After, by Amy Efaw

This disturbing tale is about a young girl named Devon who either honestly doesn't know, or is in deep denial about the fact, that she is pregnant... and she ends up doing the unthinkable: leaving her newborn in a trash bag to die.  The following days and weeks of her life are followed as she is arrested and begins her new life in prison.  Many talk about characters needing room to grow in a story and the protagonist in After certainly has all the room in the world to grow, so you would think this could be quite an interesting read, however Devon spends the majority of the book lost in a daze without changing much and it's rather boring to read about.  The most interesting moments come from other characters in the book.  Karma, for instance, could have a whole book written about her thanks to her explosive and unpredictable personality.  Unfortunately the reader only gets snippets of her story.  It took me several days to finish this book, because I wasn't that interested in the outcome.  Devon isn't particularly likable and her constant criticisms of her mother get old quickly as well.  Unfortunately, this wasn't the greatest book ever, but I did like the writing (beautifully descriptive) and some of the supporting characters enough to keep reading.  I'd recommend this to any fans of criminal drama or TV shows like Lockdown, because all the descriptions of prison life and interactions between the inmates are the most interesting thing about this novel.

Favorite things:  the descriptive writing, Karma - the intense and troubled inmate Devon has to live with in prison and the courage of Amy Efaw to approach such a controversial topic.

Criticisms: it was boring at times, the main character started to get on my nerves very quickly into this novel and I found myself annoyed at her attitude several times when reading.  I much prefer characters I can actually like.  Some parts were a bit too gory for my tastes as well.  I also didn't like the way the story would flit back and forth between the present and flashbacks every couple of pages.  I felt like I was following the thought process of someone with ADD who couldn't focus on one thing.  Sometimes flashbacks are a useful tool in a story and I even believe some of the flashbacks were useful in this book, however it got a bit out of control in my opinion and I found it difficult to follow.  

Overall:  3 out of 5 stars...