Emotionally raw and bravely blunt, After is a serious look at Devon, a young teenage girl, who has tried to kill her newborn baby. From start to finish, Efaw details the excruciating emotional circumstances of Devon's life from her negligent mother to Devon's own seemingly perfect profile. After is in no way a light novel to read, it is dark, serious and unbearably realistic - perhaps like reality itself, a harsh and difficult addition to YA literature. 
 Following in the traditions of novels sparked by Go Ask Alice or Speak, After is another chronicle about a modern day girl plagued by serious issues in life. Devon seems to have it all - she's on varsity soccer as goalkeeper, perfect report cards, with a gaggle of "friends" - but underneath it all, she's stuck with a man-crazed mother and despairing loneliness. After forces the reader to see exactly into Devon's mind, at all her emotional complexities and life after that day. 
 The novel centers on what happens after - after Devon gives birth secretly, after she tosses the baby into a back alley dumpster, after the police find the child and after she is arrested. But, did she do it, did she mean it, and why are the serious questions that the novel explores. In some ways, After is the most emotionally complex YA novel I have ever read and it resonates with grief and denial throughout. 
 As Devon goes on by rethinking about that day while the trial goes on, After becomes a real psychological prison. After does not try to condone or condemn Devon's actions outwardly, rather Devon is the one responsible for all the emotional turmoil. Like A Separate Peace, inner turmoil is the main conflict here; over and over, Devon's mind forces denial after denial and amnesia about her actions until she is forced to face her actions. 
 Efaw writes with such a skilled voice, that Devon's feelings and denial easily force any reader to emphasize and care for Devon. This is such a difficult novel to read and feel for, because it is so true and so raw. Morality, ethics, denial are all important themes, and the ending proves Efaw's strong look at such topics as well. After may as well be the proudest and most blunt look at morality - especially with Devon's strong decision to do what she does at the very end. 
 But despite all this, I feel almost as convoluted and ambivalent as Devon at the end. I personally could not see this as a novel to love, because it's so serious, so gruesome at times in subject matter, not writing. At the end, I wanted to throw my book on the ground and say, WHY DEVON WHY?, but I knew why. After is a story of redemption in that aspect, but it is much more characterized as a story of loss and emotions. 
 Yet since Efaw's writing moved me so much, and led myself to question morality, and problems I think she's really driven her point home. I may not love Devon's decision but I can see the power and emergence of pride in what she does. In a stark world of depressing problems, After proves itself in its ability to express morality so convincingly pure that proves After's worth as a novel. As I rant on, I don't know what else to say - I can't express the feelings Efaw has given the novel, and I can't praise the subject matter necessarily, but I admire Efaw for her writing and courage in this novel. After is amazingly courageous in its portrayal of a crime considered to be heinous, in its use of a innocent teenage voice, and its unclouded look into the human mind. After is truly an emotionally complex novel, but be warned it's not suited for everyone.