A review by macbean221b
After by Francine Prose

2.0

There's something about this book that makes me feel like I should be more critical of it. I mean, it definitely isn't great literature or anything like that. It feels kind of like it tried too hard and fell short of whatever its goal really was. It could've been something amazing. But it was still pretty good, I thought. It pushed a lot of my "favorite!" buttons. I'm really big on dystopian stuff, and things that deal with individual freedom vs. the "greater good" or whatever. And I think part of what made the book feel not particularly well-written is the fact that it's from a fifteen-year-old boy's first-person point of view and while the kid does seem to be smarter than the average high school sophomore, he's still not the best narrator in the world. But, like I said, I think that might be the author keeping in character, instead of the author being a crappy writer.

Anyway, the book is 330 pages long but the print is rather large, the pages are small, and it's written for young adults, so I'm pretty sure just about anyone who's reading this review could polish it off in one sitting. It's an easy read but it'll leave you thinking long after you're finished with it. I recommend it, especially if you're a fan of dystopian stories like I am.