as with other readers, i found the sentence fragments and sparse punctuation a bit annoying. i found myself reading certain pages and paragraphs multiple times - thinking i had missed something.i like Lent's stories a great deal, well let's say i really liked In the Fall and Lost Nation. it took me a while to realize i liked A Peculiar Grace, as it was so far afield from the the other two. with After You've Gone, my like-o-meter was all over the place.the characters, other than Henry and Lydia, were like sound bytes. you hear them and see them, but all you get is a mere sample. i got the same feel with plot development. if you're going to Amsterdam to look for clues and insight about your father then do it. if you mention that you did part of your education at Yale, then talk about Yale or New Haven, rather than let a line out and yank it back in before anyone has a chance to hook on.still, i liked the idea of the story enough to finish. i'm not sorry i spent the time reading it, but i wouldn't recommend it either. not even to Jeffrey Lent fans. The entire structure was very interesting. On paper I would have expected it to be annoying and disjointed, but he wove the stories together masterfully. Jumping years to tell his tale was very inventive and probably very challenging. Initially I thought it a lazy maneuver but much like short stories, a well crafted tale or story appears effortless when really it is full of effort.I was very curious how he would end it, but it fit perfectly. Poignantly.I very much enjoyed A Peculiar Grace which was very different, but in both novels, he captured and wrote feelings evocatively, beautifully. Speaking for men and women equally which is a rare gift.Easy reading, flowing feeling, incredible descriptions- setting the scene, and hard to put down.
What do You think about After You've Gone (2009)?
A "portrait of a man and an extraordinary love story". I can't say much more.
—esraamahmoud
A very "gentle" book.....very well written.....with a very suprising ending.
—marivalech
not nearly s good as in the fall but i did like it
—wilsonworld
