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After
The Barnes & Noble Review
Blue Angel novelist Francine Prose speaks to younger audiences in this unsettling drama about one high school's experiences following a shooting at a neighboring school.
Blue Angel novelist Francine Prose speaks to younger audiences in this unsettling drama about one high school's experiences following a shooting at a neighboring school.
When nearby Pleasant Valley experiences fatal gun violence, Tom Bishop and the other Central High students endure a startling transformation in the name of "safety." With a newly hired guidance counselor -- a frosty Dr. Willard -- aboard, the school installs metal detectors, searches bags, and tests students for drugs, even outlawing the color red because of its gang associations. Students and staff feel jittery about the new procedures, but when parents start acting like "robots" (due to brainwashing emails from the school) and "troubled" kids begin disappearing into "rehabilitation" camps, things are clearly out of control. Thankfully, Tom's parents haven't been reading the emails, and the Bishops wind up hightailing it away from Central for good.
A novel that explores the relation between safety and paranoia -- extending it to a chilling conclusion -- After leaves readers with thought-provoking aftershocks. Prose's overarching message about where privacy and freedom begins and ends is timely, while Tom's confused voice is the perfect narration. A useful springboard for talks about a tough issue. Matt Warner
330 pages, Hardcover
First published March 18, 2003
58 people are currently reading
1480 people want to read
About the author
Francine Prose
154 books863 followersFrancine Prose is the author of twenty works of fiction. Her novel A Changed Man won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and Blue Angel was a finalist for the National Book Award. Her most recent works of nonfiction include the highly acclaimed Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, and the New York Times bestseller Reading Like a Writer. The recipient of numerous grants and honors, including a Guggenheim and a Fulbright, a Director's Fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, Prose is a former president of PEN American Center, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her most recent book is Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932. She lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 324 reviews
January 20, 2015
Somehow I am slightly dissatisfied by this ending.
It was just so abrupt, so sudden. All of these terrible things happened in the form of a school being shot up and that was used as an excuse to make things stricter for the main character's school. There's metal detectors, there's people going, you will probably shoot up the school if you wear long jackets and listen to music we find scary.
Things just kept getting worse in terms of kids being sent to scary wilderness reform camps and their freedom is taken away.
The ending just does not give closure and that is frustrating.
It was just so abrupt, so sudden. All of these terrible things happened in the form of a school being shot up and that was used as an excuse to make things stricter for the main character's school. There's metal detectors, there's people going, you will probably shoot up the school if you wear long jackets and listen to music we find scary.
Things just kept getting worse in terms of kids being sent to scary wilderness reform camps and their freedom is taken away.
The ending just does not give closure and that is frustrating.
April 22, 2009
As I read this book for the Teen Book Discussion Group I run, I kept hearing news reports on the ten year anniversary of the Columbine high school killings. Which reassured me that this book, while not great, was at least still relevant.
Tom and his friends are in class on an average school day, when everyones' cell phones start ringing. There has been a school shooting at another high school, not too far away, and parents are calling to make sure their own kids are okay.
The next thing you know, Tom's high school has brought in a grief counselor, and starts cracking down on security, just in case. Now, there are random backpack checks, locker searches, drug testing, and dress codes. Forget wearing that stylish trench coat to school now.
Tom is vaguely worried about it all, but he doesn't DO anything about it. Nor do any of the other characters, whether they are teens or adults. This is a story about being passive in the face of authority, and the consequences of that passivity. It's like Little Brother by Doctorow, but without the technology, or the exciting action part.
The situation goes from bad to worse, and we're led to believe this is all part of a larger trend across the nation. Unfortunately, the author doesn't provide a believable framework for this, so instead of feeling dread for the characters, I was distracted wondering about the logistics of sending all the teenagers away to boot camps, or wherever they were supposedly going.
So, while the premise is strong, boringly passive characters and a flimsy plot undermine the impact of the story. Too bad, because these are important issues worth exploring. Not recommended.
Tom and his friends are in class on an average school day, when everyones' cell phones start ringing. There has been a school shooting at another high school, not too far away, and parents are calling to make sure their own kids are okay.
The next thing you know, Tom's high school has brought in a grief counselor, and starts cracking down on security, just in case. Now, there are random backpack checks, locker searches, drug testing, and dress codes. Forget wearing that stylish trench coat to school now.
Tom is vaguely worried about it all, but he doesn't DO anything about it. Nor do any of the other characters, whether they are teens or adults. This is a story about being passive in the face of authority, and the consequences of that passivity. It's like Little Brother by Doctorow, but without the technology, or the exciting action part.
The situation goes from bad to worse, and we're led to believe this is all part of a larger trend across the nation. Unfortunately, the author doesn't provide a believable framework for this, so instead of feeling dread for the characters, I was distracted wondering about the logistics of sending all the teenagers away to boot camps, or wherever they were supposedly going.
So, while the premise is strong, boringly passive characters and a flimsy plot undermine the impact of the story. Too bad, because these are important issues worth exploring. Not recommended.
January 18, 2022
Prose’s propulsive young adult novel, written a few years after Columbine and shortly after 911, presents us with a world in which the controversial control and surveillance issues that arose out of those events have been pushed even further. The book is engagingly narrated in the first person by Tom Bishop, a smart-talking student who attends Central High, a small secondary school in rural Massachusetts. As the story opens, a mass shooting has just occurred at Pleasant Valley High, a school fifty miles from Central. This is too close for comfort for school authorities, though Tom and his friends—Brian, Silas, and Avery—think that the proximity of the recent massacre actually decreases the chance that their school will experience something similar.
