Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Review: After by Amy Efaw

Title: After
Author: Amy Efaw
Format: Audiobook
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Publish Date: August 11, 2009
Source: Library


Why You're Reading This Book:
  • You're a young adult fiction fan.
  • You don't mind tough subjects.
What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "
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."

My Two Cents:

This book marked one of the first audiobooks that I've listened to. I found out recently that I can "check out" audiobooks through a app called Overdrive through my local library. The audiobook goes right on my iphone for easy listening. I really enjoyed the experience of listening to a story and think I will listen to more in the future.

Anyhow, that being said, this is a pretty solid young adult read. It deals with real issues and does something almost impossible. It turns Devin, a teenager who gets pregnant and hides it from everyone in her life. When the baby is finally born, Devin is so freaked out and distraught that she throws the baby away in the trash. Even with all that, Efaw is able to turn Devin into a sympathetic character, which is truly an amazing feat.

Why only 3 stars? I really had an issue with the way that the book ended. I didn't feel like I had closure on a lot of things. Why did Devin do what she did in the end of the book? I don't want to give anything away but the ending really made me want to shake her and ask her what the heck she was thinking. What was her motive? I just didn't get it. I also wanted more closure with the baby. What happened to her? What is the outcome of her life? What about the father of the baby? I feel that the book would have been a lot stronger with some of this information in there.


 


12 comments:

  1. I love audio books too and overdrive is amazing, although I've only used it for kindle books so far. I'll have to try checking out an audiobook. Some of my fave audiobooks are: The Scorpio Races, How To Save A Life, and The Night Circus.

    I'm sorry the end disappointed you.

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    1. I'm just dipping my feet in for the first time. I love listening to audiobooks at the gym; it takes my mind off of how much I hate being there ;P

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  2. Whoa -- sounds like a very intense read! I'm not sure I'd be up for this one, but appreciated your review.

    I never thought I'd like/be interested in audiobooks, but I started really listening to them last fall -- and now I'm addicted! I usually have at least one checked out from the library at any given time, and my favorite to date is probably Across The Universe by Beth Revis. It was pretty cool and powerful on audio.

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    1. My library actually allows you to download audiobooks on to your phones. The only problem is that I have an iphone and so any wma (windows) file doesn't work on it. There are so many more .wma files than .mp3 files!

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  3. I just requested this on paperbackswap last week and I'm waiting for it to get here - it sounds like an intense, contemporary read!

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  4. I reviewed this book around the time it was published. I thought it was an intense, powerful story. Amy Efaw's writing was great and she handled some tough, contemporary issues really well. I understand your point about the ending. I liked that it wasn't predictable and I thought it was real but also tough to deal with. It really made me think.
    Terrific review!

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    1. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to write a book about such tough issues. I really wish that you could more into Devon's head to see what she was thinking in the end. It just really threw me!

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  5. Yes, excellent review! Completely agree. I had the same issues with the end and the resolution. It seemed too "perfect", if you will. I don't know... Good book, though, on the whole.

    Renae @ Respiring Thoughts

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, Devon didn't really struggle with her final decision too much. It was just too neat for me. I thought she would have fought more.

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  6. Sorry, I know this review was ages ago, but just had to comment.

    There was a middle aged business-man looking at this in Waterstones last week, funnily enough.

    I keep wondering if I should get this. I'm not usually a massive fan of YA contemporary, but this could be interesting.

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    Replies
    1. Hah, maybe the guy was looking for a book for his daughter? One can only hope ;)

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