SuitabookAfter
Kristin Harmel
- Reading
- Consider reading together or checking in afterwards if the accident or family grief feels close to home. You could pause to ask how the story is affecting the reader without requiring them to share personal experiences.
- Themes
- Grief and self-blame: After her father dies in a car accident, Lacey privately believes her actions may have caused his death. The story clearly makes Lacey’s guilt part of her experience, but the synopsis does not show whether the narrative challenges or sustains her belief.
- Family struggles: The synopsis describes Lacey’s mother as distressed and her brother Logan as drinking after their father’s death. These difficulties are presented as part of the family’s situation; their causes, extent and narrative treatment are not established.
- Worth knowing
- A parent may wish to note the car-accident death, Lacey’s guilt, her mother’s distress and a brother’s drinking. The extent and detail of these experiences in the story are unclear.