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bookworm_with_a_brew's review against another edition
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
becsbookshelf's review against another edition
3.0
I read the synopsis for this one and was instantly drawn too it. From students to Harvard graduates. These friends have been through it all. In the lead up to their 15year reunion some are more excited than others.
The book flips between POV of all the friends, now middle aged life’s taken them all in different directions. For the reunion they are all heading back to their campus at Harvard to spend the weekend together. But when a member of the class idols found dead they begin to have doubts about each other and start asking questions.
This one subtly sneaks up on you the bam. Love, lives, loss, unhappiness and murder. Everyone’s got secrets, the good the bad and the ugly!
The book flips between POV of all the friends, now middle aged life’s taken them all in different directions. For the reunion they are all heading back to their campus at Harvard to spend the weekend together. But when a member of the class idols found dead they begin to have doubts about each other and start asking questions.
This one subtly sneaks up on you the bam. Love, lives, loss, unhappiness and murder. Everyone’s got secrets, the good the bad and the ugly!
breannaminisini's review against another edition
5.0
I really really enjoyed it. I bought this book on sale, liked the look and honestly wasn’t sure if I ever would read it. I decided, because of my original theory on my feelings toward the book, that I would listen to it as an audiobook. I am so disappointed I did and not read it physically. I loved it. Some of the thoughts and feelings described were thought provoking and compelling. I really enjoyed it.
e11en's review against another edition
4.0
This is my ideal kind of novel. The meandering inner thoughts of lost middle-aged friends as they blunder their way through a college reunion event. Some biting social and political commentary interspersed with drama as the story unfolds.
kaz14's review
3.0
"... she knew in her bones that they would never miss another reunion again, not for as long as they lived. It was like being let into Narnia through the magic wardrobe once more, or taking the train on platform 9¾ to Hogwarts."
Five close friends, and ex dormmates, return to Harvard for their 15 year reunion. Set over the course of one long weekend, and told in the third person with each chapter focusing on different members of the group of five, the organised and spontaneous gatherings offer situations to rekindle relationships, prompt memory and elicit much soul searching. Having never attended a reunion event, for school or either of the two universities I have graduated from, the concept and appeal is alien to me. That said, the reunion provides a unique environment for Dovey, an ex Harvard graduate herself, to explore the soon to be middle aged characters as they revisit their failures and their triumphs, and generally evaluate the lives they have lived and the paths they have, or have not taken. Throw in a couple of other characters, including a much hated American president's son and some AI and there is actually a lot to unpack in this novel which is character driven, very well written, and easy to read. While I enjoyed Life After Truth it did not quite live up to the expectations set by my previous encounter with this author's work, in particular In the Garden of the Fugitives.
Five close friends, and ex dormmates, return to Harvard for their 15 year reunion. Set over the course of one long weekend, and told in the third person with each chapter focusing on different members of the group of five, the organised and spontaneous gatherings offer situations to rekindle relationships, prompt memory and elicit much soul searching. Having never attended a reunion event, for school or either of the two universities I have graduated from, the concept and appeal is alien to me. That said, the reunion provides a unique environment for Dovey, an ex Harvard graduate herself, to explore the soon to be middle aged characters as they revisit their failures and their triumphs, and generally evaluate the lives they have lived and the paths they have, or have not taken. Throw in a couple of other characters, including a much hated American president's son and some AI and there is actually a lot to unpack in this novel which is character driven, very well written, and easy to read. While I enjoyed Life After Truth it did not quite live up to the expectations set by my previous encounter with this author's work, in particular In the Garden of the Fugitives.
astridandlouise's review against another edition
3.0
My first Dovey, and I highly enjoyed it. The story of five dormmates, turned lifelong friends returning to Harvard for their fifteen year reunion. Set over the course of the weekend we travel through different points in time with each character, dissecting their life choices since graduating college and whether they're where they expected to be at this point of time in their lives. As someone who in 2020 celebrates fifteen years since their high school graduation and largely has the same friendship base, I really enjoyed reading this. It was a slow burn but I truly loved getting to know each of the characters - I found it to be a great insight into character development rather than a story held by a rich and varied narrative. A story of personal growth and how friendships expand and change to accommodate such growth.
The blurb briefly mentions the murder of an infamous member of their class (senior advisor and son of the recently elected and loathed US president - Dovey actually attended Harvard with Jared Kushner, so make of this what you will) but this is but a minor plotline. Do not read this hoping for a murder thriller, as you'll be quite disappointed.
3.5 stars.
The blurb briefly mentions the murder of an infamous member of their class (senior advisor and son of the recently elected and loathed US president - Dovey actually attended Harvard with Jared Kushner, so make of this what you will) but this is but a minor plotline. Do not read this hoping for a murder thriller, as you'll be quite disappointed.
3.5 stars.
brewtifulfiction's review
4.0
What a gem of a novel.
Gentle in its telling, Life After Truth is a story about a group of five Harvard graduates. It looks at one long weekend spent together for their 15th graduation anniversary.
All in their late thirties, it becomes apparent just how much their lives have changed. Not only from the last anniversary five years ago but right back to when they graduated.
We get shown a glimpse of how they lived/how they are living. The divides in many things including class, race, jobs, families and religion.
Ceridwen has done a brilliant job at making this book diverse, excluding no one in her cast of characters.
What I read was honest, raw, truthful.
I really liked the groups friendship, as all of them together and as perhaps pairs that were slightly closer. Even with the differences between them, there was a simmering bond between each of them - even if part of those bonds were partially held together by secrets and little white lies.
As a thirty something myself, it made me think about how I've changed over the years, the path my life has taken compared to others in my life. I think I could hold my head up high at a reunion and have no regrets.
And this is what I felt with them. Although they'd all had their ups and downs, what had occurred over the years had shaped them, made them more knowledgable, still scared about what the future holds but also willing to continue to make mistakes along the way.
Life After Truth is a story that is quietly powerful. There is no major drama to keep you turning the pages, it is somehow closer to real life and it is that realism that makes it so compelling.
Gentle in its telling, Life After Truth is a story about a group of five Harvard graduates. It looks at one long weekend spent together for their 15th graduation anniversary.
All in their late thirties, it becomes apparent just how much their lives have changed. Not only from the last anniversary five years ago but right back to when they graduated.
We get shown a glimpse of how they lived/how they are living. The divides in many things including class, race, jobs, families and religion.
Ceridwen has done a brilliant job at making this book diverse, excluding no one in her cast of characters.
What I read was honest, raw, truthful.
I really liked the groups friendship, as all of them together and as perhaps pairs that were slightly closer. Even with the differences between them, there was a simmering bond between each of them - even if part of those bonds were partially held together by secrets and little white lies.
As a thirty something myself, it made me think about how I've changed over the years, the path my life has taken compared to others in my life. I think I could hold my head up high at a reunion and have no regrets.
And this is what I felt with them. Although they'd all had their ups and downs, what had occurred over the years had shaped them, made them more knowledgable, still scared about what the future holds but also willing to continue to make mistakes along the way.
Life After Truth is a story that is quietly powerful. There is no major drama to keep you turning the pages, it is somehow closer to real life and it is that realism that makes it so compelling.
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