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Afterworld
Meet four generations of the Duvalier family, for whom sugar cane is both their blessing and their curse. From patriarch Carter, the victim of an exploding manhole cover before our story begins, and his indomitable holy-roller wife Lily, to their dysfunctional sons Winston and Steven, and their equally screwed-up grandchildren, the Duvaliers - both dead and alive - would do anything to keep their secrets hidden. With their world blown apart by the winds of Katrina, the tangled lives of these unforgettable characters create a novel of unimaginable beauty, dark humor, and terrible tragedy. "Walden's proficiency with theater and libretto inform her prose. You can see the scenes on a mental stage, hear the harmonies and dissonant notes in the story's grand sweep of decades and generations and lifetimes."--Chronogram, May 5, 2014
245 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2012
2 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Lois Walden
3 booksLois Walden's acclaimed debut novel, ONE MORE STOP, is an Amazon Top Ten novel in Australia, is a Lesbian Best Seller in Foyle's UK and a Waterstone's UK pick as "Best New Voices." It is now available in her home, the U.S.A. Lois Walden has written book, music and lyrics for television, stage and radio, as well as videos and special material for a variety of performing artists and jazz instrumentalists including Dionne Warwick, Jane Fonda, Kathleen Battle and Michel Colombier. As co-creator of the gospel group The Sisters of Glory, she performed at Woodstock 94 and at the Vatican for the Pope. Ms. Walden then co-created and produced their critically acclaimed album Good News in Hard Times, as well as writing and co-producing her solo album, Traveller. She also adapted Studs Turkels American Dreams Lost and Found for the stage.
For over ten years Lois has held the position of Teaching Artist with The Acting Company, conducting in-depth workshops with students and teachers across the country. She has had the rare opportunity to work on the front lines with many of the foremost practitioners of creative art in America and on the front lines in the classroom with inner-city and at-risk youth.
Lois Waldens life and music have been profiled on Good Morning America and CBS Sunday Morning. She is currently writing her second novel, a Buddhist opera and a jazz musical, from her home in New Yorks Hudson River Valley.
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For over ten years Lois has held the position of Teaching Artist with The Acting Company, conducting in-depth workshops with students and teachers across the country. She has had the rare opportunity to work on the front lines with many of the foremost practitioners of creative art in America and on the front lines in the classroom with inner-city and at-risk youth.
Lois Waldens life and music have been profiled on Good Morning America and CBS Sunday Morning. She is currently writing her second novel, a Buddhist opera and a jazz musical, from her home in New Yorks Hudson River Valley.
"
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 20, 2013
This is certainly one of the most original novels that I have ever read. It's a mash-up of sex, laughter, drink and debauchery. A story told in many layers by many generations. Each quirky voice is hugely individual and more than a little bit eccentric.
The reader is led through Louisiana, and along the way many secrets are uncovered and a corrupt world is exposed.
This is a story full of magic, it's incredibly clever - almost a little too clever for me and I find it quite difficult to write a review that does any justice to the quite incredible writing. I'd really recommend that readers go out and read it for themselves.
The reader is led through Louisiana, and along the way many secrets are uncovered and a corrupt world is exposed.
This is a story full of magic, it's incredibly clever - almost a little too clever for me and I find it quite difficult to write a review that does any justice to the quite incredible writing. I'd really recommend that readers go out and read it for themselves.
October 28, 2013
Sugar made them and Sugar almost destroyed them.
From the moment that we’re told at the beginning of the book that the father of the family, Carter Duvalier, died whilst being hit on the head by an exploding manhole cover, you know that this is not going to be a run of the mill read and I have to admit that when I first started reading this, it was so far out of my comfort zone that I was contemplating giving up. I was however also intrigued and decided to continue to see where the story was going – or if indeed there was a story.
The Duvalier’s own a sugar plantation, passed down the family chain from Carter’s own father, William, and are on the whole a depraved and dysfunctional family. They have for generations been consumed by lust and greed and there is a line in the book which sums them up perfectly “…a family rife with alcoholics, depressives, degenerates and sexual deviates….”
