Book Summary:
“Max and Pip are the strongest couple you know. They’re best friends, lovers—unshakable. But then their son gets sick and the doctors put the question of his survival into their hands. For the first time, Max and Pip can’t agree. They each want a different future for their son.
What if they could have both?
A gripping and propulsive exploration of love, marriage, parenthood, and the road not taken, After the End brings one unforgettable family from unimaginable loss to a surprising, satisfying, and redemptive ending and the life they are fated to find. With the emotional power of Jodi Picoult’s My Sister’s Keeper, Mackintosh helps us to see that sometimes the end is just another beginning.”
Publication Date:
June 25, 2019
Genre:
Family Saga Fiction
My Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My Review:
After The End by Clare Mackintosh was a little under the radar for me until I started seeing raving reviews pop up on Instagram. My book list is a mile high this time of year but I am also easily persuaded which is why I never do too much planning with my monthly reading goals…I like to read by how I am feeling and also by what grabs my attention. After seeing this book mentioned a few times by some of my favorite Bookstagrammers, I knew I needed to read it.
I have read Clare Mackintosh’s writing in the past, and this work of fiction was a departure from her “thriller” style I was used to…I love when authors can mix it up, and Mackintosh totally succeeded.
After The End is a beautiful and absolutely heart-wrenching book to read. Told in alternating points of view, a husband and wife are faced with one of the most challenging choices you could make as parents, and they don’t have the same opinion. This book detailed the highs and lows of marriage and parenthood and what it means to make the “right” choice for your child.
Whether you are a parent or not, this topic is heavy. As a parent of young children myself, this was especially devastating and I could relate to both perspectives which I think was her very intention. I love books that make you feel and also that make you think and she nailed this.
Mackintosh shares in her own author’s note how this topic connected to the loss of her own son which made this writing even more powerful. Her ability to write with such vivid and gut-wrenching details came partly from the loss she and her husband faced a decade ago. Mackintosh writes so poignantly and the characters are so raw and real that this book reads partly like non-fiction, which in some ways, it is. Highly recommend.
