The Astonishing Color of After Audiobook

Quotes

• “[A] beautiful, magical journey into the heart of grief.”

  — Holly Black, New York Times bestselling author

• “Portrays the vast spectrum of love and grief with heart-wrenching beauty and candor.”

  — John Green, New York Times bestselling author

• “Inventive and heart-wrenching.”

  — Gayle Forman, New York Times bestselling author

• “Any suicide is a painful one for the survivors. But here is where Pan’s novel shines most. She never shies away from the awful questions that are left in the wake of such a loss…What emerges is a story about love with all its limitations and complications and the story of how a girl and her passions can survive it.”

  — New York Times Book Review

• “Dynamic, brave Leigh emerges vividly in Pan’s deft hand, and her enthralling journey through her grief glows with stunning warmth, strength, and resilience.”

  — Booklist (starred review)

• “The novel is steeped in its Taiwanese setting…[with] an undeniable message about the power of hope and inner strength.”

  — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

• “Pan’s writing takes readers on a journey filled with so much emotion, color, and such well-developed characters with a touch of magic, readers will come to the ending drained and fulfilled at the same time…[This] novel is not to be missed.”

  — School Library Journal (starred review)

• “Pan travels between the past and present beautifully in this lightly magical and deeply emotional book about grief, family connection, and first love…Highly recommended.

  — BookRiot

• “Sprinkled with magical realism and achingly beautiful passages, Pan crafts a brilliant, lyrical, heartfelt, and astounding debut about grief, love, and the complexity of family relationships.”

  — BuzzFeed

• “This hefty YA novel clocks in at nearly 500 pages, and I still wanted it to be longer. It’s a heartbreaking story about family, friends, and love, all crafted with a splash of magic.

  — Paste

• “Captures the uncertain, unmoored feeling of existing between worlds—culturally, linguistically, ethnically, romantically, and existentially—it is also about seeking hope and finding beauty even in one’s darkest hours.”

  — Kirkus Reviews

• Emily X.R. Pan's brilliantly crafted, harrowing first novel portrays the vast spectrum of love and grief with heart-wrenching beauty and candor. This is a very special book.

  — John Green, bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down

• Magic and mourning, love and loss, secrets kept and secrets revealed all illuminate Emily X.R. Pan's inventive and heart-wrenching debut.

  — Gayle Forman, bestselling author of If I Stay and I Was Here

• Emily X.R. Pan utterly transported me to a world reminiscent of Isabel Allende. Haunting at every turn, this is a glorious debut.

  — p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Renée Ahdieh, bestselling author of The Wrath and the Dawn

• An extraordinary debut from a fiercely talented writer.

  — p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Nova Ren Suma, bestselling author of The Walls Around Us

• This beautiful, magical journey through grief made my heart take flight.

  — p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Holly Black, bestselling author of The Cruel Prince and The Darkest Part of the Forest

• The Astonishing Color of After works a delicate magic. Its portrayal of grief is deeply felt, and so too is its deliciously tricky romance. I loved this book.

  — p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Marie Rutkoski, bestselling author of The Winner's Curse

• My heart has never been more pleasantly devastated. A raw and brilliant debut.

  — p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px Times}Roshani Chokshi, bestselling author of The Star-Touched Queen

• lyrical and suspenseful

  — The New York Times Book Review

• In this dazzling debut, author Emily X.R. Pan has created a spellbinding narrative about love, family, and what it means to grieve.

  — Bustle

• * "Dynamic, brave Leigh emerges vividly in Pan's deft hand, and her enthralling journey through her grief glows with stunning warmth, strength, and resilience.

  — Booklist, starred review

• * "Pan's emotionally charged debut is a compelling exploration of grief and the insidiousness of depression.

  — Publishers Weekly, starred review

• * "Pan's debut novel is not to be missed.

  — School Library Journal, starred review

• * "This novel is as elegant as it is mesmerizing.

  — VOYA, starred review

• * "Pan offers an extraordinary journey that proves real, surreal, and wholly magical.

  — Shelf Awareness

• * "[The novel] pushes the readers' expectations in beautiful and interesting ways.

  — School Library Connection, starred review

• An evocative novel that captures the uncertain, unmoored feeling of existing between worlds--culturally, linguistically, ethnically, romantically, and existentially--it is also about seeking hope and finding beauty even in one's darkest hours.

  — Kirkus Reviews

• I am sure I will return to this book every year, just as I am sure that there will always be something new for me to find in its pages.

  — BookRiot

• In her debut book, Pan communicates what seems many lifetimes of wisdom: the intricacies of grief, how mental illness ripples through families and what it means to find love in the midst of so much loss.

  — The Daily Beast

• The story is centered on a heart-wrenching mystery, yet Pan's prose is as warm and free-flowing as Waipo's oolong tea, making this story a surprisingly uplifting one.

  — BookPage

• Emily X.R. Pan beautifully depicts grief in all its complexities: the numbing sadness, the rage, the confusion, and, most hauntingly, the joy.

  — Bustle.com

• Through Leigh's emotional, illuminating first person narration, Emily X. R. Pan peels back the layers of her grief to expose the heart at the center. The result is a novel as lyrical as it is earnest.

  — Tor.com

• A hypnotic narrative.

  — Horn Book