The Afterworld of the title is a place after death where some of the characters narrate from. In the first part of the book, each chapter is told by a different member of the family, whether alive or dead, giving insight into how they really feel about each other. Afterworld itself, also has a voice, as does Sugar and Swamp.
Being a multi-generational story, there are so many characters involved but luckily there is a family tree at the beginning which I had to keep referring to. The main story takes place just before Hurricane Katrina hits and the destruction caused by both Katrina and the Duvaliers’ own actions leaves the family struggling to come to terms with events.
Even after I had finished reading, I was still trying to make sense of the story. Through the characters and events you do get a real feeling for the deep south where much of the story takes place. There are moments of dark humour and tragedy but also hope – that people can learn from their mistakes and forgive.
The writing is very clever but in all honesty I think my tastes are too mainstream to fully appreciate it and do justice to a review but if you like quirky, unusual and original reads then this may well be the book for you.
My thanks to Colin of www.bookshaped.com for the review copy.
From the moment that we’re told at the beginning of the book that the father of the family, Carter Duvalier, died whilst being hit on the head by an exploding manhole cover, you know that this is not going to be a run of the mill read and I have to admit that when I first started reading this, it was so far out of my comfort zone that I was contemplating giving up. I was however also intrigued and decided to continue to see where the story was going – or if indeed there was a story.
The Duvalier’s own a sugar plantation, passed down the family chain from Carter’s own father, William, and are on the whole a depraved and dysfunctional family. They have for generations been consumed by lust and greed and there is a line in the book which sums them up perfectly “…a family rife with alcoholics, depressives, degenerates and sexual deviates….”
The Afterworld of the title is a place after death where some of the characters narrate from. In the first part of the book, each chapter is told by a different member of the family, whether alive or dead, giving insight into how they really feel about each other. Afterworld itself, also has a voice, as does Sugar and Swamp.
Being a multi-generational story, there are so many characters involved but luckily there is a family tree at the beginning which I had to keep referring to. The main story takes place just before Hurricane Katrina hits and the destruction caused by both Katrina and the Duvaliers’ own actions leaves the family struggling to come to terms with events.
Even after I had finished reading, I was still trying to make sense of the story. Through the characters and events you do get a real feeling for the deep south where much of the story takes place. There are moments of dark humour and tragedy but also hope – that people can learn from their mistakes and forgive.
The writing is very clever but in all honesty I think my tastes are too mainstream to fully appreciate it and do justice to a review but if you like quirky, unusual and original reads then this may well be the book for you.
My thanks to Colin of www.bookshaped.com for the review copy.
November 3, 2013
LOUISIANA - Sugar, Swamp, and Sex (the deviant variety)
The much talented Lois Walden (singer, song writer, librettist, and record producer – as well as writer…) has produced a quite original and challenging work with ‘Afterworld’.
It is the history of a dysfunctional and sexually deviant multi-generational Louisiana sugar growing dynasty. The Duvaliers are at times really laugh out loud funny, and at times really challenging in their behavior to each other and to those that surround them. From Lily and Carter senior and their two very odd sons, Steven and Winston, to their wives Doreen and Charlotte – and their children Charlotte and Carter junior, to their offspring Alice and Theodore… and Steven junior respectively. Are you with me so far?
The multi generations interact in the book though the device of the ‘Afterworld’ where the members of the family who have passed on ‘live’ on in a spirit state. The dead can, if circumstances permit it, communicate amongst themselves and – again if circumstances permit – can return to Louisiana to participate in the affairs of the living. Not transparently or obviously – but the living can sense their presence. The dead return to help bring the dying safely to the portal to the ‘Afterworld’.
Ms Walden has constructed a quite complex, but actually quite ‘believable’, work where the relationships – warts and all – across the generations are explored with some really beautiful writing. The sexual deviancy is an integral part of the plot, and it is not included for any voyeuristic reason…It is a book which is both very funny, and very thought provoking. A book I genuinely found hard to put down as I was reading it.
