SuitabookThe Astonishing Color of After
Emily X.R. Pan
- Reading
- Consider checking in before reading if suicide or bereavement feels especially close. During or afterwards, discuss the difference between magical representation and literal explanation, and allow space for unsettled feelings.
- Themes
- Grief, suicide and depression: Leigh’s mother dies by suicide, and Leigh tries to understand the loss while carrying guilt connected with the day it happened. The reported treatment presents depression as a serious lifelong struggle rather than a complete or simple explanation for suicide.
- Family, culture and belonging: Leigh travels to Taiwan to meet maternal grandparents she has never met and investigates her mother’s past and family secrets. The story examines feeling between cultures, languages and family histories through Leigh’s search for connection.
- Magic as a language for memory: Leigh believes her mother has become a red bird; her search involves ghosts and magical journeys into fragments of family memories. The book leaves its stance open to more than one reading.
- Worth knowing
- The book directly involves suicide, depression, grief, guilt, insomnia and confusion, alongside ghosts and magical beliefs. Mild language and mild sexual themes are also identified.