Central High brings in a sinister grief and crisis counsellor, Dr. Willner, who introduces “protective” measures to prevent a mass shooting from occurring there. Metal detectors are installed at all entrances; guards are hired to go through students’ gym bags and backpacks; there is a Zero Tolerance policy for weapons and substance abuse, and since the Pleasant Valley High killers wore red clothing and trench coats, both are forbidden at Central. When a much admired girl continues to wear a red ribbon in memory of her brother who died of AIDS, she disappears. Because she has not complied with a rule, she’s sent to an “Operation Turnaround” facility for troubled youth. These places had a bad rap even before the Pleasant Valley mass shooting—bad enough for TV news magazine 60 Minutes to report on them. God knows what’s going on at them now.
Nightly emails are sent out to inform parents of the school’s seemingly endless new rules and initiatives for keeping kids safe, and adults are supportive of the measures. What could be wrong with being proactive about protecting young people? Parents and teachers fall in line, using the new therapeutic jargon that peppers the messages from the school. There’s an abundance of psychobabble about “working through our fear and grief” and “the hard work of healing and recovery.” The film Invasion of the Body Snatchers is frequently invoked by Tom and his friends; they observe that adults have become “pod people,” incapable of independent thought, brainwashed and robotic.
In the earliest messages from the school, parents are exhorted to monitor their kids for signs of distress. Later they’re urged remind sons and daughters to report suspicious behaviour—anything that might suggest doubt about the narrative that’s being fed to them. Cell phones are banned in school; so are certain books. A social studies teacher who once encouraged regular open class discussion goes on an emergency health leave, and the unassuming school principal, sidelined by the malevolent Dr. Willner, takes early retirement. Alarmingly, Tom’s friend Silas is sent off to a wilderness rehab camp in the Arizona desert, ostensibly to manage his problem with marijuana, detected during a random urinalysis in gym class. While under a form of house arrest before he leaves, Silas tells his visiting friends to go to the library to look up Stalin. Tom does, only to discover books on the dictator have been removed. It turns out that Silas’s paranoia, always attributed to his overuse of pot, has some foundation in reality. As the saying goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.
The story briefly turns into one of student resistance, but then . . . it just peters out. There are suggestions that what’s happening at Tom’s school is occurring at others and that the terrifying Dr. Willner is only a cog in a larger machine. As a reader, I expected to find an announcement for a sequel, an After After if you will. The conclusion certainly leaves you dangling.
Fear is a great controlling device. If you make people scared enough, you can get them to give up a lot on the pretext that their sacrifices are for their own and others’ good. Privacy and freedom—of speech, movement, association, and even thought—are compromised. Language is managed. Stilted psychological and ideological jargon creeps into everyday speech until everyone starts to sound the same as everybody else, or tries to, for fear of what will happen if they don’t. What begins as seeming concern for the common good morphs into oppression. In spite of its unsatisfying conclusion, Prose’s quick-paced and readable novel raises thought-provoking questions about matters of freedom and social control, the good of the group versus the rights and autonomy of the individual. Given our last two years, when some scientific voices have been de-platformed or silenced for challenging the dominant narrative about a virus, it’s not hard to argue that novels like this one are more relevant than ever.
Rating: 3.5 rounded up
Central High brings in a sinister grief and crisis counsellor, Dr. Willner, who introduces “protective” measures to prevent a mass shooting from occurring there. Metal detectors are installed at all entrances; guards are hired to go through students’ gym bags and backpacks; there is a Zero Tolerance policy for weapons and substance abuse, and since the Pleasant Valley High killers wore red clothing and trench coats, both are forbidden at Central. When a much admired girl continues to wear a red ribbon in memory of her brother who died of AIDS, she disappears. Because she has not complied with a rule, she’s sent to an “Operation Turnaround” facility for troubled youth. These places had a bad rap even before the Pleasant Valley mass shooting—bad enough for TV news magazine 60 Minutes to report on them. God knows what’s going on at them now.
Nightly emails are sent out to inform parents of the school’s seemingly endless new rules and initiatives for keeping kids safe, and adults are supportive of the measures. What could be wrong with being proactive about protecting young people? Parents and teachers fall in line, using the new therapeutic jargon that peppers the messages from the school. There’s an abundance of psychobabble about “working through our fear and grief” and “the hard work of healing and recovery.” The film Invasion of the Body Snatchers is frequently invoked by Tom and his friends; they observe that adults have become “pod people,” incapable of independent thought, brainwashed and robotic.
In the earliest messages from the school, parents are exhorted to monitor their kids for signs of distress. Later they’re urged remind sons and daughters to report suspicious behaviour—anything that might suggest doubt about the narrative that’s being fed to them. Cell phones are banned in school; so are certain books. A social studies teacher who once encouraged regular open class discussion goes on an emergency health leave, and the unassuming school principal, sidelined by the malevolent Dr. Willner, takes early retirement. Alarmingly, Tom’s friend Silas is sent off to a wilderness rehab camp in the Arizona desert, ostensibly to manage his problem with marijuana, detected during a random urinalysis in gym class. While under a form of house arrest before he leaves, Silas tells his visiting friends to go to the library to look up Stalin. Tom does, only to discover books on the dictator have been removed. It turns out that Silas’s paranoia, always attributed to his overuse of pot, has some foundation in reality. As the saying goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.
