the Everafter by Huntley

Madison is dead and is reliving her life through lost while she was alive and now found in what she calls "is". This book has received many wonderful reviews. But, until the last 30 pages or so of this 244 page book it reads pretty much like chick lit. It is a series of scenes involving dating, parties, girl friend fights and stuff, sometimes repeated when Madison revisits these important scenes from her life multiple times. Maybe because she is dead we don't get much sense of Madison's personality, hopes, dreams, strengths, etc. Characterization is important to me. The only thing I really got from Madison was that she didn't trust her boyfriend Gabe to be faithful to her and she was sort of mean or uncaring towards her girlfriends. Her ending revelations and her transcendence into everafter really didn't matter much to me when I finally got to it. The idea of reliving/revisiting your life either to get it right the next time or to come to terms with it isn't new either. I just don't get what others are seeing in this book. JDW11/10/09