The Afterlife is the story of Chuy, a Mexican-American high schooler who is stabbed to death in a bathroom of a club in Fresno, California within the first chapter of the book. The rest of the story follows his journey as a ghost visiting those he loves and reflecting on his short life and what is to come after.
Gary Soto is definitely an accomplished writer and captures the voice of Chuy really well, and paints a very vivid picture of life in this area of California. The book's main themes are death and poverty. It brings up some important questions about death, including suicide, and is rather sad at times, so proceed with caution if you are planning to use this book in a middle school. Issues of poverty, crime, and life for Mexican American immigrants are also important themes.
While the book might not be relevant to every student's life, I think every student can connect to Chuy on some level. The perspective of a ghost is an interesting angle, so students will be attracted to that aspect of the novel. There is also a lot of Spanish vocabulary throughout the novel, which presents a good opportunity to use bilingual students to help and teach new words. The content is serious, but still appropriate for the middle school. I would use this book for 6th or 7th graders because of the reading level, most likely in small groups because it is short and might be problematic for students dealing with grief, death, or suicide in their lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment