“Afterlife” Explores Contemporary Themes of Community and Family Transitions City-wide Book Club, One Book One Broomfield, Concludes in October By Allison Eichner
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ulia Alverez’s “Afterlife” is the One Book One Broomfield pick for 2021. Acting as a city-wide book club, One Book One Broomfield, hosted by the Broomfield Library, serves to bring the community together in conversation and thought. With themes of family and hope in the face of tragedy, Alverez’s novel poignantly comments on the climate of the United States and how we view moral ties within our human family. Antonia Vega, the story’s narrator and center, opens the book as a newly retired English professor in present day Vermont. Her husband recently died in a car accident also making Antonia a widow, dramatically shifting her life. She is soon also confronted with the disappearance of her sister, Izzy. One of four sisters, Antonia, and her sisters Tilly and Mona, work to untangle family dramas as they find out what happened to Izzy. Antonia is simultaneously included in the dilemma next door including her neighbor’s undocumented farmhand and his pregnant girlfriend. An immigrant herself, Antonia is torn between her responsibility to help her family and the couple next door. “Afterlife” considers many contemporary issues in our country today as well as the difficulties of individual growth and change when life transitions. Most prominently, the novel balances the responsibility we have to do right by family and the instinctual responsibility to do right by the people around us too. Antonia’s selfish, but ultimately human, narration reminds readers that creating change on an individual level is just as impactful as enacting change on a larger scale. Alverez has published many books across literary audiences and genres, but “Afterlife” is the first adult novel she has published in 15 years. Born in New York City in 1950, she lived in the Domican Republic for the first years of her life before returning to the United States with her parents to flee the dictatorship at the time. Much of Alverez’s work comments on her Dominican heritage and life as a Latin American woman in the United States. Her extensive work has been awarded many accolades including the National Medal of Arts from President Obama in 2013. The novel is available through the Broomfield Library in both digital and physical forms. One Book One Broomfield will conclude for 2021 with a virtual author talk on November 6. Julia Alverez will discuss the book as well as answer questions. The author talk is free for anyone to attend, and only requires registration through the B-Rex activity scheduler to receive a streaming link. The library is hosting two additional events for One Book One Broomfield to keep
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Our Broomfield™ Magazine | September 2021
the conversation around “Afterlife” going. On October 20 there will be a drop-in writing class about journaling through grief. Alverez’s novel discusses feelings of grief after tragedy, so a professional with training in writing therapy will lead a workshop on how journaling can help you work through feelings of grief. Lastly, on October 9, there will be a drop-in illustration workshop hosted by Museo de las Americas. Explore family tradition and different pictures of a family unit through illustration. For information on all these events, where to borrow a copy of “Afterlife,” or to join the One Book One Broomfield selection committee, visit Broomfield.org/OneBook.
