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The After/Life The After/Life Odyssey Book 1 eBook Vardan Partamyan

Download As PDF : The After/Life The After/Life Odyssey Book 1 eBook Vardan Partamyan

The After/Life The After/Life Odyssey Book 1 eBook Vardan Partamyan

The After/Life is the story of Nad Raven who enters a bunker at age five after a nuclear holocaust and grows up in this insular society created in order to survive the apocalypse. As survivors are teachers and students of the former school that use to rest above the bunker, a new "government" of sorts is created where the principal becomes the leader and School becomes the center for daily living. As Nad ages, there is an evolution of ideas in governing the bunker that result in a dystopian society...a society that stirs up a rebellion and is no longer a place Nad wishes to reside.

I have to be honest, I have a love/hate relationship with this book. Clearly Vardan is creative, original and intelligent, that much is obvious. I admit I had difficulty believing in the narrative of the 5 year old Nad. Occasionally, I caught a glimpse of a child's perspective to the turmoil surrounding him, but primarily I just couldn't visualize the depth of his understanding of the situation or the fact that he was relating the Rolling Stone's lyrics to the chaos ensuing; no five year old I know is that philosophical.

I appreciate how Vardan uses Nad's internal dialogue and stream of consciousness to tell the story, but at times it felt manic, confusing and down right lacking the human connection. What I mean by that is that there isn't a lot of dialogue with other characters, but when there was, I was rejoicing. I kind of get it though...Nad is a bit self-absorbed, a tad-selfish and reeks of male stupidity at times.

As much as I appreciate Nad's internal dialogue, there was too much philosophical pandering. I love a great, thought-provoking quote, but I felt bombarded with them constantly and sometimes I just want to enjoy the story, not decipher it. I kept thinking about the literary acclaim of Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (not my favorite book by any means) in relation to Nad and his journey. What I mean is that I really loathe him in general and I want to grab him and shake him, but I still found myself hoping that he would catch on and do the right thing.

Here is another literary comparison for you, if you like the poetry of ee Cummings, jump on this book wagon because Vardan's writing not only philosophical resembles her writing, but physically as well. This book is chalked full of run-on sentences, paragraphs that travel down the page road for miles, random paragraph delineation, oddly spaced words and tons and tons of parentheses. Even though this style is intended, I still think a big red editing pen is needed to correct typos, missing quotation marks, etc. After becoming absorbed in the plot, I began to ignore these distractions in order to get to the real action.

My final thoughts, although this might not be my normal cup of tea, I found the plot intriguing, it stirs up a controversy of questions and it is thought-provoking for sure...the comparison to Salinger and Cummings sums it up pretty well. If you are looking for a hearty, well participated book club gathering (beware of your audience due to profanity), this is your book...although you may not be popular afterwards.


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The After/Life The After/Life Odyssey Book 1 eBook Vardan Partamyan Reviews

I have always been a big fan of “end of the world” stories and movies, such as “I am Legend” and “Night of the Living Dead.” I am fascinated by the idea of people being placed in situations where their reality is completely turned upside down and they must survive in a nightmarish world.

“The After/Life” places protagonist, Nad Raven, in just such a dire situation.

Following a nuclear holocaust, Ned grows up in an underground bunker beneath his school. A new society begins to from comprised of the students and teachers from the school. As Nad matures, he questions the leadership role of the principal/Stalin-esque leader. Nad suspects that the small band of people from his school are not the only survivors.

I liked the style and content of the book. The dystopian world that the author crafts provides great food for thought and made me ponder how I would respond if I were in a situation like Nad’s. Given my proclivity for enjoyment of type of story, perhaps I spent a longer time in “pondering” than the average reader.

Allusions to the song "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones and the book “The Odyssey” by Homer added depth to the story and was a nice touch.

