Aftercare Instructions: An Ambitious YA Contemporary Novel

Happy Book Birthday to Aftercare Instructions by Bonnie Pipkin! This is a quick-paced, easy-to-read, YA contemporary novel about a young girl who is abandoned by her boyfriend at Planned Parenthood while she has an abortion. While I did enjoy the novel and the emotional journey that Gen (our main character) goes through, I did not find the book as poignant as some of the novels that are in the same genre (Eleanor & Park, I’ll Give You the Sun).

In the tradition of Jandy Nelson and Rainbow Rowell, a big-hearted journey of furious friendship, crazy love, and unexpected hope after a teen's decision to end an unwanted pregnancy
“Troubled.” That’s seventeen-year-old Genesis according to her small New Jersey town. She finds refuge and stability in her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter—until he abandons her at a Planned Parenthood clinic during their appointment to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. The betrayal causes Gen to question everything.
As Gen pushes herself forward to find her new identity without Peter, she must also confront her most painful memories. Through the lens of an ongoing four act play within the novel, the fantasy of their undying love unravels line by line, scene by scene. Digging deeper into her past while exploring the underground theater world of New York City, she rediscovers a long-forgotten dream. But it’s when Gen lets go of her history, the one she thinks she knows, that she’s finally able to embrace the complicated, chaotic true story of her life, and take center stage.
This powerfully immersive and format-crushing debut follows Gen from dorm rooms to diners to house parties to auditions—and ultimately, right into readers’ hearts.

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

What I liked:

1. I did enjoy the rawness and explicitness of the abortion aspect (before you get too worried, it’s not extremely explicit by any means. It just goes a tad bit beyond “had an abortion,” which I appreciated).

2. It was quite ambitious with the amount subjects that are covered (maybe too much so?). What I really admired was that none of these taboo subjects are really looked down upon by our narrator: drugs, religion, abortions, underage drinking. Really no one is painted out to be the one true bad guy (no matter how much I might have thought they should have been villainized!). Everyone in this book makes mistakes.

3. The formatting was fun. Each chapter set in current time is titled based on an “aftercare instruction” for an abortion, and each flashback is written as a script or screenplay.

4. I enjoyed the efficient writing. Pipkin didn’t belabor various aspects of the plot. It’s a very quick read, and if it had been much longer, it wouldn’t have been as engaging.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys controversial subjects in their contemporary reads. Just don’t expect things to get too heavy or emotionally profound. 

Aftercare Instructions is out today! If this book interests you, be sure to buy it.

What’s the last book you read that discussed a controversial subject? Did you appreciate the author’s portrayal of it? 

A.S. Thornton

A.S. Thornton has evolved from book blogger to author with a particular fondness for writing forbidden love in ancient deserts. When not writing, she’s caring for dogs and cats as a veterinarian. You’ll never find animals at the center of her writing, though, because those fictional worlds don’t have veterinarians and her literal brain can’t accept that the poor critters would be without parasite prevention. Thornton’s debut, DAUGHTER OF THE SALT KING is available wherever books are sold.