A review by elijahnotprophet
Gamechanger by Neal Shusterman

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Let me preface by saying, I’m a big fan of Neal Shunsterman’s books, but this book just isn’t that good. The story focuses on football player Ash, as a football tackle sends him across parallel universes. Along the way, he learns empathy for different marginalized groups. The book has the same problem that almost every Neal Shunsterman book has: It is not subtle. Almost every other line is Ash just telling us what Neal wants us to get from the book. Unsubtle storytelling isn’t the worse thing in the world(just look at Barbie) but unlike Barbie, it has no effect on any characters and no point to the plot. This kicks into high gear in the third act when Ash is transported to a parallel universe where he is a girl. It’s very obvious that Neal wanted to make the whole book around the third act, but didn’t think he could fit a whole book around it. Interestingly, even though Ash goes to three parallel universes, he only changes into a minority twice. He becomes gay, and he becomes a women. What’s the exception? The first parallel he goes to is one where segregation was never abolished. However, Ash is still white. This leads to either a, Neal thinks that the problems black people face are not as bad as the ones facing gay people and women, so he makes up new problems or B, Neal doesn’t think he doesn’t knows what being Black is like (probably true as he is white) but does think he knows what it’s like to be gay and a woman. This leads to the book being very condescending, expect for the first act which doesn’t really say anything but that racism is bad. Finally, Ash seems to have not made any meaningful changes in his life, but hey at least black people aren’t segregated against anymore! Also, Paul deserves better.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings