Lead Review (The World After Alice)

• Book: The World After Alice
• Location: Maine
• Author: Lauren Aliza Green

Review Author: tripfiction

3.5*

In Elizabeth Cottage a host of disparate family and friends are gathering to celebrate the marriage of Morgan Hensley and Benji Weil. Theirs is a complex patchwork family that has seen its fair share of drama and upset, and on this glorious occasion surely the focus will be on the newlyweds.

Very early on we discover that Alice has died, she was Benji’s sister and Morgan’s friend. The shadow of the suicide of someone so young, with such potential, naturally casts its shadows over everyone who knew her. Benji’s parents have divorced and each brings their partner to the nuptials; Morgan’s parents don’t seem very available for her emotionally.

Benji and Morgan have kept everyone in the dark about their 3 year relationship, and thus the surprise wedding invitations cause more than a ripple of disquiet and antagonism. And of course the loss of Alice spreads a veil over the whole proceedings.

This is a novel of loss and unstable boundaries, of grief, tragedy and sadness, and of a family still in the throes of emotional upheaval. It is a character driven novel, with an intimately woven story and an adroit level of observation. I revelled in the exquisite descriptions of family life until there came a point when I felt a little overwhelmed by prose, and then the it all began to feel a little over-written and just too baroque, an overkill on the senses. The scene setting at times felt a little confusing and I did struggle to delineate the characters, weaving in and out as the narrative moved towards the ceremony.

This author, notwithstanding, is an excellent chronicler of family dynamics and is a very competent writer. Somehow, the prose just needed a little corralling for a smoother flow. There is talent here and I look forward to seeing what this author writes next.

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