After This By: Alice McDermott

I did not really enjoy After This. I read Child of My Heart prior to reading After this and enjoyed it a lot more. After this seemed to be a bunch of short stories linked together by the same characters. Each "short story" was very good but it made the book disjointed. The storied jumped from decades creating a burr of time. There was a lack of structure during the story I felt as if there was no high point to the story. I did enjoy the repetition of the piano player she used. The tone was bittersweet. The intermixing of sweetness and sorrow created hope and possibility. With hope there is a twist of a sadder but wiser view that is taken. This most defiantly is an anti-war novel. Along with the anti-war theme the American Dream is put into question. McDermott hints towards the American Dream just being a mythical creature never meant to be caught. The main theme I got from After This was to always have hope.