The following version of this novel was used to create this study guide. Pan, Emily X.R. The Astonishing Color of After. Little Brown and Company, 2019. Paperback.

At the opening of the novel, Leigh kisses her best friend Axel at the same time her mother commits suicide. This ruins her friendship in Leigh’s mind, even as Axel tries to talk to her. However, a bird visits Leigh’s home and she is convinced that it is her mother. Her father refuses to believe her but buys tickets to meet Leigh’s Taiwanese grandparents. Once there, however, Leigh learns that her grandparents burned the box the bird brought her. Furthermore, her father gets into an argument with Waipo (Leigh’s Grandmother) and leaves for Hong Kong.

Eventually, Leigh meets an English speaker named Feng who is close friends of the family. Leigh also burns incense that somehow lets her see the memories of her parents. Occasionally, she thinks of Axel and events that took place over her Freshman year of high school, such as him asking Leanne out. Desperate to find the bird, Leigh asks to go to her mother’s favorite places. At night, she burns special incense and items that mean something to the owner to see memories of the past, including those of her parents, her grandparents, and herself.

Leigh, Feng, and Waipo go to many of her mother’s favorite places in Leigh’s search for the bird. At one point, Leigh yells at Feng to leave, but regrets this and finds her to apologize. Throughout this, Leigh continues to see memories of her family’s past including recollections of her aunt Jingling who died of an aneurysm in college. It is revealed that this was one of the many reasons that Dory left Taiwan. Leigh also has memories of her increasingly confusing friendship with Axel as the two share many close moments together despite his relationship with Leanne. Meanwhile, her mother struggled with growing depression and Leigh struggled to adapt to it while her father spent most of his time away on business. Leigh also recalls the day that her art teacher asked her to submit her artwork to a special show in Germany. However, Leigh was uncertain about this as her father continues to tell her that artwork is a waste of time.

Then, after numerous attempts to see the bird, Leigh begins to see cracks in the world as she suffers from insomnia. She eventually calls her father back and tries to show him, Waipo, and Waigong the same memories that she has been seeing. When she wakes back up, the cracks are gone and she reconnects with her father. She then learns that Feng was actually the ghost of Jingling who has finally passed on. The family spreads the ashes of Jingling and Dory before Leigh and her father head home. Once there, she learns that she has been chosen to show her artwork in Germany and her father tells her they are going together. She creates art based on the memories she was shown, using colors in her drawings for the first time.