The story briefly turns into one of student resistance, but then . . . it just peters out. There are suggestions that what’s happening at Tom’s school is occurring at others and that the terrifying Dr. Willner is only a cog in a larger machine. As a reader, I expected to find an announcement for a sequel, an After After if you will. The conclusion certainly leaves you dangling.
Fear is a great controlling device. If you make people scared enough, you can get them to give up a lot on the pretext that their sacrifices are for their own and others’ good. Privacy and freedom—of speech, movement, association, and even thought—are compromised. Language is managed. Stilted psychological and ideological jargon creeps into everyday speech until everyone starts to sound the same as everybody else, or tries to, for fear of what will happen if they don’t. What begins as seeming concern for the common good morphs into oppression. In spite of its unsatisfying conclusion, Prose’s quick-paced and readable novel raises thought-provoking questions about matters of freedom and social control, the good of the group versus the rights and autonomy of the individual. Given our last two years, when some scientific voices have been de-platformed or silenced for challenging the dominant narrative about a virus, it’s not hard to argue that novels like this one are more relevant than ever.
Rating: 3.5 rounded up
March 2, 2014
This was actually painful to read.
The first and biggest problem is the writing. Our main character is supposed to be a 15-year-old boy but he sounds like he is in 6th grade and so do his friends. At first I thought that the characterization was off because Ms Prose simply could not write from the perspective of a boy and make it believable, but then there's the problem of the other students, and the teachers, and the parents. Either the author has never come into contact with another human being or she is a terrible writer. All of the dialogue is stiff and unnatural and the actions of the characters make them seem helpless and stupid. At one point our main character, a teenage boy uses the expression, they'll be on you like peanut butter on jelly, ah shucks.
Which leads me to the next issue, the plot. Forget about suspended disbelief, almost nothing in this story is believable or makes any sense.
For example,
Overall, the idea behind this story seemed interesting and relevant but the execution was atrocious. Nothing is really explained, basically a bunch of unbelievable things happen for no apparent reason. Also, the ending is a joke, it's like even the author didn't know where the plot was going and finally took pity on the reader by putting this sad book out of its misery. This book is on so many to-read lists and I have no idea why. Not suitable for any age, too juvenile to be YA, too many adult themes to be juvenile (school shootings, references to sex, and drug use) and too stupid to be read by adults.
Just awful.
The first and biggest problem is the writing. Our main character is supposed to be a 15-year-old boy but he sounds like he is in 6th grade and so do his friends. At first I thought that the characterization was off because Ms Prose simply could not write from the perspective of a boy and make it believable, but then there's the problem of the other students, and the teachers, and the parents. Either the author has never come into contact with another human being or she is a terrible writer. All of the dialogue is stiff and unnatural and the actions of the characters make them seem helpless and stupid. At one point our main character, a teenage boy uses the expression, they'll be on you like peanut butter on jelly, ah shucks.
Which leads me to the next issue, the plot. Forget about suspended disbelief, almost nothing in this story is believable or makes any sense.
For example,
Overall, the idea behind this story seemed interesting and relevant but the execution was atrocious. Nothing is really explained, basically a bunch of unbelievable things happen for no apparent reason. Also, the ending is a joke, it's like even the author didn't know where the plot was going and finally took pity on the reader by putting this sad book out of its misery. This book is on so many to-read lists and I have no idea why. Not suitable for any age, too juvenile to be YA, too many adult themes to be juvenile (school shootings, references to sex, and drug use) and too stupid to be read by adults.
Just awful.
April 14, 2015
After was probably the most frustrating book I have read in a long, long time. It began pretty well, with a decent plot:
Because of a school shooting in a nearby school, a guidance counselor comes to a boys school. He is evil and sly and scheming and part of some mastermind plot (that's pretty vague) to "conquer" all the schools and eventually the world. Or something like that. The "Mwahaha" factor.
Soon, people are dying, things are getting pretty bad, and the main character, a boy, is really disturbed. Finally, when it all gets too much, the boy tells his father what's going on.
You know when you're in middle of a story, and you see that you have like two pages left to the book, and you get slightly confused and extremely nervous, because nobody can resolve whatever is going on in two pages. You know your either gonna get dumped with a really sucky ending, or a dreadful "TO BE CONTINUED"...? Yeah, so I'm up to this part of the story when the boy is telling his dad, and I see that I have ONE PAGE LEFT and I'm getting worried, and then, the grand ending... (drum-roll)... THE BOY AND HIS DAD AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE LEAVE THE TOWN TO AN UNKNOWN DESTINATION.
Yup, that was it. They ran away. Anti-climatical and cowardly and soooo sooooooo annoying, they just run away leaving behind the boy's missing best friend and half his school, just running, leaving...
I could complain about this all day but really don't want to.
Sorry that you're the one stuck reading my ranting, it's just crazy disappointing that the story leaves you feeling empty.
Because of a school shooting in a nearby school, a guidance counselor comes to a boys school. He is evil and sly and scheming and part of some mastermind plot (that's pretty vague) to "conquer" all the schools and eventually the world. Or something like that. The "Mwahaha" factor.
Soon, people are dying, things are getting pretty bad, and the main character, a boy, is really disturbed. Finally, when it all gets too much, the boy tells his father what's going on.
You know when you're in middle of a story, and you see that you have like two pages left to the book, and you get slightly confused and extremely nervous, because nobody can resolve whatever is going on in two pages. You know your either gonna get dumped with a really sucky ending, or a dreadful "TO BE CONTINUED"...? Yeah, so I'm up to this part of the story when the boy is telling his dad, and I see that I have ONE PAGE LEFT and I'm getting worried, and then, the grand ending... (drum-roll)... THE BOY AND HIS DAD AND SOME OTHER PEOPLE LEAVE THE TOWN TO AN UNKNOWN DESTINATION.
