After Review
What does a book expert think: Get a comprehensive overview of the reception and review of After.
Article written by Joshua Ehiosun
C2 certified writer.
The novel projects the life of Tessa, an eighteen-year-old girl who has no clue about the world of romance, sex, and college. For Tessa, meeting Hardin, a cold, bratty, emotionally broken yet mysterious boy, is an experience she never forgets. Tessa finds herself falling for Hardin and wanting to explore more about the world of romance with him, but a haunted childhood and an estranged father make Hardin unreachable and cold.
Hardin’s character makes it difficult for Tessa to admit to having strong affection towards him as he keeps hurting her, making her feel unwanted. Their hate-romance relationship blossoms, and each passing moment only draws them together. Though Tessa senses danger ahead in their relationship, she keeps making terrible choices and coming back even after Hardin hurts and humiliates her. Having had enough, Tessa tries to cut it all off but finds herself doing the exact opposite. In the end, Tessa faces the harsh reality of falling for a person like Hardin.
Key Facts about After
- Book Title: After
- When Book Creation/Writing Commenced: Anna Todd began a chapter by chapter release of ‘After’ on Wattpad in April 2013
- Date of Publishing: Though created as a fanfiction novel on Wattpad, ‘After’ was adapted and published by Gallery Books on October 21, 2014
- Literary Period: Post-modernist period
- Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Young adult fiction
- Setting: Washington Central University
- Climax/Most Exciting Point In Novel: The climax of the novel appears on pages 386-390 when Tessa finally confesses her love for Hardin.
Anna Todd and After
With a different perspective from most romance novels written from a foreign observer’s point of view, Anna Todd’s book embraces the idea of creating a romance piece based on a single character’s ideologies, everyday living, interaction with others, emotions, and point of view. ‘After’ creates an oxymoronic situation on emotionality because Tessa loves the one person she hates. From the hot-cold attitude of Hardin towards Tessa to the hate-love feeling of Tessa towards Hardin, the book perfectly creates a contradiction in itself that leads to an intense romantic-toxic relationship between both characters.
The book’s climax creates the perfect contradiction in Tessa’s perceived emotions and reveals what she feels about the boy who hurt her the most. Though a foreign observer would already notice the intense feeling of affection Tessa has towards Hardin, Tessa herself seems to be the only one oblivious of that very fact, and the climax finds the perfect way to fit the picture into her emotions. The end of the book converges on an ending that seemed inevitable throughout the entire novel, an ending Tessa dreaded, one she always knew was always possible but never quite admitted to it. Anna Todd’s ending of the book ending creates a want, a want for a conclusion. A want that is satisfied by a series of books followed later.
Books Related to After
Anna Todd created ‘After’ from the inspiration and fandom of the boyband One Direction with the inspiration for both the main character Hardin and the lead character Tessa embodying Harry Styles, the lead singer of One Direction, and Anna Todd herself. The book’s main character Hardin has many attributions, such as a dressing style similar to Harry Styles’ style. The book ‘After’ is part of a five-part series of books written by Anna Todd, with each book picking up from where its predecessor stopped. The five books in the series are ‘After,’ ‘After We Collided,’ ‘After We Fell,’ ‘After Ever Happy,’ and ‘Before.’ Though the books have been subject to criticism, with Kelly Faircloth calling it “sloppy fan fiction,“ the book series gained massive recognition with more than a billion online reads. In April 2019, ‘After’ and ‘After We Collided‘ movies were made, based on the first and second books of the series. Though reviews from movie critics were negative, the film was successful.
The Lasting Impact of After
In the story of ‘After,’ Tessa faces different forms of cruelty from Hardin, from emotional to psychological torture, yet she still goes back to him every time. This act by Tessa marks the characteristic behavior of people in toxic or abusive relationships.
Though gaining massive popularity, ‘After’ has been subjected to harsh criticism; the book Faced a lot of backlash for its vague character descriptions, glorification of an abusive relationship, and the fact it was written as a fanfiction novel. The book stirred massive comments from professional writers worldwide who felt the book was an overhyped piece of terrible literature. Though ‘After‘ appears to be a typical young adult romance novel, the book comes with a barrage of dark elements, from making an abusive relationship look like a burning romance to the emotional trauma Tessa faces and the bad choices she makes.
After Quotes
The words that resonate: Find memorable quotes from After that capture its essence of the book.
After Character List
Get to know the characters: Understand the characters in After.
After Themes and Analysis
Unlock the hidden meanings: Dive deeper into the central themes and symbolism, and analysis of After.
After Historical Context
Setting the scene for After: Understand the time and place that inspired its creation and relevance.
After Summary
After in a nutshell: A quick overview of the essential plot points, characters, and ideas.
About Joshua Ehiosun
C2 certified writer.