[7OZ]⋙ PDF Gratis After I'm Gone A Novel Laura Lippman 9780062083395 Books

After I'm Gone A Novel Laura Lippman 9780062083395 Books

Download As PDF : After I'm Gone A Novel Laura Lippman 9780062083395 Books

After I'm Gone A Novel Laura Lippman 9780062083395 Books

read all the other 1 star reviews - i agree with every single one. what a mess. i kept having to flip back to find out what year we were in, and searching to see where a character made their first entrance. and then one jump up and had no backstory, just there.

it was just too confusing.


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After I'm Gone A Novel Laura Lippman 9780062083395 Books Reviews

Somehow, even though I avoid mysteries, this book pulled me in from the first page and kept me reading. Whatever it's shortcomings, and there are more than a few, it kept my rapt interest. The premise of the book unfolded slowly, a gift not found in many of today's quickie products. I liked the characters, virtually , all of them---good and bad. Many years ago I lived in Baltimore for a short time and this book brought me back there, especially to Pikesville! My thanks to the author.
I enjoyed this book immensely. I felt the characters were very real, very human, and I have to admit I liked that it was set not far from where I live. Most of Laura Lippman's books are set in the Baltimore area and I am from the DC area. I have to say that I like the stand alone novels better than the Tess Monaghan novels though in this one there is the slightest tie in that doesn't affect the story. You'll see! The driving force in this book is the character that has disappeared, a loving but unfaithful husband, an indulgent father to the three daughters who's lives, along with their mother's, are greatly affected by his sudden leave taking. He is not quite a gangster but someone who lives on the edge and he has some illegal operations as well as legitimate ones. When a jail term threatens, he sneaks out of town not to be seen again. This is very loosely based on a real case from the Baltimore area, but as Ms. Lippman makes very clear, the surrounding characters and events in this book are completely fictional. The original case caused her to speculate on how a family might go through the years, having lost not only the head of the household, but the income that had been provided. One of the big questions in the book, is whether there was money left for the family and if so, where did it go, since they are left to struggle and borrow from friends and family?
Felix Brewster is a small-time number runner and strip club owner who would be furious at being called “small-time.” He’s one of those not-very-attractive men who get all the pretty girls on the strength of sheer charisma. He casually justifies a lifestyle that preys on the stupidity and dreams of those he fleeces. The foundation of Felix’s ambition is a thirst for the envy of everyone in the scrubby section of Baltimore where he operates. But instead of fame, he winds up with a notoriety which brings him face-to-face with prison time. Coward that he is, in 1976 he disappears without a trace, leaving behind a wife, mistress, and three daughters.

Precisely ten years later, one of these women disappears and the novel really takes off. Baltimore is once again enthralled by the mystery that is (or was) Felix. However, Baltimore and Felix’s remaining women must wait another fifteen years to learn the woman’s fate. Even then, the why and how of her disappearance are years away. In 2012 Sandy Sanchez appears. He’s a retired cop from Cuba with a dogged passion for cold cases, and a pretty good story of his own. With fresh eyes on the case, the answers to all of the mysteries – and there are a bunch of them – finally appear.

The women carry on through nearly five decades without Felix, but he is ever-present in all of their minds. His destitute and gorgeous wife, the aptly-named Bambi, stays in their dream home even as it crumbles around her. His daughters grow up, each carrying the scars of being a child of an absent and notorious father and a terrified mother. Julie, the mistress who wisely drops the stage name Juliet Romeo, carves out a life that looks almost normal. But despite her modest success, Julie is no less damaged and haunted by Felix’s desertion than his wife and daughters. In fact, her role as the perceived floozy in their story dooms her to a fame she cannot shake.

The novel moves across the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, and into 2012, but its real strength is in the early years. If you remember beehive hairdos, or ever made out in an enormous car with “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me ” on the radio, or were terrified by the thought of an unwed teen pregnancy, you’re going to love this book.

In the best tradition of mysteries, there are dozens of characters and nearly as many red herrings. (It's confusing at first, but just keep reading.) There are lots of secrets, some betrayals, and a growing sense that at its heart this is a story about love and money. Almost every character has a moment at the top of the “Whodunnit" list, but in fact the solution to the mystery is almost beside the point. The real pleasure of After I’m Gone is the well-crafted world that Laura Lippman creates. This is more than a mystery – it’s a rollicking good yarn.

The Attentive Reader will note Critics have questioned the title of the novel, given that none of it is narrated from Felix’s point of view. I loved this small musical conceit. Felix’s name is on every page and in nearly every conversation. He’s not gone. He’s just not there anymore.
Felix Brewer, successful bookie, is about to go to jail for possibly 10 years. Thinking that he cannot do that much time, he decides to run and leave everyone behind his wife, 3 daughters and his mistress, all who suffer and basically do his time for him.
The story is not his, but theirs. Bambi, the stunningly beautiful wife, struggles to hold the lives of her children together with very little money, sure that the mistress has all the money. The mistress, who was given only a coffee shop and very little money, fights to improve her life and prove that she deserved him and that he would send for her as he loved her the best. The daughters, only 2 of which were old enough to know him, grieve that he could have left them behind with no thoughts of the toll it would take on them as children or adults. The daughter who never got a chance to know him spends years searching the internet for just a glimpse of the man he was. All are damaged by his hasty exit from their lives.
The author's careful narration and clear characterization make the book a smooth read, but it is the slow revelation of the mystery of the murder of the mistress, with careful cutbacks to the past, that keep the reader riveted to the story. Not a typical "who done it," but one that leaves even the most diligent detective fans surprised at the reveal.
read all the other 1 star reviews - i agree with every single one. what a mess. i kept having to flip back to find out what year we were in, and searching to see where a character made their first entrance. and then one jump up and had no backstory, just there.

it was just too confusing.