Michelle F., Glen Burnie High School
This book is very heart-touching and shows what it means to recover from loss as well as finding yourself. Leigh most accepts and realizes her mother committed suicide all while she was kissing her crush and friend Axel. Harsh, I know to add to this she believes her mother is reincarnated as a bird that she continues to see. We see her father and her go through grief and go to Taiwan to be with her grandparents in hopes to be better. We see Leigh find herself in many ways culturally, artistically, personally, familially, and emotionally.
Things I liked about the book were the flashbacks and then going back to the present time in the book added more depth to each character, I love how emotional the book was, and Leigh's journey throughout the book to find closure was really inspiring. Also, Leigh was really unique and saw life in colors. She described her feelings with colors and we see how important this plays in the book and end.
One thing I disliked was Leigh's actions sometimes in the book made it harder to like her. Then you realize as the book goes on that when you go through something really difficult you feel no one understands and may do the wrong things. Overall, a great read with a beautiful message!
Click here to check out The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan.