The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X. R. Pan audiobook

The Astonishing Color of After

By Emily X. R. Pan
Read by Stephanie Hsu

Little, Brown Young Readers, Hachette Book Group 9780316463997
11.87 Hours • Unabridged
Format : Digital Download (In Stock)
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A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng. Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird. Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life. Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love. "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

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Summary

Summary

Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Literature

Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature

A 2019 Walter Award Honors Book in the Teen Category

A New York Times pick of Summer YA Novels

A Paste Magazine Pick of Best YA Novels of 2018 (So Far)

A Booklist Editors’ Choice of 2018's Top Audiobooks for Youth

A BuzzFeed Books Pick of YA Books Not to Miss

A YALSA Amazing Audiobooks Selection for Young Adults

A Kirkus Reviews Pick of 13 YA Books Both You & Your Teen Will Enjoy

A BookRiot Pick of 3 Excellent YA Novels about Grief

A Publishers Weekly Pick of Books That Explore the Immigrant Experience

A School Library Journal Top Pick of YA Titles for Asian Pacific American HIstory Month or Any Time

A stunning, heartbreaking debut novel about grief, love, and family, perfect for fans of Jandy Nelson and Celeste Ng.

Leigh Chen Sanders is absolutely certain about one thing: When her mother died by suicide, she turned into a bird.

Leigh, who is half Asian and half white, travels to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents for the first time. There, she is determined to find her mother, the bird. In her search, she winds up chasing after ghosts, uncovering family secrets, and forging a new relationship with her grandparents. And as she grieves, she must try to reconcile the fact that on the same day she kissed her best friend and longtime secret crush, Axel, her mother was taking her own life.

Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a stunning and heartbreaking novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

"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

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

“[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
“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
“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)
“Narrator Stephanie Hsu gives color to the vivid palette Leigh uses to describe senses and emotions…Hsu finds a balance of wonder and anguish as Leigh explores her family’s past through increasingly mystical experiences..Leigh and her friends have just the right touches of youthful snark and flattened tones, while Taiwan is full of bright bursts of Mandarin.” —AudioFile
“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
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

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Author

Author Bio: Emily X. R. Pan

Author Bio: Emily X. R. Pan

Emily X. R. Pan was born in the Midwestern United States to immigrant parents from Taiwan. She received her MFA degree in fiction from the New York University creative writing program, where she was a Goldwater Fellow. She is the founding editor-in-chief of Bodega Magazine and a 2017 artist-in-residence at Djerassi.

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Details

Details

Available Formats : Digital Download, CD
Category: Fiction
Runtime: 11.87
Audience: Young Adult (12–17)
Language: English

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