Monday, January 14, 2019

The Afterlife of Holly Chase Review


The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand is a young adult retelling of The Christmas Carol. It is about teen Holly who is a scrooge and after having her Christmas Eve visit from the three ghosts, she refuses to change and dies on Christmas day. So begins the real story.


I gave this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. This was a fascinating read. I really enjoyed the premise and the outcome of her story. The plot was very well done, if a bit slow in places. I did find the ending a little confusing about timelines and all, but was still overall happy with how she wrapped it up.

The characters were wonderfully done. Each one unique with their own voice and personalities that just jumped off the pages. I found the representation of a modern experience like in The Christmas Carol to be extremely realistic and the character development felt slow but pretty natural. Holly isn't a likable character (extremely selfish), but that is the point and we want to see her change. 

This in no way takes away from the original piece, but modernizes and expands upon it. Readers might find it helpful to read the original before reading this one because they do often reference Dickens work and talk in specifics about characters and their role in the story, but Hand’s story is still perfectly understandable if you haven’t read it (it just might add depth to the reading experience).

No comments:

Post a Comment

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma

  The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma by Trenton Lee Stewart is the third book in his children’s adventure series. W...