“How can grief be so universal and yet still so widely misunderstood?”

In short, sparse chapters, Amy Lin shares her personal journey with grief after her young husband unexpectedly died. The chapters move back-and-forth in time which gives a sense of chaos that seems to really encapsulate her feelings during that time. I am fortunate enough to not have experienced any profound grief through the death of a loved one, but Amy Lin gave me some ways that I can walk beside others who might be going through similar circumstances.

I did a tandem read of this book while listening to the audio narrated by Lin (thank you @zibbybookspublishing for the digital ARC and ALC through @librofm ).

This would be an excellent nonfiction pairing with The Last Love Note, which is also published by @zibbybookspublishing

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
Memoir
Studies in grief that won’t leave you depressed
Very short chapters

Amy Lin walk us through meeting her husband on a blind date to how she faced his sudden death and her own serious illness soon after. Her words are sparse but powerful as she flows back and forth in time, sharing her grief and her path to healing.

A beautiful telling of grief. Amy Lin shares with vulnerability, her years and life with her husband and his abrupt and young death. The process of grief for Amy is deep, long, and personal, yet she shares it in words that are palpable.

This gives the reader the sense of what one actually goes through with the loss of a loved one. Grief is an individual process and one that all of us will go through in our own way. I am so grateful that Amy shares her feelings so candidly and unabashedly. I am in awe.

It wasn't a sad book, but a contemplative and sombering book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Zibby books for the e-copy of this book.

I've been neglecting reviewing Here After by Amy Lin for the past fifteen days and honestly, I still don't know where to begin.

Lin's memoir is utterly heartbreaking.

An unfathomable amount of honesty and devastation is ever-present as we witness Lin’s world crumpling around her. The strength it would have taken her to write about this horrific loss initially is insurmountable - let alone having to rehash everything yet again while this book was created.

Lin also narrates this audiobook and I have never heard anything that is more intimate. It was incredibly powerful and heart-wrenching to listen to the rawness in her voice as the emotions ran through her while she relived her memories.

All I can hope for is that this book finds its way into the hands of those who could truly benefit from reading it.

Thank you NetGalley, Zibby Books and Libro.fm for the complimentary copies to read and review.

This book will stay with me for a long time. Amy Lin's journey - past and present- took my breath away. This is so beautifully written and even though I cried throughout its one that I will continue to recommend. Her story of grief and loss and how to move on was heartbreaking yet so well told. Read this one for sure... Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A beautiful memoir filled with grief, pain, and sorrow. Beautifully and marvelously written, it's hard not to get sucked in. At the heart of the sorrow is LOVE, and it does not get better than this. A definite addition to our collection.

stoppp this is so heartbreaking and touching and tender and beautiful and tragic and!!!!

thank you netgalley and zibby for the most gorgeous lil arc! 4.5 stars rounded down.

This month's @zibbybookspublishing s release is beautifully written in a vignette style with extremely short chapter - almost but not quite a work of poetry, switching between the raw grief of author Amy Lin loosing her husband unexpectedly and moments of their young love before his passing.
This book is beautifully written, but it is so very sad - 1 found myself stopping and catching a breath, just thankful that my husband is alive and that my life experience is different.
BUT
Grief is such a universal experience, all of us are going to experience grief in one way or another.. So often it is an isolating experience but Amy Lin‘s brave and poetic memoir brings her grief into focus in a truly special and unique way, she shares glimpses of her way wading through the most emotionally gut-wrenching parts of suddenly becoming a young widow a part in life she never asked for but also can't shed or evade - and the book is beautiful, beautiful in its structure and simplicity as well as its writing.
Thank you, @literaryamy, for sharing your incredibly sad experience in such a beautiful and poetic way. I found myself crying and amazed at the beautiful writing all at once.

I flew through this memoir in one sitting. Amy Lin is a beautiful writer, and her ability to depict her heartbreak clearly and empathetic ally was remarkable. I was rooting for her so hard, and also rooting for her to be reunited with her deceased husband…even while knowing that was impossible. This is a beautiful tribute to him and their transformative love story.

“𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘧 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥?”

Amy Lin's stunning memoir 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥 is unlike anything I've read before. It's a brutally raw look at loss and grief told in a non-linear format that reads like poetry.

The short chapters (some are only a sentence or two long) alternate between the past, where she tells the story of her relationship with her husband Kurtis, and the present where she's dealing with his sudden death at 32 shortly after their marriage as well as her own brush with mortality. The way Lin juxtaposes her life before with her life "here after" is so powerful, as she questions how to move on and whether there is a "hereafter" for Kurtis. "I cannot believe in an after if I want to even try to stay alive," she confesses.

Listening to the author narrate her story was truly moving, and I ordered a hard copy after finishing so I can re-read some passages. This isn't an easy book to read but it's bluntness and beauty took my breath away.

Thanks to Zibby Books and @Librofm for the copies to review.

Loved this brief book on grief. Amy lost her husband suddenly. She is grieving a terrible loss and she shares just how crippling it is. Took only a few hours to read. This can be triggering for some but if the summary interests you I highly recommend.

Amy Lin’s Here After is a heartbreaking memoir about deep love and deep grief, following the unexpected death of her husband. Lin’s poetic words are raw, honest, and candid. Though short, this book is powerful, and I resonated immensely with the author’s perspective, questions, and challenges with navigating grief.

“How can grief be so universal, and yet still so widely misunderstood?”

Thank you to Zibby Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ohhhh wow. I wasn’t expecting this at all. I started reading it at a cafe and then on the train, and I was tearing up the entire time.

I love love love the writing! Told in poetic non-linear form — I enjoyed the the jump from past to present — it made for a compelling read.

It was such a sad story of finding true love, unexpected loss, and dealing with grief. How Lin not only has to think about herself and her health, but also how long she “should” be grieving for. How she wakes up everyday heart broken but has to put on a brave front for the public, so they don’t feel awkward around her!

Grieving has no end date, it’s a constant feeling that lessens one day at time.

Lin is an amazing writer, and I hope to see more of her work.

A remarkable journey into the exposed reality of grief told in unflinching and gut wrenching prose by author Amy Lin. Losing her husband unexpectedly in her early 30s Lin recounts the trauma of loss and the pull of grief. It is also a revelatory exploration of the ways people react to grief and what the grieving truly need from those around them. It is heartbreaking and honest and a book everyone should read.

Amy Lin felt she have found the love of her life. He unfortunately died at a race and she was left broken hearted. This book will definitely stick with you after the loss of someone special. A really good read.

Heartbreaking beautiful, Amy Lin's memoir Here After, is a gripping story about love, loss and what comes after. I liked that Amy chose to write in short segments because there were some chapters that needed additional time to process before moving on. I have personally lived a life full of grief, sadness, and death so to see Amy put such profound statements to the feeling speaks to her ability to tell a story. Here After is raw, unfiltered, and will grip at your heartstrings from beginning to end.

Thank you Zibby Books and NetGalley for the gifted ARC.

DNF at 60%. I find it so hard to rate/review a memoir - I appreciate that the author is being vulnerable and honest and telling their story. It’s even harder when someone is sharing their grief and documenting the love they had and lost. But you know how some people send you 18 short texts in a row, each with just a few words, instead of just putting together the whole thought and sending one text? That’s how Here After felt to me. So many very short snippets bouncing around in time and Lin’s memories. The writing style wasn’t for me - I tried both audio and print. Thank you to Zibby Books, Netgalley and librofm for the free ebook and audiobook to review.

Raw, heart-wrenching, beautiful and moving, Amy Lin’s debut memoir about the loss of her husband was so captivating. Told in short, poetic vignettes, Lin seamlessly intertwines the nuances of grief with her love story, taking readers effortlessly from past to present storylines. Her words are so beautiful, and I was fully immersed in her narrative of grief from start to end. It was heavy at times, but I felt like I was holding a delicate gift in my hands. I highly recommend this book to anyone experiencing grief and loss. I loved it so much that I purchased a copy of the book to keep on my shelf so that I may go back and read it again. Amy is a truly gifted storyteller, and I am eager to see what beautiful work she shares with the world next.

Thank you to Amy Lin, Zibby Books and NetGalley for an advance e-copy of this book for an honest review.

Stunning and raw and unapologetically, wholly, heartbreakingly human. Wow. I knew the outlines of what to expect, but this book still took me by surprise. I feel privileged to have a window into Amy's world - the utter devastation of grief and what becomes of those of use who remain here, after. I'm so sorry for what she's gone through - and so grateful that she created and shared this book with the world. She's a powerful writer and these fragmented, brutally concise chapters will stay with me for a long, long time. Thanks to NetGalley and Zibby Books for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

HERE AFTER by Amy Lin is a memoir written so vividly and compellingly that I felt like a privileged companion on Lin's journey through grief and living after the unthinkable has destroyed your world. Exquisite writing, so immediate I felt a part of this love story, picturing the moments and then the aftermath when the love story is forever changed. Painful and marvelous to read, feeling privileged by an extraordinary storyteller sharing the most intimate and excruciating journey that never ends, much as you might want it to while dreading letting go of the most beautiful unexpected joy of such a relationship. I received a copy of this book and these thoughts are my own, unbiased opinions.