All the Tomorrows After by Joanne Yi, 400 pages. Atheneum Books (Simon and Schuster), 2025. $20.
Language: R (94 swears, 25 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
Sung, Winter’s father, left her with her mother and grandmother when she was a child and seemingly never looked back. A senior in high school now, Winter longs to run away like he did and is saving up to do just that, but then the stepmother Winter didn’t know existed shows up begging her to come see her father and unintentionally gets Winter fired. Winter is desperate enough to make a financial arrangement with her estranged father—how desperate is he for a relationship he turned his back on years ago?
Reading Winter’s story is painful because the weight of loss is something that we all understand. No matter how much she tries to enforce her protective shell of solitude, Winter cannot escape the pain of everything going wrong and losing pieces of her heart. To read her story is to recognize that every kind of loss and grief is painful and that it’s okay to allow yourself to not be alone, to allow yourself to make more connections despite the risk of more loss later. Her story cannot be described as enjoyable but it is worth it.
Winter is Korean American. While the book takes place in California, the majority of characters that Winter interacts with are also Korean. Melody is described as bi. The mature content rating is for underage drinking, mentions of drugs, illegal activity, kissing, partial nudity, innuendo, and sex. The violence rating is for assault, child abuse, and mentions of suicide.
Reviewer: Carolina Johnson
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