Yup, that was it. They ran away. Anti-climatical and cowardly and soooo sooooooo annoying, they just run away leaving behind the boy's missing best friend and half his school, just running, leaving...
I could complain about this all day but really don't want to.
Sorry that you're the one stuck reading my ranting, it's just crazy disappointing that the story leaves you feeling empty.
October 4, 2007
A truly terrifying, edge-of-your-seat, if slightly over-the-top thriller. Those who find it farfetched may want to read the book Help at Any Cost, a nonfiction study of the "troubled teen" industry.
July 10, 2015
This book takes a look at a school after a shooting occurred at a high school in a nearby town, and focuses on the changes that are instituted by the school administrators in name of security.
The story is told from the point of view of a teenager, Tom, who witnesses steadily increasing paranoia causing rapidly diminishing privileges and escalating punishment, which started after a new "grief counselor" is hired by the school.
Dress codes, backpack searches and random drug tests soon expand into mind-controlling daily assemblies, book censorship, and camps for "behavior" problems.
The book gets a little strange about mid-way through, and reminded me a little of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", particularly with the way some of the parents completely check-out and let the school run their family's lives, but overall, it is a good book.
The story is told from the point of view of a teenager, Tom, who witnesses steadily increasing paranoia causing rapidly diminishing privileges and escalating punishment, which started after a new "grief counselor" is hired by the school.
Dress codes, backpack searches and random drug tests soon expand into mind-controlling daily assemblies, book censorship, and camps for "behavior" problems.
The book gets a little strange about mid-way through, and reminded me a little of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", particularly with the way some of the parents completely check-out and let the school run their family's lives, but overall, it is a good book.
January 18, 2009
Scary... After, by Francine Prose, is certainly a horror story of very different proportions. There is spooky, creepy crawly, murder-in-the-night type of horror stories, and there is the one where the horror is all around you, but you don't know what it means, where it comes from, what it is. One of the things that scares us most is the unknown. When you know what you are facing, you feel a lot more secure than if you didn't. The other scare in this book is knowing that you have no one to count on, no one to believe you, and you are not the little boy who screamed wolf. This book makes kids and teens really appreciate the parents who actually listen, who don't always do what they're supposed to, but only because they know it's rubbish. Very chilling, and very philosophical, Francine Prose stuns me with her realistic approach on horror in school.
December 31, 2022
Stinkin' creepy school! I don't know how I felt about that. It's obviously exactly what happened during WW2 with the slow lead up to concentration camps. So this was probably supposed to be a message for kids or something. But it was creepy!
June 26, 2016
Want to see more bookish things from me? Check out my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfer...
One day, while at school, Tom and the rest of his classmates receive phone calls from their parents informing them of a school shooting a few towns over in Pleasant Valley. Dr. Willner, the new grief and crisis counsellor arrives at the school the next day and begins to enforce new rules that the students believe to be ridiculous and unfair. As time goes on and the rules become stricter, kids begin to disappear. As Tom and his friends begin to realize that things may be getting out of hand, it's already too late.
Well... this book was bad. REALLY bad... When I first began the book, I was thinking I was going to get a story about the after math of a school shooting... boy was I wrong. The plot was extremely boring and flimsy. Nothing is believable or even mildly realistic. The concept behind the story was interesting and I think it could have made for a very cool story, it just was not executed well. The characters were all bland. The actions that the characters took and the thought processes they had were so unrealistic and overly stupid that it just made me roll my eyes half the time. The main character Tom frustrated the HECK out of me. The supporting characters were equally as annoying. All of the dialogue seemed forced and all the characters talked as if they were 12 year olds, even the adults. The book had mild racism and homophobic slurs in it that just made me angry while reading. Not to mention the use of the word 'retarded' as an insult. NOT TO MENTION that the author wrote about a basketball game and then said that it was possible to tie a basketball game... If you are going to include something in your book at least know that it IS NOT POSSIBLE to tie a basketball... like come on lady at least do your research....
One day, while at school, Tom and the rest of his classmates receive phone calls from their parents informing them of a school shooting a few towns over in Pleasant Valley. Dr. Willner, the new grief and crisis counsellor arrives at the school the next day and begins to enforce new rules that the students believe to be ridiculous and unfair. As time goes on and the rules become stricter, kids begin to disappear. As Tom and his friends begin to realize that things may be getting out of hand, it's already too late.
Well... this book was bad. REALLY bad... When I first began the book, I was thinking I was going to get a story about the after math of a school shooting... boy was I wrong. The plot was extremely boring and flimsy. Nothing is believable or even mildly realistic. The concept behind the story was interesting and I think it could have made for a very cool story, it just was not executed well. The characters were all bland. The actions that the characters took and the thought processes they had were so unrealistic and overly stupid that it just made me roll my eyes half the time. The main character Tom frustrated the HECK out of me. The supporting characters were equally as annoying. All of the dialogue seemed forced and all the characters talked as if they were 12 year olds, even the adults. The book had mild racism and homophobic slurs in it that just made me angry while reading. Not to mention the use of the word 'retarded' as an insult. NOT TO MENTION that the author wrote about a basketball game and then said that it was possible to tie a basketball game... If you are going to include something in your book at least know that it IS NOT POSSIBLE to tie a basketball... like come on lady at least do your research....
