After

After
by Amy Efaw

When After opens, we meet Devon Davenport, 15, bleeding profusely, and hiding under a blanket.  That Night was a horrible night, and she’s not entirely sure what happened.  Her mom comes home from the night shift.  She starts talking about this abandoned baby they found in the trash can.  Who could do such a thing?  The police show up.  The find Devon.  They take her away.  What is going on?  It turns out Devon did that: she delivered a baby and threw it in the trash.  She didn’t even know she was pregnant!  Could she really be that kind of person?  Now she finds herself in a juvenile detention center.  She is facing her first trial: whether or not she should be tried as an adult because of the severity of the crime.  She must talk to her lawyer and psychologist, but nothing could make her relive That Night.

This book was haunting.  I know I use that word a lot to describe YA literature, but let me tell you why it was haunting.  I didn’t stop thinking about these characters for 3 days (well into my next book).  The night I finished this book, I dreamed about it.  I dreamed that I went through That Night like Devon did, and it was petrifying.  Honestly, how could someone not know they were pregnant?  Efaw has done some fantastic research and has created a plausible scenario in which someone might not know they were pregnant until they were delivering, and in the shock, dispose of the baby.  It’s not excusable, but it’s absolutely fascinating.  The psychology behind Devon’s story is mind-blowing.  While Devon as a character can be frustrating and kind of flat (a character in shock isn’t really going to be able to show you her emotions), the courtroom scenes kept me on the edge of my page.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com.

Tags: abandonement, amy efaw, book review, court drama, incarceration, infant abandonement, prisons, psychology, realistic fiction, teen pregnancy, young adult books