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Title: After by Francine Prose ISBN: 0-06-008081-7 Publisher: Joanna Cotler Pub. Date: 01 March, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $16.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.47 (30 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: After
Comment: The book begins with a bang, literally. There is a school shooting 50 miles from the town that Tom lives in. This is, obviously, a tragic event, but it really does effect the life of Tom and the school more than it should. There is a new guidance counselor who changes all the rules. Metal detectors go in, books such as The Cather and the Rye are no longer allowed on school grounds, and brainwashing emails are sent to parents. He even goes so far as to impose a curfew on the students and no allow them to go to the mall. Soon people start disappearing. Tom is very concerned.
That's all. I really enjoyed the story and the plot, but the end was beyond disapointing. Nothing happens. The school is a mess and it just ends. The family leaves, but we don't know where they are going, if they get there, or what happens to the school, the missing people, the students still there. Absolutly nothing is explained. I would have loved the book if it had actually had an ending, but since it ended in the middle of the story, to be honest, I hated it. If there is a sequal that will be coming out, well then I take that back. It was very easy to read, and if you have the book I guess it is worth it to at least read it. The story is very interesting, and I even felt scared myself at times, thankful that I'm not in highschool anymore and that this can't happen to me. The ending is the only bad aspect of the story.
Rating: 2
Summary: A big disappointment
Comment: "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.
Rating: 3
Summary: Eh...
Comment: 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. I sort of liked it. I liked how it gave a perspective from a jock (a SMART jock) and the fact how it related to how others felt losing their friends and blah blah blah....I thought the book at least deserved 3 stars. The action was good, there was just no plot sums up this review.
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Title: The First Part Last by Angela Johnson ISBN: 0689849222 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler ISBN: 0763619582 Publisher: Candlewick Press Pub. Date: August, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
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Title: Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli ISBN: 0375813748 Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers Pub. Date: 09 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: True Confessions of a Heartless Girl by Martha Brooks ISBN: 0374378061 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 11 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Inside Out by Terry Trueman ISBN: 0066239621 Publisher: HarperTempest Pub. Date: 12 August, 2003 List Price(USD): $15.99 |
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