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After: A Novel
After is a stunning debut about an intense erotic affair that takes place over one twenty-four hour period.
The woman is unnamed. The time is unspecified. The place is a motel somewhere in California. She is a widow, and it has been one year since her husband's death at the hands of Muslim extremists. She has decided, on the basis of a chance encounter, to take a Muslim lover. He is courtly, solicitous, understanding, and understandably nervous. He is married and has two daughters. She has had no lover since her husband's death.
Their graphically recounted affair is passionate and disturbing, and it veers into violence. How can desire so quickly transmogrify into hate? How does prejudice contaminate belief? Can grief ever be expunged? Can we purify ourselves of our pasts, redeem ourselves for the future, or are we consigned to a vicious cycle of recrimination and revenge?
A mesmerizing work of fiction that has the commercial appeal of Josephine Hart's Damage but which displays the cool control of Jim Crace and Michael Ondaatje, After is a riveting story of universal appeal, a timeless tale for the way we live now.
The woman is unnamed. The time is unspecified. The place is a motel somewhere in California. She is a widow, and it has been one year since her husband's death at the hands of Muslim extremists. She has decided, on the basis of a chance encounter, to take a Muslim lover. He is courtly, solicitous, understanding, and understandably nervous. He is married and has two daughters. She has had no lover since her husband's death.
Their graphically recounted affair is passionate and disturbing, and it veers into violence. How can desire so quickly transmogrify into hate? How does prejudice contaminate belief? Can grief ever be expunged? Can we purify ourselves of our pasts, redeem ourselves for the future, or are we consigned to a vicious cycle of recrimination and revenge?
A mesmerizing work of fiction that has the commercial appeal of Josephine Hart's Damage but which displays the cool control of Jim Crace and Michael Ondaatje, After is a riveting story of universal appeal, a timeless tale for the way we live now.
- GenresFiction
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
February 7, 2017
An unnamed woman, struggling to move past her husband's murder, decides to have sex with someone who shares the background of the terrorists responsible for her grief. She seeks out a Muslim man and lures him to an isolated hotel room. Most of the novel takes place on a very limited stage.
So is it a revenge fantasy? A twisted erotic romance? I think in colder hands it could have been either of those things, but this novel is something else. The woman is not actually sure what she wants. Maybe it is to feel something after the numbness of grief, and in private, since so much of her grieving has been in the public eye. And in the space that she leaves with her uncertainty, there is this man, who knows who she is and has come willingly to the hotel.
The man is not a terrorist. He is not even the same nationality as the men who killed her husband. He has a wife, children, a life. She witnesses him endure blatant aggressive racism. It doesn't necessarily take her as far as empathy but it does shift the perspective and opens the connection to the outside world.
The novel does contain a healthy dose of discomfort for the reader. The use of another person for their religion or race is troubling (but we are supposed to be troubled); the sex is explicit but not tender. I always say that a good sex scene shows us something about the characters, and in After, the changing dynamics and emotions, even the thoughts that arise during the act, are the core of the internal journeys of both the man and woman.
I like how the author sometimes shifted perspective from the woman to the man, sometimes repeating parts of a scene. It allowed a greater understanding of both and also made time move more slowly, something I was grateful for in such a brief novel.
So is it a revenge fantasy? A twisted erotic romance? I think in colder hands it could have been either of those things, but this novel is something else. The woman is not actually sure what she wants. Maybe it is to feel something after the numbness of grief, and in private, since so much of her grieving has been in the public eye. And in the space that she leaves with her uncertainty, there is this man, who knows who she is and has come willingly to the hotel.
The man is not a terrorist. He is not even the same nationality as the men who killed her husband. He has a wife, children, a life. She witnesses him endure blatant aggressive racism. It doesn't necessarily take her as far as empathy but it does shift the perspective and opens the connection to the outside world.
The novel does contain a healthy dose of discomfort for the reader. The use of another person for their religion or race is troubling (but we are supposed to be troubled); the sex is explicit but not tender. I always say that a good sex scene shows us something about the characters, and in After, the changing dynamics and emotions, even the thoughts that arise during the act, are the core of the internal journeys of both the man and woman.
I like how the author sometimes shifted perspective from the woman to the man, sometimes repeating parts of a scene. It allowed a greater understanding of both and also made time move more slowly, something I was grateful for in such a brief novel.
June 18, 2010
Difficult to read. Neither main character seemed to have any redeeming qualities, and the tone was mean-spirited. That may have been the point, but I found myself, upon seeing the book on the night stand, not wanting to put myself through the journey.
March 9, 2008
Wretched.
