After [Paperback]

 

 

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They called what happened at Pleasant Valley a massacre. Dozens of students and teachers gunned down in the school's gymnasium before anyone knew what was going on. The most terrible thing is that no one saw it coming. A group of teens, loners, marched into the school wearing trench coats, tracked down the jocks and opened fire. Fifty miles away, the students at Central High reel from the news that something so bizarre could happen at so close to home. However, the students at Central High are about to realize just how bizarre things can be.

Overnight, new security measures pop up all over Central High. Students must now enter the school through metal detectors, bags are searched, and inspections are done, all in an effort to prevent what happened at Pleasant Valley from happening at Central High. After all, you can never be too safe, can you? And then a new Grief and Crisis councillor is hired to aid students in dealing with the tragedy. Dr. Willner seems to change the school overnight, adding new rules and regulations. No cell phones are allowed, a new dress code is introduced. Central High begins to take on an air of desperation.

Tom and his friends Brian, Avery and Silas watch as the school turns from a place of learning to a prison. Their parents begin to receive nightly emails from the school telling them of the possibilities of violence and how to protect their children. They watch the goings on with curiosity. Surely this was all for their safety, wasn't it? Students are afraid to step out of line. Silas starts talking of a cover up, a conspiracy. Something is wrong in their school and Silas knows it. Tom, Brian and Avery laugh it off - until the students start to disappear. Willner is taking over their school; they are being watched, observed. If anyone steps out of line, the consequences are severe. Tom learns that this is happening all over the country, students are disappearing without a trace or an explanation, Silas and Avery among them. They are sent to rehab camps, never to return. Tom thinks this is bad enough until the first student dies. Knowing he is in a race against time, he rallies together with his friend and the class pet, Becca, to try and stand up to the school and to Dr. Willner ...

Prose gives us a novel that is at times chilling, at times shocking. It is a slow book that takes its time to hook the reader and draw them in to the story. Once you're hooked, it won't let you go. It's also a stark novel, one that relies more on internal and external dialogue rather than the powers of description. It is also very reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984. Big Brother is watching.

However, there are a few interesting quirks about the novel. There are several things that aren't clarified or explained. We're never told whether or not this book is set in the future, for instance, or if it is a fantasy or a satire of real life. We never find out what happened to the students who have disappeared. Their disappearance remains a mystery even after the book is finished. It isn't even explained why the school is killing students and treating it's halls like a prison.

Now, the theme of the book is supposed to be safety gone too far. That's fine and dandy, but we still could have benefited from some explication. I enjoy fiction where I walk away thinking about what I've just read. However, "After" just leaves too many questions unanswered. There is vagueness to "After" that I found unsettling, that got under my skin; this may have been its desired effect.

In the end, "After" is a pretty good novel. It shows us what can happen when supposed safety measures are taken too far and that Big Brother may not be as unrealistic a portrayal of our society as we once thought.

I thought the book "After" by Francine Prose, was a great book. I read some of the other reviews and I thought to myself 'what are these people talking about?'. If you did'nt understand the plot then thats your fault and you didnt read the book carefully enough. One thing I didnt get was, Why did they name the book After. I personally think there should be another book to it.

"After" received many favorable reviews, including being voted a Teens Top Ten on the ALA-YALSA site. I must say, I was sadly disappointed after reading these recommendations. Reviews mentioned a surprise ending but I found none. What I found was a book with a very promising premise which did not live up to its promise.
The "After" mentioned in the title is "after a school shooting in a neighboring town". After the shooting, the school board hires a grief and crisis counselor, but he gradually begins to take over the school, adding more and more restrictions. When students go against him, they are sent to "teen re-education camps" and are never heard from again. Parents don't stand up to him because they have been brainwashed by the nightly e-mails from the school.
The "surprise ending" was no surprise at all. There were hints of this from the very beginning. The only surprise was that it took so long for anyone to do anything. One of the students compared the situation to "The Night of the Living Dead" and that's where the author seemed to get her idea. The plot is full of holes. The parents are far too powerless. The kids go along with the restrictions far too easily. There is no real motivation for events to be so extreme.
This book requires a "willing suspension of disbelief." Readers must believe, without explanation, that the school's nightly e-mail can brainwash any parent who reads them. They must also believe that none of the students has a trusted adult they can go to for help, not even a college-age sibling.
The most disappointing thing about this book, however, is that it took a worthy topic and then dropped it in favor of a cheap thrill. Schools have changed since the events at Columbine; metal detectors have become a part of life; drug testing is not unheard of. However, Prose didn't build a novel around this. Instead, she chose to write a thriller, carrying events to the extreme, and build to a climax which, in my opinion, fell flat.
I give this book two stars, because the writing was good and I enjoyed the characters even though I felt the plot was weak.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Eh...
I'll admit, it was an okay book, but it WAS confusing. First of all, I didn't get the plot. As others before me said, it's a 'swiss cheese' plot. It's rather messy and puzzling. Read more

Published on May 11 2004

3.0 out of 5 stars eerily realistic
When a shooting takes place at Pleasant Valley, a high school fifty miles away, Central High and it's surrounding community gets an "it could happen here" wake-up call, and a... Read more

Published on Jan 22 2004 by Elizabeth S. Gallaway

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good, a little creepy, but overall very good
I don't know why I decided to pick up this book but once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. The plot was a page turner. Read more

Published on Jan 15 2004

2.0 out of 5 stars What was WITH the ending?
This book was written for people who want books to end with nothing, so that they can come up with their OWN ending. Read more

Published on Jan 3 2004 by Zahra Kasam

2.0 out of 5 stars Good idea, no motive
There are some very good things about this book. The characters are realistic, the plot is eerie, and the book is suspenseful. Read more

Published on Dec 30 2003

5.0 out of 5 stars "AFTER"
After by Francine Prose is a great page turner. I didn't want to put it down as every page just brought you deeper into the story. Read more

Published on Dec 27 2003 by courtney

4.0 out of 5 stars After
When I first saw this book in a library, I checked it out instantly. If you're interested in a spooky mystery, you will undoubtedly be interested in reading this novel, and... Read more

Published on Nov 2 2003 by whitepinetree

4.0 out of 5 stars Be very afraid...
I became so nervous while reading this book. After a shooting at a neighboring school, Pleasant Valley High, the students at Central High are feeling the effects. Read more

Published on Oct 13 2003 by Karen Kirsch

3.0 out of 5 stars Okay
"After" is the novel about Tom Bishop, a fifteen-year-old who attends Central High School, who's world is flipped upside down when there's a school shooting at Pleasant Valley... Read more

Published on Oct 2 2003 by Erika Sorocco

4.0 out of 5 stars Helps young readers understand repression
This book is a wonderful way to get young people to feel deeply the horror of repression. Sure, they have heard about Nazi Germany, Stalinist U.S.S. Read more

Published on Sep 27 2003

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