After

Rating:
Summary: A big disappointment
Review: "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:
Summary: Good book for a Great Reader
Review: A boy named Tom lives with his dad. A near by school has a shooting, kind of like Columbine. Everyone is very worried about it because it happened only 50 miles away. Could it happen at Central (toms school)? This is exactly what his school doesn't want to happen, so they hire a guidance counselor named Mr. Wilner. This seems like no big deal until he starts making strict rules all the students need to follow. There are now metal detectors and safety guards. Things, in the students eyes, seem to be getting out of hand. And the parents? They are getting e-mails from the school which are somehow brainwashing them. Worst of all, anyone who disobeys these ridiculous rules will be sent to a camp. 3 kids have already been sent, 2 of them are Tom's friends. Will he be next?
I think the book had a great theme. Although the beginning was very slow. It's a long read for when you can't think of something to do.


Rating:
Summary: Deeper than the surface
Review: After was far from a great piece of literature. It in no way captivates you, or leaves you thinking "what great use of words", or "that was eloquently said". The writing style reminded me more of my 5th grade assigned reading, than a mature novel that would appeal to the age group it concerns. But that set aside, it brings up many topics that for over 5 years, we've dismissed. It's not hard to see its ties to the Columbine High School incident in the late 90's. The main topic deals with the abuse of power that many school administrators assumed. Dealing with things like unreasonable dress-codes, alienation of students, and simply stupid rules, the book clearly shows that schools have gone to far. Perhaps the biggest thing that bothered me was the use of completely fantastical ways to "punish" students who oposed the rule. The story talks about "camps" where kids who opose the new rules are sent. There they are supossedly made to do hard labor, and are often killed. It would have been a much better story without the fantasy. Overall, I recomend it, simply because it has a great message.

Rating:
Summary: Very well written, interesting plot, but it does have holes.
Review: After, the twelth book written by Francine Prose, is basically an intelligent horror story. The book revolves around Tom, a high school student at Central High School. When several kids are shot at neighboring Pleasent Valley HS, Central turns into an almost fascist regime.

The brilliant writing and creepy plot combine to make this a real page turner- but, unfortunatly, some elements of the plot border on being laughable. Parents being brainwashed from reading e-mails. A national, media-involved, apparently unmotivated conspiracy to send teenagers to death camps. The only thing that keeps this novel together is the quality of writing. Not only does it force you to keep a straight face when a girl is murdered for wearing a red ribbon- it makes it creepy.

It's a perfect book up until halfway through. Until then, it almost seems like an allegory to Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany. When the sense of reality is lost... so is the book.

Buy it.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible book!!
Review: All I can say about this book is WOW. It is so good and bone chilling that I almost didn't finish my midterm because I wanted to read it. I had nightmares that something like that would happen at my school and that I would face that horrible fate.

I will definetly read this book again really soon. Just not during midterms or finals.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: My Review of "After" (Warning: POSSIBLE SPOILERS)
Review: Okay, first here's the plot: A Columbine-like incident happens 50 miles away from the hometown of a teenage boy, Tom, whose perspective we follow. It seems to shock everyone, and just when the local school's students begin to calm down, a "greif and crisis counselor" is appointed. The counselor, Dr. Willner, seems to be a little psychopathic when he starts setting strange laws and rules, for example, no wearing the colour red, and no hats of any kind. At first, no-one pays too much attention, but when a young girl breaks a simple rule, she seems to suddenly disappear. At first, we're told that she's moved away. However, Tom and his friends, Silas, Avery, and Brian are suspicious. Then, emails are sent out to all of the parents citing new laws, of which most of the students are unimformed about. The laws become stranger and stranger, and the punishments become stricter, until a law-breaking student is sent to a sort of detention camp, which we know nothing about. More students are whisked away, and never heard from again. I wont give away the whole plot, but many dark things pop up, like implied murder and concentration camps.

Now, the review: I can't complain about the writing, which I think was fine for my age level (I'm 13). The plot was fine until about two thirds of the way through, but after that it starts to drop, and to get a little boring. And the ending -- unless there will be a sequel -- is dreadful. It was as if the writer just came to a dead end and took the easy way out, leaving us confused; what happened to those who got whisked away? Why did all this happen? How could emails brainwash people? What's happening in other countries? How come the government wasn't doing anything? I could go on. However, if a sequel is in the works, this book could definitely be saved, if it began where this one left off. Most of the aspects, however, were good; I always prefer a first-person perspective, and I liked how the story was nice and straightforward.

In conclusion, this book would be good for any twelve-to-fifteen-year-old who is looking for something interesting and slightly suspenseful to read.

Rating:
Summary: After
Review: 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:
Summary: an okay ride, but not well thought out
Review: The premise of this book - introducing the concept of an over-protective state becoming a police state to teenagers- is an interesting one. Teenagers in general are very isolationist, yet at the same time very aware of any inconveniences in their own lives. This book shows how those very traits are used against students to take over their lives.

But the premise is not fully thought out. Without giving away spoilers, I can only say that I was very dissapointed in how the plot was resolved.

There are some interesting observations through the book; some keys to the mindset of fascism. But overall, it's a thriller/horror with a weak foundation.

Rating:
Summary: Scary as hell.
Review: This book freaked myself and four friends of mine into extreme paranoia. I don't know how the two reviews below could give it such a low rating! It's not so much at the time you're reading, it's when you put the book down (if you can) that the chills start in and the reality sets in that maybe it's true. I mean, it's not like there aren't really cameras on the school buses, it's a fact there is. This book played on the reader's paranoia, and intimate fears. It was truly amazing and left me wondering what happened? What happened to those people?!
A must read for any conspiracy lover.