Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme that was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. This meme is quite easy to follow – just randomly pick a book from your to-be-read list and give the reasons why you want to read it. It is that simple.

This week’s book:

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez

46305818Blurb from Goodreads

Antonia Vega, the immigrant writer at the center of Afterlife, has had the rug pulled out from under her. She has just retired from the college where she taught English when her beloved husband, Sam, suddenly dies. And then more jolts: her bighearted but unstable sister disappears, and Antonia returns home one evening to find a pregnant, undocumented teenager on her doorstep. Antonia has always sought direction in the literature she loves—lines from her favorite authors play in her head like a soundtrack—but now she finds that the world demands more of her than words.

Afterlife is a compact, nimble, and sharply droll novel. Set in this political moment of tribalism and distrust, it asks: What do we owe those in crisis in our families, including—maybe especially—members of our human family? How do we live in a broken world without losing faith in one another or ourselves? And how do we stay true to those glorious souls we have lost?

Why I Want To Read It

Before 2020, Julia Alvarez barely rang any bell of familiarity. Yes, I have seen of by fellow book bloggers posting about her but I was never curious enough to take on the challenge of reading any of her works. However, things changed early this year when I searched for books to look forward to in 2020. One of the books that I came across is Alvarez’ newest work, Afterlife. It is then that I included it in my 2020 Top 10 Books I Look Forward to List.

Afterlife, apparently is Alvarez’ first novel in 15 years! Wow, that is quite a very long gap. What made me even more curious about this book is this interesting and insightful interview by Raul A. Reyes for NBC News (I originally came across it through Repeating Islands’ blog). The interview did mention that Alvarez debuted in 1991 with  “How The García Girls Lost Their Accents.” This was where the tiny tinge of familiarity came from. I did encounter the book in bookstores and online booksellers. Hmmm. Currently considering including the book in my my long TBR list as well.

Happy start of the week everyone; in case anyone needs reminding that today is a Monday 🙂 I hope you are all safe in the confines of your homes. Please stay home. We will soon get over  this. Happy reading everyone!