My Before and After Life

by Risa Miller

Book Overview

A story of the sometimes prickly relationship between adult children and their parents In Risa Miller's new novel, the first since the highlyacclaimed Welcome to Heavenly Heights -one family member tries on a faith that seems like a bad fit for the rest. Honey and Susan, two sisters in Boston, are shocked to learn that their elderly father has embraced Orthodox Judaism while on vacation in the Holy Land. His daughters fly to Israel to convince him...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312360134
• ISBN13: 9780312360139
• Release Date: January 2010
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 245 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.7" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Powerful read!

On the surface, this beautifully written book appears to be about Honey, a middle aged woman who tries to come to terms with her father's new religiosity. But at its heart, this book is about the struggle of one woman to come to terms with her own inner conflicts: between her identity as a middle class yuppie academic and her soul; between her solidarity to her neighborhood and her responsibilities to her family; and between her mind and her heart. While these age old struggles are familiar to everyone, they are also made new and interesting in this book through the two worlds Miller creates, a very colorful picture of modern-day Jerusalem, with its religious, antireligious and of course the occasional nut, and the very real picture of suburban America, down to the inner workings of the politics of neighbors, their relationships and their antics. A read well worth your time, the lyrical prose will be remembered long after you finish the book!

Thoroughly enjoyable, yet thought provoking.

I thoroughly enjoyed "My Before and After Life". I've often said that for most people anyone who is more religious than they are is a fanatic and anyone less religious is a heretic. This book made me think more about the emotions at play on both sides of this issue. The characters became very real to me; I want to know what happens next to Honey Black and her family.

Must read

If you have parents, if you siblings, if you have different religious or political views than anyone close to you in your life, you must read this book. The characters are real.......they are you and me.........their struggles to be close, to love one another will be familiar to anyone with a family. Can't wait to see the next novel from this talented writer!

Worthwhile Before and After Life

Risa Miller did it again. As with her first novel, "Welcome to Heavenly Heights", she got me quickly into the thoughts, emotions and lives of the main characters...I cared about them and worried about how their lives would resolve themselves. She was able to describe the father's turn to Orthodoxy in a empathetic and non-preachy manner, yet couched in a healthy skepticism that would challenge a thinking reader. Her parental and sibling relationships rang true as did her observations on the neighborhood's response to the expanding religious community in their midst. A worthwhile read!

AMAZING

This is an amazing novel about how 2 daughters react to the their father finding G-d. THis book is spellbinding, intriguing, with fully developed characters.. highly recomended for anyone with religious relitives, casual readers and any and everyone.