Book Review: After by Amy Efaw

The book After by Amy Efaw seemed like it would absolutely fantastic.  The story is about a girl, Devon, who gives birth to a baby and ends up throwing the baby into a garbage container because she does not know what to do with the baby.  Someone finds the baby and she is arrested for a multitude of charges including attempted murder.  The story goes back and forth between present day and the past.  Devon is an honours student combined with an incredible soccer career ahead of her.  She is in complete denial about being pregnant and giving birth.

There was something about this book that did not strike a chord.  It did not seem so believable to me that this girl who is extremely smart and physically active could not acknowledge that she was pregnant.  The portrayal in the juvie detention center was also glossed over I found.  The only interesting parts of the book was the information that the author had at the end of the book dealing with this phenomenon of dumping babies in trash cans.  Apparently it is happening more than we realize. 

On the surface, I would say that reading the book opened my eyes to a societal problem but overall I would have to say that this would not be my first "go to" book.