Afterlove: Tik Tok made me buy it!

Product Information

For Khan, the turning point came at university, when he began to come to terms with his own sexuality – and to lose faith in his religion. “I was grappling with how to reconcile between gay and Muslim,” he recalls, “and it was only later that I understood that identities are not independent or uni-dimensional, but multiple and intersecting.” His crisis coincided with something similar that was happening to his mother. “Things happen in families when the kids grow up,” is all he will say about that. I was most engaged with the story of Mr Chetan, a gay man struggling with the reality of keeping his sexuality a secret and the danger of being his true self openly. I liked the character of Betty too whose voice in the narrative brought some funny moments and her journey with discovering her spiritual side was enjoyable. However I struggled to connect with the character of Solo and his storyline didn't interest me much. I also didn't think that depiction of his mental health issues were handled very well. Trinidad is a place where enriching the mind is of utmost importance. Persaud's characters do not represent this part of the island, the tapestry she weaves cuts off a large portion of the good of the country and people.

SEMI-FINALIST FOR THE OCM BOCAS PRIZE • One of the Best Books of the Summer: Time • The Guardian • Goop • Women’s Day • LitHub I can’t help but think that if I had read this book as a teenager, when my problems seemed never-ending, perhaps my life would have been different. The representation of a healthy relationship between two teenage girls is something that I missed, but I’m glad that many other teenagers will now be able to read this story and feel heard. They will be able to hold onto this book when things are difficult for them. This is the main reason I have felt this book so close to my heart and why I would recommend it to everyone who has experienced growing up as a queer teenager.

Inspiration #3

Later, Genevieve, Solomon, and Mary happen to visit Ahmed's grave at the same time (and, in turn, Ahmed's and Mary's son's grave, who's buried next to his father). The three of them then return to Mary's house. Genevieve tells Mary that she was always jealous that Ahmed wouldn't ever leave Mary for her, but was fine with sharing as she believed she had the better half of Ahmed. Shortly after Genevieve leaves the room, Mary hears one of the cassette tapes that Ahmed made for her and walks downstairs to see Genevieve and Solomon listening to it. Solomon initially gives the tape to Mary, but she allows him to keep it instead. The two tearfully embrace. In the final scene, the three of them visit the White Cliffs of Dover and look out at the English Channel.

The romance is, simply put, adorable. Despite the length of the book, the plot feels incredibly fast which I suppose reflects the teenage dream of a whirlwind romance that takes your breath away. And it certainly does. We see Ash struggle with past heartbreak and the fear that Poppy isn’t truly interested in girls, but not for long. Soon enough the pair are spending all of their time together, and you cannot help but sigh dreamily as they explore the streets of Brighton falling more and more in love. But Mr Chetan's relationship with Betty is rather complicated by his homosexuality, which he for years keeps secret from her. Things come to a head one evening when she attempts to seduce him, and he tries to respond but is literally unable, and, in the aftermath she reveals to him, and inadvertently to Solo, a secret (one signalled for the reader in the opening passage above - indeed when Persaud read this very passage at the book event, the audience, including those who had not read the novel, laughed in recognition at the crucial line). The actual characters themselves, too? Eh. I loved Ash, loved her family, and her relationship with Poppy. Loved Poppy, loved her relationship with the world and how they spoke with one another. It felt very real, all the dialogue was fun and reminds me of how I spoke at 16. Super tasty and validating for that reason. But, the reapers? Forgettable. I got most of them mixed up with one another. Also, in the second half of the book Poppy became an absolute manic pixie dream girl (they can exist in wlw books, and they DO), and all her dialogue became so insufferable. I really struggled with the mini golf scene so bad. Stout's attention to experiences of abandonment, betrayal, and disillusionment adds to the growing scholarship on Cuban sexual identities under neoliberalism and raises important question about populations in Cuba's economies of desire who have reached the outer limits of affective exchanges." — Karina Lissette Cespedes, GLQ

Baftas 2022: the full list of nominations". The Guardian. 3 February 2022 . Retrieved 4 February 2022. After Love is a very good book, well written, sympathetic, and insightful. It wears its sophisticated theory lightly, making it both accessible and rewarding to read as much as for the picture of contemporary Cuba it paints as for the more general insights it provides into how people negotiate the contradictions life throws at them.” — Mark Graham, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute The fact that it had some paranormal elements to it drew me in, as I love a good supernatural story, but then when we get into the romance between Ash and Poppy, I just fell in love with their love. When I started reading this book I wasn’t completely sure I was going to like it because the story is about two sixteen year-olds experiencing their first love, which for me is an experience long in the past. However, I was completely wrong! This book by Tanya Byrne is written with absolute honesty and I saw myself immediately immersed in this story, devouring the book in barely a week, something that hadn’t happened in a long time.