I look forward to spending more time in this distinctive world, and to see how romance grows between Nad and girlfriend, Suzanne, in future installments in what promises to be an intriguing series.
Originally posted in http//threeblankpages.blogspot.com/2013/05/book-review-and-giveaway-after-life-by.html

I got this book when this was on sale here in . I was really intrigued by this book you know. So here is my review

COVER

As some of you don't know, the cover of this book won the best e-book cover in THE BOOK DESIGNER website. It's just right because the cover is really good and really intriguing. It's very different and unique as well.

CHARACTERS

Some doesn't like him but I really like the main character, Nad Raven. He is full of flaws. He is alcoholic and he smokes. He is one of the survivors in the apocalypse. He is one of the students who got to stay in the School they created in a nuclear shielded box/ building, which holds 170 humans inside of it, makes it look big. He was just a little boy when the bomb/ he wants to call a mushroom destroyed the whole city above ground, and now, more than 20 years have passed and he needs to do something out of love or maybe out of looking for happiness as well.

PLOT

This got to be a short book because I just read it for less than 2 hours. It was so snakey (bitin) haha. I mean it was lacking. I was lacked by it. I want more action and more happenings in the book. It seems it was hastened / fastened. I have lots of questions that weren't answered. The way also the writer writes some adlibs/ small explanations/ small thoughts makes it somehow confusing and annoying.

But what I love about the plot is that it has a good world building. If it was further described, it would have been better. Then there was a good transition in the happenings. There was also good flashbacks and foreshadowing techniques.

CONCLUSION

Interesting, fast and intriguing, this book could top other high-ranked dystopian books. But, even though it was short, it still filled my level of satisfaction quite a bit. )

4.5/5
The After/Life is the story of Nad Raven who enters a bunker at age five after a nuclear holocaust and grows up in this insular society created in order to survive the apocalypse. As survivors are teachers and students of the former school that use to rest above the bunker, a new "government" of sorts is created where the principal becomes the leader and School becomes the center for daily living. As Nad ages, there is an evolution of ideas in governing the bunker that result in a dystopian society...a society that stirs up a rebellion and is no longer a place Nad wishes to reside.

I have to be honest, I have a love/hate relationship with this book. Clearly Vardan is creative, original and intelligent, that much is obvious. I admit I had difficulty believing in the narrative of the 5 year old Nad. Occasionally, I caught a glimpse of a child's perspective to the turmoil surrounding him, but primarily I just couldn't visualize the depth of his understanding of the situation or the fact that he was relating the Rolling Stone's lyrics to the chaos ensuing; no five year old I know is that philosophical.

I appreciate how Vardan uses Nad's internal dialogue and stream of consciousness to tell the story, but at times it felt manic, confusing and down right lacking the human connection. What I mean by that is that there isn't a lot of dialogue with other characters, but when there was, I was rejoicing. I kind of get it though...Nad is a bit self-absorbed, a tad-selfish and reeks of male stupidity at times.

As much as I appreciate Nad's internal dialogue, there was too much philosophical pandering. I love a great, thought-provoking quote, but I felt bombarded with them constantly and sometimes I just want to enjoy the story, not decipher it. I kept thinking about the literary acclaim of Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (not my favorite book by any means) in relation to Nad and his journey. What I mean is that I really loathe him in general and I want to grab him and shake him, but I still found myself hoping that he would catch on and do the right thing.

Here is another literary comparison for you, if you like the poetry of ee Cummings, jump on this book wagon because Vardan's writing not only philosophical resembles her writing, but physically as well. This book is chalked full of run-on sentences, paragraphs that travel down the page road for miles, random paragraph delineation, oddly spaced words and tons and tons of parentheses. Even though this style is intended, I still think a big red editing pen is needed to correct typos, missing quotation marks, etc. After becoming absorbed in the plot, I began to ignore these distractions in order to get to the real action.

My final thoughts, although this might not be my normal cup of tea, I found the plot intriguing, it stirs up a controversy of questions and it is thought-provoking for sure...the comparison to Salinger and Cummings sums it up pretty well. If you are looking for a hearty, well participated book club gathering (beware of your audience due to profanity), this is your book...although you may not be popular afterwards.