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Book Review of After Long Silence

After Long Silence
reviewed on + 168 more book reviews


My disclaimer is that I love and adore Sheri Tepper. I'll read anything and everything by her. For those of you who are looking at potentially reading some Tepper books - don't be discouraged by my review! She really is a phenomenal author.

Having said that, I just couldn't get into this novel. Maybe it was because I had just finished reading Singer from the Sea, followed by Grass - both superb Tepper books. So, this one seemed sort of ho hum after those. The book did keep me reading to the end, as Tepper did a good job of ever so slowly revealing the mystery surrounding the presences. But, otherwise, I could not make myself care about the main male character. Whether he died or didn't, whether bad things happened to him or good - it was all the same to me. The Presences were much more interesting, and overshadowed the male character in interest.

I also agree with another reviewer who said this book was like a response to "Crystal Singer." However, if it matters, I thought Tepper's version was far more interesting.

Truthfully, I can't bear to give Tepper anything but 5 stars. However, if this is your first time discovering Tepper, I'd head for her other books first and come back to this one later. Otherwise you might decide Tepper isn't that interesting and miss out on all her other brilliant books!