After the Rain by Norma Fox Mazer

First published: 1987

Subjects: Coming-of-age, death, and family

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Domestic realism

Time of work: The late 1980’s

Recommended Ages: 13-18

Locale: A city in the Eastern United States

Principal Characters:

• Rachel Cooper, a fifteen-year-old who is trying to balance her coming-of-age with her grandfather’s death
• Izzy Shapiro, Rachel’s eighty-three-year-old grandfather
• Shirley, Rachel’s sixty-one-year-old mother
• Manny, Rachel’s father
• Jeremy, Rachel’s thirty-five-year-old brother, a Vietnam veteran
• Lewis, Rachel’s first boyfriend
• Helena, Rachel’s best friend

Form and Content

In After the Rain, Rachel Cooper’s emotions and feelings are revealed through her letters to her absent brother, Jeremy. As the story progresses and Rachel gains inner strength, the letters change to journal entries. Rachel and Izzy resembling parrying fencers, and the extensive dialogue between them enhances the novel’s readability. Short chapters introduce new action and conclude with thoughts that sum up the experience. The subplot of Rachel’s first romance prevents the major plot of Izzy’s death from becoming sentimental or melodramatic.

Rachel’s maternal grandfather, Izzy, is diagnosed with terminal cancer associated with exposure to asbestos. Because of his age and the nature of the disease, nothing can be done for him. With only a few weeks to live, he will quickly weaken. The doctor suggests that the family not inform Izzy of the diagnosis but make him as comfortable as possible.

Rachel dutifully calls Izzy weekly, but their distant relationship is void of affection. To her, he is a cranky old man who always gets his way. Izzy, a stonemason by trade, has always been physically strong and independent. When he falls during one of his daily four-mile walks, family members try to persuade him to move in with them, but he refuses. To appease her mother, Rachel agrees to accompany him on his walks, but she does not intend for them to become a daily ritual. After all, she has her own life to live, and she wants to spend time with Lewis, her first boyfriend. When she does not show up one day, Izzy calls and wants to know why she did not come; he had been waiting for her. Rachel realizes that he has begun to expect her companionship. When she tries to tell her parents that she does not want this responsibility, her mother thanks her for her help.

Although Izzy has been an ever-present force in her life, this is the first time Rachel remembers being alone with him. The realization sinks in that Izzy is enjoying her company. Rachel turns the walks into a project of trying to learn family history. Izzy withholds information and resents her inquisitiveness until the day he guides her to the bridges that he helped build over Clearbook Creek. Together they search for, but do not find, his handprint left on one of the bridges.

As Izzy weakens, Rachel’s care for him expands. Hesitantly, he reveals some of his inner thoughts, and she senses the strong love he had for his wife. She realizes that Izzy only tells what he wants others to know. She begins to see through the rough façade that he has created.

Knowing that their time together is brief, Rachel becomes devoted to Izzy. When his death occurs, she is beside him. The gap between them has narrowed into an affectionate relationship. Rachel is resentful because it took his death to bring them together but thankful that they made peace before it was too late. After his death, she enlists the help of Lewis, and together they search the bridges until she finds his handprint, the symbol that his life had value.

Critical Context

Loss and the healing process are the main topics in many of Norma Fox Mazer’s books. In Out of Control (1993), the protagonist must deal with the loss of innocence when her view of the world through rose-colored glasses is shattered by a sexual harassment incident. In this story, forgiveness is the instrument that allows healing to occur. Loss of security is the subject in Downtown (1984) and the near loss of virginity is portrayed in Up in Seth’s Room (1979). Newly discovered love is the vehicle that Rachel uses to deal with and heal from the loss of her grandfather in After the Rain. All of Mazer’s books address natural coming-of-age experiences that teenagers undergo. A budding romance is used as a subtheme in After the Rain to soften the impact of death. The ending allows the reader to realize that loss is part of life.

This theme can be seen in other young adult titles. Cynthia Rylant’s Missing May (1992) uses flashbacks to relate how the protagonist deals with the death of her aunt. Similarly, fond memories are used to describe a child’s grief for her deceased mother in Walk Two Moons (1994). Jan Hudson’s Sweetgrass (1991) looks at death through what might have been had a young person not died. Unlike these titles, After the Rain does not use the past to portray the grief caused by death, instead using present relationships subtly to relay the sorrow felt when death occurs. After the Rain stresses the importance of putting things right while there is still time.