Oh, and the Sugar and Swamp of my title to this piece are as much characters in the book as any of the human or spirit ones… You will see if you read it.
I have not visited Louisiana, but would propose Afterworld to anyone who is intending to. The descriptions of both the sugar plantations and the alligator infested swamps seemed very real to me. I felt quiet definitely dragged into the narrative…
A good, if slightly quirky, recommended read.
The much talented Lois Walden (singer, song writer, librettist, and record producer – as well as writer…) has produced a quite original and challenging work with ‘Afterworld’.
It is the history of a dysfunctional and sexually deviant multi-generational Louisiana sugar growing dynasty. The Duvaliers are at times really laugh out loud funny, and at times really challenging in their behavior to each other and to those that surround them. From Lily and Carter senior and their two very odd sons, Steven and Winston, to their wives Doreen and Charlotte – and their children Charlotte and Carter junior, to their offspring Alice and Theodore… and Steven junior respectively. Are you with me so far?
The multi generations interact in the book though the device of the ‘Afterworld’ where the members of the family who have passed on ‘live’ on in a spirit state. The dead can, if circumstances permit it, communicate amongst themselves and – again if circumstances permit – can return to Louisiana to participate in the affairs of the living. Not transparently or obviously – but the living can sense their presence. The dead return to help bring the dying safely to the portal to the ‘Afterworld’.
Ms Walden has constructed a quite complex, but actually quite ‘believable’, work where the relationships – warts and all – across the generations are explored with some really beautiful writing. The sexual deviancy is an integral part of the plot, and it is not included for any voyeuristic reason…It is a book which is both very funny, and very thought provoking. A book I genuinely found hard to put down as I was reading it.
Oh, and the Sugar and Swamp of my title to this piece are as much characters in the book as any of the human or spirit ones… You will see if you read it.
I have not visited Louisiana, but would propose Afterworld to anyone who is intending to. The descriptions of both the sugar plantations and the alligator infested swamps seemed very real to me. I felt quiet definitely dragged into the narrative…
A good, if slightly quirky, recommended read.
October 19, 2013
How to begin? This is one of the most original books I've read in a very long time. From the first sentence, when Black maid 'Rheta B' utters her first words, I was hooked. It's a story set in Louisiana, where an extremely dysfunctional family runs a sugar-cane plantation. It takes place just before Hurricane Katrina hit, and the damage she inflicted is nothing like what these characters managed to inflict on themselves and others! But the hook is great, and ties in beautifully with the turmoil within a very odd but equally compelling family.
Afterworld encompasses several generations, with many other layers interwoven - for example, the swamp, sugar and 'Afterworld' himself (both narrator and something approaching a holding tank or purgatory for those who have died) are given their own voices. There is sex, depravity, incest, paedophilia and all sorts of other 'adult' themes; however there is also a compelling narrative that encroaches on that all-enduring topic: the human condition and the nature of hope. The characters are enormously memorable (I keep on thinking of Doreen crunching on her ice cubes; read the book and you'll see why), and the dialogue is extraordinarily vivid. In fact, the whole book is. I was struggling to think of a category, but maybe it doesn't need one. It's darkly comedic, deeply tragic (several scenes made me cry), historically pertinent, hugely evocative and unbelievably readable. I can't get it out of my mind. Be prepared for some grown-up stuff, but also some of the most exquisite writing you are likely to see in quite some time. I'm a bit of an 'underliner', when I like a phrase. This book is now covered in felt-tip. Highly recommend.
I've since seen that the author does 'workshops' with teens in the USA and UK, and it's worth checking out [...] to see what she's achieved. Not to be missed.