February 28, 2016
I'm not sure what to make of this book. The following review may contain LIGHT SPOILERS.
I was expecting a book about dealing with the aftermath of a school shooting, but it turned full on conspiracy theory and it just felt weird. Especially with a topic like this which I don't think there are a lot of books about it, I would have liked it to stay a bit more... realistic. It just went absolutely crazy towards the end and got kind of scary and I can't say it was bad, but it was neither what I wanted from this book nor what I expected. So it wasn't bad by any means, actually I think it was really well done, but I wasn't prepared for that and it made me kind of anxious. I'm just not completely happy with how this book turned out right now, but maybe if I let it sit for a bit in my mind, I will end up appreciating how well done it was and actually liking it more than I do right now, since my only reason for not really liking it is it not being what I expected.
I was expecting a book about dealing with the aftermath of a school shooting, but it turned full on conspiracy theory and it just felt weird. Especially with a topic like this which I don't think there are a lot of books about it, I would have liked it to stay a bit more... realistic. It just went absolutely crazy towards the end and got kind of scary and I can't say it was bad, but it was neither what I wanted from this book nor what I expected. So it wasn't bad by any means, actually I think it was really well done, but I wasn't prepared for that and it made me kind of anxious. I'm just not completely happy with how this book turned out right now, but maybe if I let it sit for a bit in my mind, I will end up appreciating how well done it was and actually liking it more than I do right now, since my only reason for not really liking it is it not being what I expected.
April 3, 2018
I really liked this book, although I agree with the Booklist review: it is "caught somewhere between allegory, dystopian fantasy, and YA problem novel." This could be a good book to read with Animal Farm, since this too seems to be an allegory of the rise of Stalinism. Equal parts Stalinist oppression and Invasion of the Body Snatchers, I'd say. I liked the characters, the suspense, and the struggle of good and evil.
June 11, 2009
Grade: 8/10
Pages: 336
Summary: School has become a prison.
No one knows why.
There's no way to stop it. bn.com
Thoughts: A very powerful book I read shortly after the affects of Columbine. It was very interesting reading a book where schools take things to an extreme to prove a point. Although it gets a little weak at the end, it’s still pretty good.
Favorite Scenes:
--The red bow in the girl’s hair
Pages: 336
Summary: School has become a prison.
No one knows why.
There's no way to stop it. bn.com
Thoughts: A very powerful book I read shortly after the affects of Columbine. It was very interesting reading a book where schools take things to an extreme to prove a point. Although it gets a little weak at the end, it’s still pretty good.
Favorite Scenes:
--The red bow in the girl’s hair
August 17, 2022
I must say, I’m usually very generous when it comes to book reviews because I generally love all books, even ones that sort of suck. But this book was just… terrible. If I could give it 0 stars, I would.
There were three main problems with this book:
-The writing style
-The characters
-The ending
So let’s jump right in.
Writing style- This book was from the perspective of a teen boy (I believe he was 15), but from the things he and his friends say, you would believe they were 7 or 8. At one point in the book one of the characters actually used the phrase “They would be on you like peanut butter on jelly.” First of all… no normal person has ever said that in their lives, especially not a teen boy in the middle of his hormonal, constantly swearing for no reason years. Overall the characters said some really stupid things and the writing of the book was just really bad.
The characters- The characters in this book had practically no depth, and there wasn’t a single one that I related to or felt in any way attached to. Like I said before, none of them talked like their age, and they were all pretty bland and boring. Even the so-called “villain” guidance counselor was boring and he also didn’t make much sense. Like… world domination by locking down schools and doing backpack checks? Ok, if you say so.
The ending- I feel like in the hands of a different author, this book could have really been something. The plot was good and could have been really great if it hadn’t been for the writing, characters… and the way it ended. This book could not have had a more abrupt, anti-climactic ending. It basically was a bunch of crazy events leading up to the main characters decided to get in a car and head towards some vague, undecided destination. I mean, yeah, leaving the problem is good, but at least… like… tell us where they were going? Or even have another book so we know what happened to them? There was no indication in the end of the book as to what would happen to these characters whose lives we’d been looking at for the past 352 pages.
So overall, yeah, not worth the read. I feel a little bad about leaving harsh reviews but seriously, spare yourself from reading this. I was really disappointed, given that the plot seemed good, but in the hands of this author it didn’t live up to it’s full potential at all.
There were three main problems with this book:
-The writing style
-The characters
-The ending
So let’s jump right in.
Writing style- This book was from the perspective of a teen boy (I believe he was 15), but from the things he and his friends say, you would believe they were 7 or 8. At one point in the book one of the characters actually used the phrase “They would be on you like peanut butter on jelly.” First of all… no normal person has ever said that in their lives, especially not a teen boy in the middle of his hormonal, constantly swearing for no reason years. Overall the characters said some really stupid things and the writing of the book was just really bad.
The characters- The characters in this book had practically no depth, and there wasn’t a single one that I related to or felt in any way attached to. Like I said before, none of them talked like their age, and they were all pretty bland and boring. Even the so-called “villain” guidance counselor was boring and he also didn’t make much sense. Like… world domination by locking down schools and doing backpack checks? Ok, if you say so.
The ending- I feel like in the hands of a different author, this book could have really been something. The plot was good and could have been really great if it hadn’t been for the writing, characters… and the way it ended. This book could not have had a more abrupt, anti-climactic ending. It basically was a bunch of crazy events leading up to the main characters decided to get in a car and head towards some vague, undecided destination. I mean, yeah, leaving the problem is good, but at least… like… tell us where they were going? Or even have another book so we know what happened to them? There was no indication in the end of the book as to what would happen to these characters whose lives we’d been looking at for the past 352 pages.
