Science Fiction/Fantasy or a Journey Inside One Teenager's Brain?
When I first read the sample pages, I thought SWITCH was going to be an interesting science fiction story. I initially thought it would be at least 4 star read for me and rushed to use my points and obtain a copy of this book. I have changed my rating after reading the entire book. While I appreciate the effort that goes into writing a book and realize some readers will feel differently, here is my honest reaction.
I struggled to find a plot in this short book (6x8 page size/225 pages); it is different and done in the format of a high school's girl journal entries that seem disjointed. This book was not the science fiction or fantasy story that I had anticipated or that the promotional summaries seem to always present it as. What was emphasized in book jacket type summaries is that this book is about a world in which time has stopped for the past 9 months and every day is June 23. The author dedicated the book to the graduating class of 2020, so I can see that there's an acknowledgement of what many teenagers may have felt they lost in a pandemic year of lock down and online school.
The book does mention that the most popular website is one invented by some teenagers that tells everyone what the real date would be. Again, a loss of sense of time has also been a COVID19 pandemic experience for many.
However, after that, this book seems to be only a journey within the mind of the female first-person narrator (Tru Becker) who is making all of the relatively short journal entries - and possibly going through therapy For people who have seen the old (2001) film ‘A Beautiful Mind,’ think back to the shocking scene when the brilliant decoding of Soviet Union spy messages turns out to be a meaningless collage covering one whole wall. That was how I felt reading this book. The mental state of the narrator seems based upon the work of Robert Plutchik (1927- 2006), American professor and psychologist. Plutchick developed a wheel of emotions in 1980, showing basic emotions, their relevance to inciting behavior that helps to ensure survival. This applies to all animals- including humans. That’s a very simplistic explanation. I include that in this review since emotional issues seem to be the "switch" in question throughout this book.
Some traumatic event – or an event perceived as traumatic by the narrator- is referenced. Does the father really lock her up in a box ? Is the teen struggling to survive or recover from abuse? How dysfunctional is this entire family (parents, brother, older sister away at college)? I never felt that I had a clear idea of the struggles of narrator Tru Becker. Perhaps this book is intended to be a self-help manual for young people who feel despondent or who have dysfunctional families or households where the parents have substance abuse problems like Tru's parents do. The title seems to refer to the possibility that a person might be able to learn to switch off triggering emotions.
I really wanted to like this book - I'd used my points to get it and was also excited about reading something by an author whose work I was not familiar with even though she is a prolific writer who has won awards. Thank you BookishFirst and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to receive a copy of this book.
I struggled to find a plot in this short book (6x8 page size/225 pages); it is different and done in the format of a high school's girl journal entries that seem disjointed. This book was not the science fiction or fantasy story that I had anticipated or that the promotional summaries seem to always present it as. What was emphasized in book jacket type summaries is that this book is about a world in which time has stopped for the past 9 months and every day is June 23. The author dedicated the book to the graduating class of 2020, so I can see that there's an acknowledgement of what many teenagers may have felt they lost in a pandemic year of lock down and online school.
The book does mention that the most popular website is one invented by some teenagers that tells everyone what the real date would be. Again, a loss of sense of time has also been a COVID19 pandemic experience for many.
However, after that, this book seems to be only a journey within the mind of the female first-person narrator (Tru Becker) who is making all of the relatively short journal entries - and possibly going through therapy For people who have seen the old (2001) film ‘A Beautiful Mind,’ think back to the shocking scene when the brilliant decoding of Soviet Union spy messages turns out to be a meaningless collage covering one whole wall. That was how I felt reading this book. The mental state of the narrator seems based upon the work of Robert Plutchik (1927- 2006), American professor and psychologist. Plutchick developed a wheel of emotions in 1980, showing basic emotions, their relevance to inciting behavior that helps to ensure survival. This applies to all animals- including humans. That’s a very simplistic explanation. I include that in this review since emotional issues seem to be the "switch" in question throughout this book.
Some traumatic event – or an event perceived as traumatic by the narrator- is referenced. Does the father really lock her up in a box ? Is the teen struggling to survive or recover from abuse? How dysfunctional is this entire family (parents, brother, older sister away at college)? I never felt that I had a clear idea of the struggles of narrator Tru Becker. Perhaps this book is intended to be a self-help manual for young people who feel despondent or who have dysfunctional families or households where the parents have substance abuse problems like Tru's parents do. The title seems to refer to the possibility that a person might be able to learn to switch off triggering emotions.
I really wanted to like this book - I'd used my points to get it and was also excited about reading something by an author whose work I was not familiar with even though she is a prolific writer who has won awards. Thank you BookishFirst and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to receive a copy of this book.