June 23, 2011
I will be the first to admit that I didn't get the point of this book. To show how damaged a person can become when s/he fixates on one particular, mad goal? If so it had a funny way to go about doing it. I did give this book a 2 instead of a 1 because some of the language used in the book actually is quite beautiful. I admit that I thought about stopping partway through multiple times, but it really is such a quick read that I felt I should keep plodding through. Certainly not the worst read and I would still read some of the author's other works given her skilled use of language, but I can't say I recommend this one. Maybe I just don't get it.
August 6, 2008
Too painful.
March 7, 2016
Erotica must have some basis of intimacy; if it doesn't, then it slides quickly into the pornographic and the beastly. So this brief novel seemed flawed from the beginning because the widow (never named in the story) beds a ( secular) Muslim husband (also never named) in a hotel in California over the span of one night. What kind of intimacy can be achieved with a one-night-stand between two-unnamed individuals sharing passions but not much else?
I think Tristram attempted some kind psychological/existential thought problem in this charade because the widow's husband had been killed in a terrorist's attack. It becomes some kind of psychical exoneration for the woman to receive this man--albeit loosely associated with the Muslims (maybe through six degrees of separation--if not, then it is fundamentally stereotypical). For him, of course, it is merely sex on the side.
Maybe I am working too hard here and should just read it as a fantasy. But, if so, why would I want to read about a fantasy that leaves me feeling more empty than when I began reading it? Therefore, I am going to go with it being some kind of existential tract on the fruitlessness of an empathetic connection predicated merely on physical pulse and impulse and hope for the best.
Extra credit question: Can an existentialist ever "hope for the best"?
I think Tristram attempted some kind psychological/existential thought problem in this charade because the widow's husband had been killed in a terrorist's attack. It becomes some kind of psychical exoneration for the woman to receive this man--albeit loosely associated with the Muslims (maybe through six degrees of separation--if not, then it is fundamentally stereotypical). For him, of course, it is merely sex on the side.
Maybe I am working too hard here and should just read it as a fantasy. But, if so, why would I want to read about a fantasy that leaves me feeling more empty than when I began reading it? Therefore, I am going to go with it being some kind of existential tract on the fruitlessness of an empathetic connection predicated merely on physical pulse and impulse and hope for the best.
Extra credit question: Can an existentialist ever "hope for the best"?
July 6, 2021
Delusione per un romanzo che poteva essere e che è rimasto in una zona d'ombra confusa e indefinita.
January 5, 2023
Not my cup of tea
February 2, 2023
Something in the back of my mind is linking this novel loosely in conversation with Camus's The Stranger, but I'm not sure I can fully articulate this... It's more like glimmers and and hinted connections (a beach, a character defined as an "other," power dynamics, death/revenge, muted emotion). The story revolves around an affair but sex becomes a sort of unknown field for working through grief, desire, possibly revenge, and identity to a certain extent. Arranged as an overnight hotel stay by the beach, this tryst takes rough and unexpected turns as the grieving un-named widow who arranged it attempts to move on after the death of her husband (by bedding a man of the same nationality as her husband's killers). Transgression (culturally and sexually) seems to be her means of regaining some sense of self and feeling, even if that emotion begins with pain. Race/racism complicates the dynamic, alternating perspectives between each lover add layers, and shifting roles reveal how the body and mind may want different things. There's a pervasive enigmatic feel to the prose and a psychologic complexity that implicates the reader in this field of revulsion/attraction.
May 30, 2026
Niet mijn boek. Het mag misschien een 'literair' boek zijn, de samenhang, de personages, het plot.. alles was onlogisch en onsamenhangend in mijn ogen.
August 20, 2019
This novel is a wonderful reissue, exquisite to read at times and almost too brutal to read at others. It's a stark yet passionate novel that seamlessly flows between dispassionate observation and romantic perception ("her stillness was a kind of winter to him, not unkind, but unfeeling nonetheless"). This combination creates tension in the reader that is emotional rather than psychological. The grief in the novel is palpable; it echoes in every line, but Tristram is not without ironic humour, as, for example, she juxtaposes what is in the narrator's mind with the reality of her husband's thoughts. Her straight-forward description underlies this reality - making it almost melodramatic at times ("Your comment precipitated an argument") .
By the half-way mark, however, it is quite clear what will happen and the writing remains straight-forward in style, without the earlier shifts that created complexity at the beginning, and the projected plot is apparent. As a result, the suspense is lightened. Many questions remain unanswered, such as the "why" of The Muslim's passivity, the "how" of The Widow's seduction of him, and her possible madness.
Madness, marriage, connection, identity, and misogyny, as well as the issues of racism and revenge are all touched on in this thought-provoking novel. It is well worth the read, difficult as it may be at times.
By the half-way mark, however, it is quite clear what will happen and the writing remains straight-forward in style, without the earlier shifts that created complexity at the beginning, and the projected plot is apparent. As a result, the suspense is lightened. Many questions remain unanswered, such as the "why" of The Muslim's passivity, the "how" of The Widow's seduction of him, and her possible madness.