So overall, yeah, not worth the read. I feel a little bad about leaving harsh reviews but seriously, spare yourself from reading this. I was really disappointed, given that the plot seemed good, but in the hands of this author it didn’t live up to it’s full potential at all.
July 15, 2017
I'm still not sure what this story was really about. Three quarters of the book were anticlimactic, it barely held my attention or interest. There was a shooting at a neighboring high school and the grief counselor banned drugs and weapons from school and the kids were in an uproar because their privileges were taken away from them. Umm, you can't bring drugs with you. Anywhere. That's a law, not a privilege. Weapons shouldn't be in school either. I was confused as to why the author would have her high school characters whining that they couldn't bring drugs and weapons to school. What kind of kids were these? I understood why they were angry about the dress code and all of the other increasingly ridiculous rules that were implemented, but anyway...the writing was poor. I don't know what Prose was conveying at the end. Was there even a shooting at Pleasant Valley High School? Who was Dr Willner really? An alien? Was this a government conspiracy? Where could Tom and his Dad and friends go that was safe? It's like I need a sequel to explain what happened because 330 pages wasn't enough.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2017
Pleasant Valley wasn't a very fitting name after a kid pulled a gun at the high school, shooting kids and them themselves. Not only was this a wake up call for Pleasant Valley, but for the nearby city that Tom, another High school student, lived in. Tom realized after the shooting in another city that the shooting may have effected his school as much as Pleasant Valley. Metal detectors, searches at the door, rediculous new restrictions and a hostile grief counselor all combine to make school worse for Tom and his friends, Avery and Silas. It started with a girl named Stephanie who wore a red ribbon to remember her brothers death, and refused to take it off when the school banned the color red. She disappeared, but she was only the first to disappear.
My favorite part of this book was when Tom finds out who's been vandalizing the school, and helps them vandalize it one last time after security has increased.
I recommend this to everyone that enjoys an extremely slow and boring 30 pages or so in the beginning, but a good middle and end.
My favorite part of this book was when Tom finds out who's been vandalizing the school, and helps them vandalize it one last time after security has increased.
I recommend this to everyone that enjoys an extremely slow and boring 30 pages or so in the beginning, but a good middle and end.
abandoned
December 17, 2019I think Francine Prose is a great writer, but she has a tin ear about how kids actually speak. And parents. The dialogue felt so contrived and stilted I couldn't really give the story a chance.
February 14, 2021
It would of been a four stars if the ending wasn’t so abrupt. The book was interesting and all but it could have ended better it just seems to rush at the end.
August 11, 2011
I have definite mixed feelings about this book. The book seemed to have been marketed and presented as contemporary realistic fiction but as believable events turned into unbelievable ones, it started sounding like science fiction. I thought the premise was great and the theme important in our world: how far should we go to provide security and how cautious we should be when those in power use fear to destroy individual liberty. *SPOILERS* But with parents being "brainwashed" and whole populations of teenagers being shipped off to rehabilitation camps, the plot took a leap into the unbelievable and I started resenting it. For quite a while, I was totally into the story: it was unsettling and nightmarish, but then the author took it too far. No parents are protesting as their teens disappear? Where are the 8th graders going to attend next year? Who's going to run the world in a year or two if the teenagers are gone? Would those who survived the camps be reinserted into society as happy little robots or thoroughly cowed servants of the state? Where is the media? How could the teachers be so quickly controlled?
The cell phones and internet made the story seem up to date (2003), but stating that the main character remembered Columbine dated it again. That was 10 years ago (now)! If Tom is 16, he'd be remembering something that happened when he was six - not likely. Also, at the end they mention that they might go to Canada. Well, you can't go into Canada anymore with just your driver's license. Here are a few more things I just couldn't swallow: that the emails were brainwashing the parents, that the Bus TV was telling a twisted version of historic events, that this all happened in just six months, and that there were no cameras in the school halls to catch the graffiti artist (when there were cameras on the bus).
There were so many interesting, intriguing things about this story: how insidious the changes were, how easily people were duped into giving up their security, how "good" kids ended up being targeted by rules that were supposed to stop the "bad" guys, how the new rules made people apathetic and hopeless. The atmosphere builds until the reader also feels trapped in a horrible situation with no way out. I wish that the author had either let us think this was in the future (like the Shadow Children series by Haddix - totally chilling but clearly science ficiton) or made the extremes to which the school went to keep people "safe" less extreme!
(Some minor references to sex; most of the teens are mentioned as having smoked pot; very little (if any) profanity. God's name is misused once.)
The cell phones and internet made the story seem up to date (2003), but stating that the main character remembered Columbine dated it again. That was 10 years ago (now)! If Tom is 16, he'd be remembering something that happened when he was six - not likely. Also, at the end they mention that they might go to Canada. Well, you can't go into Canada anymore with just your driver's license. Here are a few more things I just couldn't swallow: that the emails were brainwashing the parents, that the Bus TV was telling a twisted version of historic events, that this all happened in just six months, and that there were no cameras in the school halls to catch the graffiti artist (when there were cameras on the bus).
There were so many interesting, intriguing things about this story: how insidious the changes were, how easily people were duped into giving up their security, how "good" kids ended up being targeted by rules that were supposed to stop the "bad" guys, how the new rules made people apathetic and hopeless. The atmosphere builds until the reader also feels trapped in a horrible situation with no way out. I wish that the author had either let us think this was in the future (like the Shadow Children series by Haddix - totally chilling but clearly science ficiton) or made the extremes to which the school went to keep people "safe" less extreme!
(Some minor references to sex; most of the teens are mentioned as having smoked pot; very little (if any) profanity. God's name is misused once.)
June 7, 2010
What could happen (and may be happening to some extent) after a Columbine or a Paducah? That's the premise Francine Prose uses to create this dark, dystopian novel. She carries the premise far out there, as a shooting at the high school in nearby Pleasant Valley (don't know if modern YA readers will get the Monkeys association) turns the midwest Central High into '1984.'
Stretching credibility? Maybe, but for me, 'After' was a bit too believable, in the aftermath of overprotective psychobabble and metal detectors in schools. And the details Prose adds to her portrayal of the book's delicious villain, a grief counselor named Dr. Willner, and all her characters, makes the story even more plausible.
The first person narrator, fifteen-year-old Tom Bishop, in particular, seems like a real kid. Prose presents him as a good guy, but one with the baggage and flaws we all carry around. Her non-judgmental accounts of his friend's drug use, his clique's uncomfortable attitude toward race, his guilt over his mother's death, his ambivalent attitude towards his father's new girlfriend, and his nascent romantic relationship, make Tom a great protagonist.
As the a cancer of fear spreads from Tom's school and into his community, he learns that evil can grow out of the best intentions, and in touch of hopefulness, that he doesn't have to accept that evil.
A chilling tale that got a sixth grader with whom I work really involved.
Stretching credibility? Maybe, but for me, 'After' was a bit too believable, in the aftermath of overprotective psychobabble and metal detectors in schools. And the details Prose adds to her portrayal of the book's delicious villain, a grief counselor named Dr. Willner, and all her characters, makes the story even more plausible.
The first person narrator, fifteen-year-old Tom Bishop, in particular, seems like a real kid. Prose presents him as a good guy, but one with the baggage and flaws we all carry around. Her non-judgmental accounts of his friend's drug use, his clique's uncomfortable attitude toward race, his guilt over his mother's death, his ambivalent attitude towards his father's new girlfriend, and his nascent romantic relationship, make Tom a great protagonist.
As the a cancer of fear spreads from Tom's school and into his community, he learns that evil can grow out of the best intentions, and in touch of hopefulness, that he doesn't have to accept that evil.
A chilling tale that got a sixth grader with whom I work really involved.
May 7, 2011
I first heard of this book when a kid I knew in middle school did a book report on it. At the time, I was obsessed with the implementation and outcomes of zero-tolerance rules in public school districts, so I set out to find the book with a preconception that it would be at heart a story solely constructed about that topic. Many years later, I found this book in a bookstore, bought it, and read it.
It has been many years since then now, as I write this review, but I still have the book, and am holding it now in my lap. Though it is difficult to classify, I knew even while reading it that this book is most assuredly not solely--or even primarily--about zero tolerance in schools. Rather, it is one of the most interesting emotional journeys I have ever taken in reading, as well as a highly distinguished example of emotional exploration in that it takes a common headline from the news--a school shooting--and, using the headline as a starting point, transforms rapidly into an exploration of a particular paranoia--the strong feeling that life is going awry in strange and nightmarish ways.
While any reviewers on other sites have disparaged this aspect of the book, I see this as an innovative and truly modern work--for it is one wholly devoted to the depiction of its central theme. I would strongly recommend that it be read in terms of its emotional impact, rather than any connection it may have to reality or to morals.
It has been many years since then now, as I write this review, but I still have the book, and am holding it now in my lap. Though it is difficult to classify, I knew even while reading it that this book is most assuredly not solely--or even primarily--about zero tolerance in schools. Rather, it is one of the most interesting emotional journeys I have ever taken in reading, as well as a highly distinguished example of emotional exploration in that it takes a common headline from the news--a school shooting--and, using the headline as a starting point, transforms rapidly into an exploration of a particular paranoia--the strong feeling that life is going awry in strange and nightmarish ways.
While any reviewers on other sites have disparaged this aspect of the book, I see this as an innovative and truly modern work--for it is one wholly devoted to the depiction of its central theme. I would strongly recommend that it be read in terms of its emotional impact, rather than any connection it may have to reality or to morals.
January 22, 2015
Another brief note:
In the wake of a school shooting nearby, Tom Bishop's own school brings in a new kingpin and extreme new security measures. At first these seem a tolerable precaution, but as the new regulations become ever more complex and arbitrary and transgressors find themselves being sent off to "training camps", Tom and his friends realize that something far more sinister is at work. The question is: Can their parents be persuaded of this?
Francine Prose wrote this book in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent curtailment of our civil liberties in the name of the War on Terror; it's clear that the tale she tells is an allegorical one -- Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here translated into a highschool context (and with a dash of Jack Finney's Invasion of the Body Snatchers thrown in). I very much admire the ambition of the book, and its cleverness, and its readability. At times, though, while the allegorical element worked well, I felt it was colliding with the plausibility of the novel as a novel -- I found myself pulling back and saying to myself things like "Yes, but what on earth would be the authorities' point in whisking so many kids off to the re-education camps?" But then perhaps Prose is trying to tell us that tyrannies like the one she depicts don't need to have a point for the things they do.
In the wake of a school shooting nearby, Tom Bishop's own school brings in a new kingpin and extreme new security measures. At first these seem a tolerable precaution, but as the new regulations become ever more complex and arbitrary and transgressors find themselves being sent off to "training camps", Tom and his friends realize that something far more sinister is at work. The question is: Can their parents be persuaded of this?
Francine Prose wrote this book in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent curtailment of our civil liberties in the name of the War on Terror; it's clear that the tale she tells is an allegorical one -- Sinclair Lewis's It Can't Happen Here translated into a highschool context (and with a dash of Jack Finney's Invasion of the Body Snatchers thrown in). I very much admire the ambition of the book, and its cleverness, and its readability. At times, though, while the allegorical element worked well, I felt it was colliding with the plausibility of the novel as a novel -- I found myself pulling back and saying to myself things like "Yes, but what on earth would be the authorities' point in whisking so many kids off to the re-education camps?" But then perhaps Prose is trying to tell us that tyrannies like the one she depicts don't need to have a point for the things they do.
December 21, 2007
I thought this book was quite upsetting. Someone below said it was like a mix of 1984 and Catcher in the Rye. I think that is a good description. Basically, this book confronts the issue of freedom vs. safety. The more freedom you have, the less safe you are. And, as the students in this unfortunate school found out, the more "safe" you are, the less freedom you have. I feel like the book spent too much time getting to the point, which was that they were basically being overrun by fascists. Er, a facist. Stalin-esque man. I think if that had occured like, halfway in the book and the author spent the rest of the book confronting how the characters delt with this issue, once it became obvious that it was a giant issue, that would have been more interesting. At least more interesting than cramming all the response into the last four pages of the novel. But I guess I just am annoyed by cliffhanger-y endings. Anyway, though the story wasn't perfect, the point was made, and I think it was pretty clear. The characters are good. The writing is good. I think Prose is a good writer; I've read Blue Angel which is why I read this, to see how she'd be at writing a YA book. It was pretty good.
Read
March 10, 2012Jeanine Allen
Contemporary Realistic Fiction
After by Francine Prose talks about how a small town school deals with the aftermath of a neighboring school shooting. The town is traumatized by the school scooting and the school brings in a grief and crisis counselor to help the students deal with their emotions. It starts out innocently enough at first. The school would like to bring in metal detectors to ensure the safety of their school. After that, there will be random locker searches and drug tests. The main character, Tom, is confronted because a rap CD and The Cather in the Rye is found in his locker. Soon controversial material is taken out of the school curriculum all together. The color red is banned because it is associated with gang colors. When I was a young adult, school shootings were not as prominent as they are now. This book was disturbing to me. Not because of the nonchalant talk of the school shootings, but the book really shows a downward slope how young adults can loose their civil liberties because of fear and paranoia from adults in hopes of saving adolescents from themselves.
Contemporary Realistic Fiction
After by Francine Prose talks about how a small town school deals with the aftermath of a neighboring school shooting. The town is traumatized by the school scooting and the school brings in a grief and crisis counselor to help the students deal with their emotions. It starts out innocently enough at first. The school would like to bring in metal detectors to ensure the safety of their school. After that, there will be random locker searches and drug tests. The main character, Tom, is confronted because a rap CD and The Cather in the Rye is found in his locker. Soon controversial material is taken out of the school curriculum all together. The color red is banned because it is associated with gang colors. When I was a young adult, school shootings were not as prominent as they are now. This book was disturbing to me. Not because of the nonchalant talk of the school shootings, but the book really shows a downward slope how young adults can loose their civil liberties because of fear and paranoia from adults in hopes of saving adolescents from themselves.
December 15, 2009
MY REVIEW: I loved every minute of this book. The subject matter is so scary based on the fact that something like this could actually happen, and how easily it would be to accomplish something like this. The only thing that I would say I didn't like was the ending of the book. It seems as though it was left open for the possibility of a sequal, but I don't think it was. Now, if a sequal ever does come out, I'll be the first one there to buy it. Basically, this book is worth your time to read.
January 13, 2010
What can I say about this book? It kept me on edge from the begining. From the start you know there something strange about the councelor Dr. Willner. As you get into the story you come across things you don't expect like students dissapearig for no reason and sevear punishments if you don't do what Dr. Willner says. This book will make you think about what is really going on in this world. Are there really secret facilaties that are similar to concentration camps for kids? Do children around the world just dissapear without a trace? something to think about.
June 17, 2010
A little too predictable and preachy at times. I groaned and almost tossed the book aside when the school's administration banned Catcher In The Rye. PUHlease. (I suppose it does not help that I have never gotten what the fuss is about that book.) But at the end, when the author clearly sets things up for a sequel - don't worry, no spoiler alerts - THEN it gets interesting, or at least it sets up an interesting premise for the sequel...a sequel that could be more interesting than this first installment.
March 25, 2013
No. Just.. no.
The premise was interesting but the characters were flat, the plot was very illogical, and THE ENDING MADE ME WANT TO SLAM THIS BOOKS INTO A WALL
Um.
The premise was interesting but the characters were flat, the plot was very illogical, and THE ENDING MADE ME WANT TO SLAM THIS BOOKS INTO A WALL
Um.
July 18, 2013
Terrible. The concept of this book seemed interesting, but the author goes in such a weird direction that I found myself begging to be finished so I could stop reading the repetitive plot and writing. Ending couldn't be worse, even if it ended with, "and then he woke up and realized it was only a dream." Do not waste your time.
September 16, 2008
the length of this book is 330 pages but, dont let that scare you because this book is about 3 kid who kill 5 kids from their school with a gun and kill them selfs,so this event was all over the news and kids from schools close to the shootings got call from their parents.
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