Julie's Review: Ask Again Later

Summary: Emily has a tendency to live with one foot out the door. When her mother dramatically announces, "They've found a lump," Emily gladly leaves behind her career, her boyfriend, and those pesky, unans­werable questions about who she is and what she's doing with her life to be by her mother's side. But back in her childhood bedroom, Emily realizes that she hasn't run fast or far enough—especially when she opens the door, quite literally, to find her past staring her in the face.
~harpercollins.com

Review: Ask Again Later is another choice from Alice for our List Swap Challenge. While I felt it started off a bit shaky and scattered, it found its legs and grew on me.

We are quickly introduced to Emily, a 30 year old who uprooted her life when her mother calls her to tell her she has cancer and is dying. Emily is working in her father's law office as a receptionist and has major issues stemming from her parents' divorce when she was young. To say that her adult life has suffered from her childhood would be putting it mildly. Her father was absent from her life for about 20 years and her mother has her own issues. Not to mention her sister who barely speaks to their mother and won't acknowledge their father's existence.

Parts of the book are told in flashbacks and then brought present day towards the end of the book. For me the first part of the novel seemed choppy and scattered, much like Emily. The second part flowed better and seemed more coherent, again like Emily. Believe me the correlation wasn't lost on this reader.

Initially I was irritated with Emily. I wanted her to quit whining about her deadbeat father and her slightly irrational mother and get her own life together. As I read on, Emily grew on me. She was taking the steps to get her life together; seeing a shrink, working on her psychoses on her own and trying to establish healthy relationships with her parents.

Having someone in your family get ill can put all kinds of things in perspective, for you and for them. I think that Emily begins to heal a bit when she sees her parents in the same room and getting along. Of course, it helps that her mother actually starts to tell her some things from her childhood and that she starts to realize that she is a lot like her father and that he isn't all bad.

There were a couple characters that I would have liked to get to know a bit better and that I felt were underdeveloped. I would have liked to get to know her sister Marjorie a bit better because essentially I felt that she was vapid and selfish. I would have also liked to know more about Perry and be more of a rock for Emily. I didn't get the connection between them.

I was happy to see Emily grow over the course of the book but you still knew that she'd keep working on her issues. The ending of the book was satisfying and yet I didn't feel that everything was wrapped up in a neat bow. There were a couple leaps in the plot to get to the ending, but overall I was left knowing that Emily will find her happiness.

If you are looking for a quick read over a weekend, then go and pick up Ask Again Later.

Final Take: 3.75/5