Afterall

by Lee Kvern

At a dinner party, Beth thirty-six, single, and working as much overtime as she can get her hands on impulsively announces that she's going to spend a night on Vancouver's mean streets in commiseration of the homeless. Unexpectedly, her hosts' son Mason nine years old, small for his age, intense, intellectual and so shy he can't speak in company whispers in his mother's ear that he wants to go with her. Mason's parents, good limousine liberals that they are, reluctantly allow him to go. Disaster, of course, ensues. So begins this fast-paced, tightly wound, funny and quirky first novel from a fresh new voice in Canadian fiction. Follow Beth, well-meaning but ultimately misguided, through one night on the streets as she frantically searches for the boy she has lost, ruminates on the shopping cart as a status symbol, loses her shoes, meets a writer, knocks herself out cold, discovers romaine lettuce as a hair accessory, and maybe just maybe falls in love after all.

Genres: Fiction

Hardcover

First published February 5, 2005

Reviews

[Vina · Rating 5 out of 5]

After I read the first page, I ended up finishing the book in one sitting. This novella is hilarious! And earnest and cleverly reveals all the stereotypes held against homeless people through a lens that doesn't feel forced or preachy. Lee found a way into this story that works and it's ridiculous and honest. I still think about it.

[Fran]

Both funny and poignant.