Book Review: After by Amy Efaw

After by Amy Efaw

This comes from the product description on Amazon

An infant left in the trash to die. A teenage mother who never knew she was pregnant . . .

Before That Morning, these were the words most often used to describe straight-A student and star soccer player Devon Davenport: responsible, hardworking, mature. But all that changes when the police find Devon home sick from school as they investigate the case of an abandoned baby. Soon the connection is made—Devon has just given birth; the baby in the trash is hers. After That Morning, there’s only one way to define Devon: attempted murderer.

And yet gifted author Amy Efaw does the impossible— she turns Devon into an empathetic character, a girl who was in such deep denial that she refused to believe she was pregnant. Through airtight writing and fast-paced, gripping storytelling, Ms. Efaw takes the reader on Devon’s unforgettable journey toward clarity, acceptance, and redemption.

The plot of this novel is nothing new in terms of a baby/child/kid being left by the mother to fend for itself. These stories pop up in the news all the time which is both sad and unfortunate. This book covers the storyline from the opposing angle and focuses on the mother after the incident occurs. However, even though the topic is not new, this was one of the most refreshing and new voices to come out of YA in a long time.

Right away you are probably thinking, "lock her up, put her in jail, what a terrible mother, how could she do that to her own kid, where is the father, where is the family, why, why, why?" Or at least that is what I was thinking when I started reading. These questions were answered by the end and not in the way I had imagined.

This book really puts everything into perspective about what the teenage mother was thinking and going through. You may change your opinion on a few things. Sounds like there would be no way, but I stopped many times while reading this book and had to ponder my very strong thoughts and some did change.

THIS IS ANOTHER MUST READ. I was not able to put this book down. I really liked Devon, the main character, and I was sucked into her world. I recomend this book to anyone - teenager or adult. This book will create great discussion about the topic of making choices in life and having to live with the results. There is nothing inappropriate in the book. It does discuss some of the delivery and her getting rid of the baby, but is done to illustrate some key points. Some scenes are graphic, but necessary to convey the emotion and powerful situations of the book. I am writing this review after two weeks of reading and I still remember the storyline and my emotions very vividly. This is another one to definitely check out. Ages 12 and up.

The author has some great resources on her website. The stat that one baby every day is discarded in America. Once again this book brings up another silent horror that occurs in our country that is rarely discussed very much.