- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: William Heinemann; 2nd Printing edition (1 Feb 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 043401186X
- ISBN-13: 978-0434011865
- Product Dimensions: 14.5 x 3 x 22.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 522,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Afterwards
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Review
"'Contains vast themes of war and kinship, grief and terror, love and trust. This is the short story at its best.' Sunday Times * 'Seiffert is a writer of great delicacy and toughness... There's nothing frail about Field Study, which is immensely strong and proves in itself the happiest of outcomes - good story begetting good story after good story.' Guardian 'A startingly powerful debut... Compelling... Deserves praise and prizes in abundance. A remarkable achievement... Not to be missed' Daily Mail * 'Seiffert's powerful book resonates with hope, humanity and understanding. It should be on everyone's reading lists.' Sunday Times"
The Sunday Telegraph
`Afterwards sees Seiffert wrap her masterful, delightfully controlled prose around conflicts more recent and morally ambiguous ... shunning politics and hyperbole, rejecting jargon in favour of effortful narration ... Seiffert patiently builds lives the reader can believe in and care about .... This highly engaging novel continues to reveal itself long after it is read. It is a book, like its protagonists, that gives up its secrets slowly.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a sparse and haunting novel that explores filial and romantic relationships, both intact and broken. Alice's relationships with her mother, stepfather, father, grandfather and grandmother are delicately drawn by Seiffert in her pared down yet powerful prose, but it is her relationship with Joseph that is central to the novel. Seiffert's description early in the novel of their realisation that they are beginning to love one another is beautifully done and touchingly empathetic. It would be too simplistic to describe them as damaged, she by the natural father who abandoned her and has recently broken written contact with her, and he by his experiences in the army in Northern Ireland. They are incredibly realised characters. For contemporary fiction, it is rare to have depictions of very ordinary individuals with ordinary jobs and families, and Seiffert gives the reader a balanced portrayal of all the characters. The promise that the reader saw in her collection of novellas, The Dark Room, and her collection of short stories, Field Study, is fulfilled in this her first novel. Destined to be on the Booker shortlist for 2007. Superb.
Format:Paperback
This book is beautifully written, and I found it quite absorbing. It explores different themes - love, relationships, war. I just read an article on the independent of the author discussing the book and the research that she conducted into post-traumatic stress in soldiers, and i think that the energy that she put into this is very evident in the book. It's quite a different book - it's realistic, with less drama, and more day-to-day life, but well worth a read.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The desire to love vs. the torment of conscience and coming to terms with actions committed in the cause of national defense
31 Dec 2008
Format:Paperback
A budding romance is at the center of a story of the trauma of war. An exBritish soldier stationed in Northern Ireland and his girlfriend's grandfather, who fought in Kenya against Mau Mau uprising, are both haunted by acts performed during their military service. Each man's free will was wedded to the priorities of his particular military campaign. Alice, the central female character, is herself grieving the recent death of her grandmother. All of these characters' pain is exquisitely drawn in the details of their day-to-day lives and interactions. The problem of coming to terms with questionable actions committed in the cause of national defense is posed amidst the healing process of love.
3 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Very Good Writing
4 Dec 2007
Format:Hardcover
The editorial reviews adequately capture the basic storyline but the greater aspects and enjoyment of this novel lie in the way the author envelopes the "said" with the "unsaid".
The greatest "self brainwash" jobs that most of us face, such as "it could be worse" (in a relationship or job), or everyone else does it (in tax evasion or environmentally unsavory behaviors) pale by comparison to a vet (this novel) or public safety official's comprehension and reconciliation of an act of extreme violence to other human beings.
In this case the author connects two such characters from distinctly separate generations that are equally reflective and emotionally troubled by their past military experiences. She (the author) expertly connects them via a number of equally reflective and also very "caring" characters, including and especially the younger man's girlfriend and older man's grand-daughter, Alice.
You can put this book down, and pick it up again, as I did (14 day library loan notwithstanding), but only until the 2/3 mark. After this point you have developed your own theories as to what exactly the older man knows, or thinks he understands, about the younger, and how the now troubled relationship between the younger man and Alice will play out.
I can only tell you that Alice will be wiping a spot of bicycle chain grease from her leg before you will be able to evaluate the personal theories this novel forces you to formulate.
This novel will leave you considering all that you have chosen not to share, the impact of this "non-sharing", and you may also become more aware and understanding of the cleaning man (who shows up at your office when you are leaving) sporting a "Viet Nam Vet" baseball cap......and limping.
My final, and admittedly somewhat obtuse, observation is that the author made a repetitive point of demonstrating the impact of the natural world (vs urban) in cleansing or at least calming both the emotion tension and internal unrest among the characters. I found this a very interesting connection to recent articles stating that the dreaded juvenile ADS (Attention Deficit Syndrome) should really be re-named NDS for Nature Deficit Syndrome - after several studies where placement of so called sufferers for a regular few hours in a natural environment dramatically improved their symptoms....
John M. Peck
The greatest "self brainwash" jobs that most of us face, such as "it could be worse" (in a relationship or job), or everyone else does it (in tax evasion or environmentally unsavory behaviors) pale by comparison to a vet (this novel) or public safety official's comprehension and reconciliation of an act of extreme violence to other human beings.
In this case the author connects two such characters from distinctly separate generations that are equally reflective and emotionally troubled by their past military experiences. She (the author) expertly connects them via a number of equally reflective and also very "caring" characters, including and especially the younger man's girlfriend and older man's grand-daughter, Alice.
You can put this book down, and pick it up again, as I did (14 day library loan notwithstanding), but only until the 2/3 mark. After this point you have developed your own theories as to what exactly the older man knows, or thinks he understands, about the younger, and how the now troubled relationship between the younger man and Alice will play out.
I can only tell you that Alice will be wiping a spot of bicycle chain grease from her leg before you will be able to evaluate the personal theories this novel forces you to formulate.
This novel will leave you considering all that you have chosen not to share, the impact of this "non-sharing", and you may also become more aware and understanding of the cleaning man (who shows up at your office when you are leaving) sporting a "Viet Nam Vet" baseball cap......and limping.
My final, and admittedly somewhat obtuse, observation is that the author made a repetitive point of demonstrating the impact of the natural world (vs urban) in cleansing or at least calming both the emotion tension and internal unrest among the characters. I found this a very interesting connection to recent articles stating that the dreaded juvenile ADS (Attention Deficit Syndrome) should really be re-named NDS for Nature Deficit Syndrome - after several studies where placement of so called sufferers for a regular few hours in a natural environment dramatically improved their symptoms....
John M. Peck
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