Afterworlds By Scott Westerfeld
- Jan 29, 2015
- 3 min read
4.5 stars
What you need to know:
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This young adult fiction novel by Scott Westerfeld has a compelling storyline, interesting point of view, and an engaging sense of self. It raises questions about prevalent issues in the publishing industry while offering young writers transparency into the lives and minds of published authors. Scott's humor and relevance can be found in character language, references to pop culture and social media, and less than subtle commentaries on the nuances of publishing.
It will make you long for the luxuries Darcy gets as a novice writer and wish that your tight knit group of friends included John Green (though it's not like I didn't wish that before reading this book...).
Recomend for:
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YA readers and authors of all ages! As a writer and a Wrimo and lover of YA, I found this book intriguing and inspiring. The different layers compel interesting conversations between reader, author, Darcy, Lizzie, and that great big world of publishing that every reader/writer hopes to catch a glimpse of.
Plot:
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18-year-old Darcy writes a novel in 30-days, gets an agent, and is signed by a publisher for an exorbitant amount of money. Deciding to skip out on college and leave childhood behind, Darcy moves to New York City, the mecca of book publishing. She meets her idols, makes new friends, falls in love, and explores a world where she has little to do but write. Despite the gem of a life that has dropped into her lap, deadlines fast approach and she must learn to keep her life from puckering under stress.
But Darcy's story is only one half of the novel and cannot be wholly told without the alternating chapters about Lizzie Scofield, Darcy's protag. Written as Darcy's final draft, Lizzie's story is a paranormal romance novel. After surviving a terrorist attack by willing her way into the Afterworld, she becomes a psychompomp--not quite dead, but able to interact with ghosts. When she learns that the ghost of her mother's best friend from childhood still lives in her house, she befriends her and sets out on a mission to avenge her gruesome death.
The Long Draught:
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The dual nature of Afterworld is interesting because so much of Lizzie's story is drawn from Darcy's experiences in New York. When Darcy learns a new word, we hear it in Lizzie's vocabulary. When Kiralee, Darcy's childhood role model, makes a negative comment about the love interest being a Hindu death God, we see Darcy's struggle in his character development. As an author, it is somehow satisfying to read how Darcy transitions real life into fiction. In this way, Scott truly captures the beauty of the craftsmanship of writing.
The intertwining of Darcy and Lizzie's stories creates a faultless meta conversation between reader and author. For example, Darcy's editor tells her to make one her characters more "real" by adding scenes with her best friend. Then, we see Westerfeld take that same advice. As Lizzie becomes more real, so does Darcy, and so does Scott (maybe it was just because I got a chance to meet him at the book signing, but I felt like his voice, his sense of humor, and his train of thought was present the entire time I was reading). To be honest, when the story got slow, it was this interaction on varying levels that got me through.
Although, he must've been aware of the challenges and the limitations of doing this: At one point
I found a typo and had to do a double take. Was that an accident or on purpose to make Darcy's draft seem more realistic? Scott is walking a fine line here. I found sentences that sounded silly, was that his intention? On one end I admire him so much more for accepting the vulnerability of writing a book like this. Consider the romance scenes. He is a mature man describing a teenage lesbian's first love, and then delving deeper to write a young girl's lust for a "hot death God" from the perspective of a teenage lesbian who is written by a man. Whaaaaaaat. Book Inception.
On the other end, I can't help but think that it's genius because he just found the perfect way to get away with typos. His response: "Oh, that was not a misprint but a strategically placed "e" to represent the fact that a final draft is never perfect." So Darcy's draft and his draft both are never perfect. Layers, man. . . or is it just a typo?
I'll let you decide :)
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