Afterworld encompasses several generations, with many other layers interwoven - for example, the swamp, sugar and 'Afterworld' himself (both narrator and something approaching a holding tank or purgatory for those who have died) are given their own voices. There is sex, depravity, incest, paedophilia and all sorts of other 'adult' themes; however there is also a compelling narrative that encroaches on that all-enduring topic: the human condition and the nature of hope. The characters are enormously memorable (I keep on thinking of Doreen crunching on her ice cubes; read the book and you'll see why), and the dialogue is extraordinarily vivid. In fact, the whole book is. I was struggling to think of a category, but maybe it doesn't need one. It's darkly comedic, deeply tragic (several scenes made me cry), historically pertinent, hugely evocative and unbelievably readable. I can't get it out of my mind. Be prepared for some grown-up stuff, but also some of the most exquisite writing you are likely to see in quite some time. I'm a bit of an 'underliner', when I like a phrase. This book is now covered in felt-tip. Highly recommend.
I've since seen that the author does 'workshops' with teens in the USA and UK, and it's worth checking out [...] to see what she's achieved. Not to be missed.
March 22, 2014
Set in both Louisiana and an abstract place called Afterworld, peopled by both the living and the dead, this novel purports to be both 'unique' and 'confrontational'. I found it to be neither, but rather silly and pointless. Throughout the novel the reader is led to believe in the vital importance of Theodore to return to the land and the sugar cane, as if only his presence could ultimately save the deeply dysfunctional Duvalier family. By the end of the book though, Theodore has not returned, and nothing appears to have happened. It's almost as if that strand of the story had been forgotten.
This is too small a novel, and too thin a plot, to carry the number of characters that are imposed upon it. I felt no empathy for any of them, and certainly none of them seemed to be developed in any meaningful way. After a life of misery with her drunken and abusive husband Carter, and a death of unforgiveness in the school-room atmosphere of Afterworld, when Lily's ghost meets Carter's ghost again, and he gives her some half-assed explanation for himself she responds with, 'Thank you Carter. I appreciate your honesty . . . You're a good man after all.' I looked in vain for some introspection on Lily's part as to her understanding of his story, something sly that would turn this comment into a joke, but no - this appears to be simply an astounding leap of faith on Lily's part, and another bit of the story neatly tied up.
I wouldn't recommend you waste your time with it - read 'Five People You Meet in Heaven' instead.
This is too small a novel, and too thin a plot, to carry the number of characters that are imposed upon it. I felt no empathy for any of them, and certainly none of them seemed to be developed in any meaningful way. After a life of misery with her drunken and abusive husband Carter, and a death of unforgiveness in the school-room atmosphere of Afterworld, when Lily's ghost meets Carter's ghost again, and he gives her some half-assed explanation for himself she responds with, 'Thank you Carter. I appreciate your honesty . . . You're a good man after all.' I looked in vain for some introspection on Lily's part as to her understanding of his story, something sly that would turn this comment into a joke, but no - this appears to be simply an astounding leap of faith on Lily's part, and another bit of the story neatly tied up.
I wouldn't recommend you waste your time with it - read 'Five People You Meet in Heaven' instead.
January 31, 2017
Reading books from the free bin at the thrift store is always an adventure. This one was like...Gone with the Wind meets Flowers in the Attic, plus also your least favorite ghost story. If you like personification, ambiguous otherworldliness, pedophilia, and incest - so.much.incest. - with little to no character development, overall plot, or sense at all, this is the book for you. What sucks the most is that the writing itself wasn't bad - it was easy to read, it had a good flow/pace, it was pithy and funny and even beautiful at times. But the story was...well, let's just say it was decidedly not for me.
EDIT: I'm giving it two stars because zero stars isn't a thing and I want to save one star for those that have bad plot AND bad writing. I still don't like incest or want to read about casual pedophilia with little to no consequences beyond ~feeling bad.
EDIT: I'm giving it two stars because zero stars isn't a thing and I want to save one star for those that have bad plot AND bad writing. I still don't like incest or want to read about casual pedophilia with little to no consequences beyond ~feeling bad.
April 30, 2014
Not what I was expecting, a multi-generational story with lots of eccentric characters....very original, it's some if the characters narrating from after their deaths. This book wobbles between being very clever and being too clever! I am drawn to stories from the Deep South - the colourful characters, vivid landscapes and poetic turn of phrase - set in Louisiana and populated by generations of a highly dysfunctional family, this book certainly made for fascinating reading.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews