate it.

I read this ages ago and can't recall the MIL bit at all. Deep shame. But I have it on my shelf to re-read, and will see about the ambiguous ending - I felt it was clear that she died, now I am less sure of course. I liked the Edinburgh refs -wasn't it even North Berwick? A PLACE I LOVE.

Anyway, to answer the previous poster, I offered my copy to a friend who gave me it back after a week and said she hadn't got into it. So you are not alone clearly.

I agree with the poster above the funeral scene wasn't exactly Jewish - it was a cremation for starters, and she was given the ashes in an urn before she left the building, so that was a bit unrealistic. But on the whole I liked very much.

I read it ages ago and loved it.

I thought she lived but that as she was coming to she was frightened about coming back and in pain because of her injuries.

I don't remember the MIL bit. I'm going to have to reread it as well.

I liked My Lovers Lover as well. I think the names were Lily and Siobhan but I can't remember which was the ex and which was the new girlfriend.

I loved After You'd Gone, and more recently The Hand, loved Esme Lennox, but can't really remember My Lover's Lover at all. Other than being a bit underwhelmed. What's the other one called, about a girl in Edinburgh who runs away to a hotel in the Highlands? It's all a bit vague, the scenery has stuck with me most from that one!