A Little disapointing but an interesting look at the Afterlife

The Afterlife by Gary Soto
I was a little disappointed with Gary Soto’s The Afterlife. I thought this book was going to be more interesting than it was by what I read on the back cover. The back cover tells you about the storyline—that Chuy is killed and makes the most of his “life” after death. So reading this I thought the story was going to be creative and intriguing. I did enjoy reading about Chuy’s emotions and how his views changed about those he loved after he died. But, I feel the story could have been better developed. Soto created two other ghosts, like Chuy, which gave him others to interact with since he is unable to talk to people that are alive. Chuy’s relationship with the girl that he fell in love with could have been better developed. Although Chuy and the girl spent time together, they did not really share enough information about each other. That’s probably why it’s called love at first sight and I guess people can say you just know when you love someone, but developing this relationship would make the book stronger.
I liked that this book incorporated Spanish words and at the end of the story there is a glossary which gives definitions for the words used. This is helpful for readers and exposes people to a different language. In addition, the language that Chuy used is what I would call “teenage” language because he uses words that people in high school would use as opposed to adults. This may attract more teenagers to read the novel.