After Lucy

by Daniel Jones

Book Overview

Porter Ellis once believed he would be a famous painter -- until a decade of eking out a living as a graphic designer crushed his dreams. Suddenly his wife, Lucy, dies of breast cancer, and Porter discovers that he can't deal with her parents. Sneaking out of town with his twelve-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son, he sets out on an adventure that he hopes will mend their broken hearts. Along the way, chance encounters with a number of eccentric...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060959428
• ISBN13: 9780060959425
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Highly recommended

This touching and funny novel (the debut from author Jones) tells the story of Porter Ellis, a young man with a family and unfulfilled artistic dreams. His family, however, falls apart when his wife Lucy dies of breast cancer. Impulsively he trades in Lucy's car for a run-down hippie van and takes his two kids, 12-year-old Kaylie and 8-year-old Ben, on a road trip that he hopes will mend their broken hearts and shaky family ties. They don't reach their intended destination, though, and get stranded in an abandoned RV park in Indiana that's populated by a sub-culture of Deadheads. They meet some interesting characters, the most noteworthy of which is Delilah. She and Porter become friends, and when he finds out that she is a couple months pregnant by her ex-boyfriend, they set out to find him.For such a sad subject, After Lucy leans rather heavily towards the funnier side of the situations, but the serious moments occur often enough to have a profound effect on you as Porter questions the world and life around him. I would have to give Daniel Jones the highest praise for his mood renderings in the book, as he doesn't give in to the temptation to make After Lucy a depressing novel, nor does he make it overly silly.I really enjoyed the characters in this book, too. Porter is sarcastic and funny with an amiable personality and a certain quality of charm to him. Delilah's also very funny and she is laidback and nice, I liked that about her. Kaylie and Ben, while rather understated, are also good characters that seem like sweet kids. I think it's important for a story to have likeable characters, and this book definitely succeeds in that. After Lucy deserves the top rating from me.

This slim book is a satisfying read

After the long , lingering death of his wife, one man sets out with his two children to ...well, even he is not sure what he is setting out to do. Porter Ellis takes his two children and the impulsively acquired camper and sets out to reclaim his life. He leaves behind his well-to-do in-laws, and the remnents of the life he had with Lucy, his wife. The trip takes some unusual turns and the three find themselves forced to stop in the most unusual setting. Porter is gently forced to begin to deal with the loss of his wife, the didtance that caring for her in her last days has created with his children, and the questions often asked after death..".is what I'm doing all there is?" The affection and compassion the author has for these characters shines through, even the bigger than life characters. This was both sad and humerous...never mawkish...I think this is one of the sweetest books I have read in a long time, and it will be one I read again.

A Suprise

I picked this book out on impulse, having never heard of it before. And I am very glad that I did! This book was fun to read and the things that happened were very unpredictable, which seems almost uncommon these days with books. The characters and the plot made it so I couldn't put this book down. I definately recommend it

Superb!

From start to finish, "After Lucy" is captivating. It is full of wit, feelings, and extraordinary-ordinary characters and situations that keep you turning those pages. To Daniel Jones: Thank you, thank you, thank you! To everyone else - try this book, you'll like it!

a road book unlike any other

I loved this book. The characters are unusual yet totally recognizable in their humanity. Porter, left by Lucy's death to raise their kids and deal with her parents, is a sympathetic anti-hero, a not-living-up-to-expectations guy whose defiant road trip, he would be the first to admit, is a lame attempt to stake out some hallowed ground in an undistinguished life. AFTER LUCY is unlike any other road book. From the moment Porter and the kids drive into the abandoned Deadhead campground, you won't want to be anywhere else.