This caught my eye at the bookstore last week and I told myself that if I bought it, I had to read it. I'm glad I did.I wouldn't say this was one of my favorites, but I enjoyed it. I happen to really enjoy fiction that happens in the afterlife, and this book had a fairly new perspective. I liked the characters, and was thrilled when Walt showed up.It is a sign of my own background and upbringing, but I took issue with the way the story was so modern and, for lack of a better term, worldly. For me, no story of the afterlife would be complete without looking into the relationship between a person and their ancestors. I was confused about Weller's choice to write about two (or three) people who had no connections to parents, grandparents or even children, and then gave them no curiosity about their ancestry. I did enjoy the book, I just wish it had been more focused toward me and my interests. Not a fair complaint, but there it is. Just an OK view of what it might be to go to the afterlife. The protagonist is a bit whiny, and I thought the writing felt a little amateurish. Plus the author clearly loves jazz (and I don't. Sorry.)Decent enough idea: You go to the afterlife, and it's what you make of it. But sometimes the one person you love just isn't there.I shouldn't read reviews of stuff just before I read it or as I'm reading it. I was reading a review of this that said if you want this story, done much better, do A Brief History of the Dead. And that influenced me. I read that one first, and liked it better. So go do that if you want suspense.Our protagonist here is a musician who was trapped in a debilitated body, his music taken away from him. And four years before, his long-time love died before he did.He finally decides to kill himself, and spends most of the book searching for Lucy. The big swindle is that people are encouraged to go back to earth in new bodies -- like reincarnation -- rather than crowd up the afterlife.Yet the afterlife is largely a product of your brain -- you can go to any time, any place, within reason. For some reason, astronauts and dinosaurs are off limits. So it's infinite. Yet there's pressure to go back to earth. Turns out there's a need for people -- their souls, their creative sparks, something -- to go back to earth. Many go back, some don't. There's a little book -- like the Gideon's Bible of the afterlife -- that's a false guide to what to expect, all done to encourage people to go back. But our protagonist won't go. He's looking for his lost love, and he doesn't believe she would've gone back to earth only to forget about him, and he doesn't want to go back without her.Sounds good, but again, the writing was a little grating. Also, our protagonist picks up a mentor, Walt Whitman. I never read Walt Whitman and I don't have a good historical sense of him, but as his guide, he just comes off as some regular guy. Not impressed. I'm guessing the author must like Walt Whitman, too. In any case, I didn't die (and go to the afterlife or not) from reading this. But A Brief History of the Dead is far better executed with this sort of idea, and very suspenseful. Read that instead, or too.
What do You think about The Land Of Later On (2011)?
Quick read.....it was definitely thought provoking. And it ended with me wanting more.
—1DTributeGlee
Enjoyed this book, was not what I was expecting, but loved the twists and turns.
—cwich12
Probably not what happens when you die... but you never know.
—Trolloc2