Madness, marriage, connection, identity, and misogyny, as well as the issues of racism and revenge are all touched on in this thought-provoking novel. It is well worth the read, difficult as it may be at times.
July 20, 2012
Una donna perde il marito nel tragico 11 settembre, restando sola con il suo dolore. Esattamente dopo un anno decide di incontrare un uomo mussulmano in un albergo, con il quale ha deciso di dividere la propria intimità per due giorni.
Durante l'incontro continua a pensare al marito, al sesso asettico, pudico, che stranamente c'era tra due esseri così uniti; provando addirittura disgusto e distacco nei confronti dell'amante.
Dopo un'isolita cena i ruoli dei due si scambiano; la donna canalizzaerà la rabbia sul corpo passivo ed inerme dell'amante, facendogli male, sodimizzandolo e traendone un inaspettato piacere.
- Chissà se ami tua moglie quanto io amavo mio marito. -
- Non lo so. -
- Lo amavo moltissimo, sai. Ma se n'è andato e adesso che sono con te me lo ricordo a malapena. -
- Non è un bene? - azzardò lui. - Andare avanti? -
- No, non è un bene - fece lei. - E' un male. E' una cosa crudele. E inutile. E' incredibile quanto possa essere inutile fare l'amore. -
August 28, 2012
Also ich fand das Buch nicht gut!
Es geht um eine Witwe, deren Mann von islamistischen Extremisten umgebracht wurde. Daraufhin trifft sie sich über das Wochenende mit einem Moslem, um ihrer eigenen aussage nach "mit dem Feind zu schlafen" ...
alles schön und gut...aber was bringt es ihr? Man erfährt das ganze Buch über nichts darüber, außer das sie eine Erklärung für den Tod ihres Mannes sucht.
169 Seiten die im Prinzip nur einen Tag beschreiben...es ist meiner Meinung nach viel zu viel Gerede um nichts!
Und was soll das, dass die beiden die sich treffen nach 1 Tag gegenseitig behaupten sich zu lieben und sich gegenseitig wichtig sind?
Naja ich kann diesem Buch leider nichts abgewinnen und kann es auch nicht weiterempfehlen.
Es geht um eine Witwe, deren Mann von islamistischen Extremisten umgebracht wurde. Daraufhin trifft sie sich über das Wochenende mit einem Moslem, um ihrer eigenen aussage nach "mit dem Feind zu schlafen" ...
alles schön und gut...aber was bringt es ihr? Man erfährt das ganze Buch über nichts darüber, außer das sie eine Erklärung für den Tod ihres Mannes sucht.
169 Seiten die im Prinzip nur einen Tag beschreiben...es ist meiner Meinung nach viel zu viel Gerede um nichts!
Und was soll das, dass die beiden die sich treffen nach 1 Tag gegenseitig behaupten sich zu lieben und sich gegenseitig wichtig sind?
Naja ich kann diesem Buch leider nichts abgewinnen und kann es auch nicht weiterempfehlen.
March 19, 2009
Interesting premise. The main character is a widow due to a terrorist act. To find some closure she searches and finds herself a Muslim lover. The writer's pace is very similar to Duras' writing; it is soft and harsh and yet very underground leaving a lot for the reader to fill in and extrapolate from the sparse writing.
It shows the strange paths one's mind can take after such a devastating event. After grief counseling and other means fail. Everyone handles things differently and this path is a great course in its attempt to reach out to the "other" side to find some understanding.
It shows the strange paths one's mind can take after such a devastating event. After grief counseling and other means fail. Everyone handles things differently and this path is a great course in its attempt to reach out to the "other" side to find some understanding.
October 2, 2011
An odd little book but incredibly intriguing. It is about one weekend between two strangers in which the goal is to have an affair. Much is left unsaid, lives are exposed and disturbed, and only half of the story is told. A clever look at an unsatisfactory tryst which leaves you wondering just how fragile we all are and just what the heck the point is in all of it.
April 2, 2015
This was an elegant, powerful read that felt peerless and bold even as it spoke quietly about the grief and rage that two people feel and find in one another. I finished it in about a day, swept away by it's power and it's grasp of life and love. It's by no means an easy read, but the melancholy I felt upon finishing was a rare and lovely feeling.
July 21, 2011
Sex and torture. The Persian man enters a sexual relationship with a very complicated woman. He finds that he likes bondage, she finds her mental health returning after giving a "terrorist" a good thrashing and sodomising.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 13, 2008
Absolutely remarkable. I highly recommend it.
July 11, 2012
Beautifully written, very depressing book. It didn't do as well as it should because the author accurately predicted the behavior of the country as terrorism and anti-terrorism amp up the crazy.
August 22, 2015
Worth a read. Moving on from a tragic event is hard and this book shows how two different individuals dealt with grief. It is extreme but the extremity of it is what kept me reading.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews