Scan barcode
A review by stressejesse
Flip by Martyn Bedford
1.75
technically a reread since I read this in high school, forgot how it ended (or if I finished it originally), then saw it in a secondhand bookshop so picked it up out of curiousity to reread something I read as a teenager.
I can see why it appealed to me as a teenager, but it's very 2011.
the only time a Black character is mentioned as being Black is when the narrator remembers when bullies called him the n-word, which came out of nowhere and could've been done literally any other way
after a 22-year-old character has been lowkey stalking the 14-year-old protagonist (bc he's also dealing with a bodyswap situation and is about to become a mentor figure to him), this interaction happens:
"He was just along the carriage from us. I thought it was me he had the hots for but looks like it's Philip."
"Teri, please, that's disgusting."
"What is, Mum? The gay thing or the under-age thing?"
and then the subject is changed. but don't worry, later on in the book, that character confirms that he's actually straight. I hate that this was the only mention of gay people I got when I was in school y'know?
also, the love interest has an eating disorder (anorexia I think), and that's brought up in a "ew, you have a crush on the anorexic girl? gross" kind of way, and then never addressed beyond that for the rest of the book. the protagonist punches the dude who said it, but it comes across as more of a reaction to bad-mouthing his crush in general rather than a reaction to specifically making fun of her eating disorder.
anyway, the plot had a cool premise - a bodyswap where it's not a 1-to-1 switch, since their original bodies usually die. it dragged as it went on further tbh and it's very much dated now, and I feel like I probably DNF'd it as a teenager the first time around
I can see why it appealed to me as a teenager, but it's very 2011.
the only time a Black character is mentioned as being Black is when the narrator remembers when bullies called him the n-word, which came out of nowhere and could've been done literally any other way
after a 22-year-old character has been lowkey stalking the 14-year-old protagonist (bc he's also dealing with a bodyswap situation and is about to become a mentor figure to him), this interaction happens:
"He was just along the carriage from us. I thought it was me he had the hots for but looks like it's Philip."
"Teri, please, that's disgusting."
"What is, Mum? The gay thing or the under-age thing?"
and then the subject is changed. but don't worry, later on in the book, that character confirms that he's actually straight. I hate that this was the only mention of gay people I got when I was in school y'know?
also, the love interest has an eating disorder (anorexia I think), and that's brought up in a "ew, you have a crush on the anorexic girl? gross" kind of way, and then never addressed beyond that for the rest of the book. the protagonist punches the dude who said it, but it comes across as more of a reaction to bad-mouthing his crush in general rather than a reaction to specifically making fun of her eating disorder.
anyway, the plot had a cool premise - a bodyswap where it's not a 1-to-1 switch, since their original bodies usually die. it dragged as it went on further tbh and it's very much dated now, and I feel like I probably DNF'd it as a teenager the first time around