I have to think for a while about how to rate this book. I am definitely adding it to my "most disturbing" list. The plot of this book involves a boy who can remember everything he's ever heard. He's clever and mostly happy and loving, but he's trapped. Trapped inside his body, unable to exercise control over anything but his brain. The book is interesting from the POV aspect, wondering what it would be like to be so intelligent but for everyone else to think you are retarded. To be privy to conversations all the time, sometimes even conversations about you, because everyone either forgets you are there or doesn't think enough of you to place a value on your presence. This isn't my review, I'll write more later, but the most disturbing aspect of this book is that the father left the family when Shawn (the boy with cerebral palsy) was 4,because he couldn't handle it and throughout the book, Shawn wonders if his father is going to kill him. (he "loves Shawn too much" so he might have "to end his suffering") It is painful to read a book, knowing what Shawn is thinking, knowing no one else has any clue. It is scary and sad and I'm not sure if I liked this book at all. However, it's definitely unlike anything else I've ever read and it's provocative. Okay, I'm back:This book is one of the creepiest I've ever read, no question. Stuck in Neutral is about an intelligent child who is a prisoner in his own body. While Shawn's mind is fully functional, he has no control over any other part of his body and the entire world, including his family, believes him to be intellectually disabled. Every so often, he is struck by a seizure. Shawn has come to love these times because he feels like he can break free of his body and partake in the world. His father, however, sees his child in pain. Shawn's dad left the family home when Shawn was a child because he couldn't deal with his son's cerebral palsy. He also wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning poem about Shawn's birth and early years and still gets lauded for doing so. (I am not usually into "fake award-winning writing within novels" and I wasn't into this poem) The creepy factor came into play when the narrator, Shawn, informs the reader that he believes his father is going to murder him. This short book explores what it might be like for a child inside an immovable body, what it might be like as a father who is always wondering what is going on in the mind of his son who can never tell him. I won't tell you the ending but I will tell you one more thing: Terry Trueman is the father of a son with cerebral palsy. I cannot imagine what life would be like to be constantly wondering what, if anything, your child is thinking or to know if they are in pain.Stuck in Neutral is absolutely a worthwhile read with a unique narrator. I can't guarantee this book won't make you feel awkward but it will certainly widen your perspective a bit. 3.5/5 starsThis mini-review was part of a series of 7 mini-reviews of short YA books I wrote for a post over at our blog, The Readventurer.
This book is very interesting. It didn't start off slowly, like many other books. It started out right away with information the reader wanted to know. The story is about a boy named Shawn who has cerebral palsy. He cannot control a single thing he does, except think. Throughout the 110 pages, you will learn about Shawn's intelligence and about his ability to remember every single thing he has ever seen or heard. This book is all from Shawn's point of view. The conflict in this story rises right away. Shawn believes his dad is plotting to kill him. His father left the family a year or so after Shawn was born. He couldn't handle watching his son in pain because of his seizures. Little did he know, Shawn loved his seizures. When he has one, his soul leaves his body and he is free to explore the world like a real person, until the seizure is over and he is forced back into his body. Throughout the book, Shawn is thinking about whether or not his father will kill him and if so, when. Shawn's father goes on a tour around the country to discuss a man who killed his son at the age of two. His son had the same condition as Shawn. He discusses whether or not it was moral. I loved the way this book ended. His father is sitting in front of him holding a pillow. He tells Shawn how much he loves him and he doesn't want him to suffer. He begins to cry and fidget with the pillow. The last few sentences, Shawn's father begins to wrap up and suddenly, Shawn has a seizure and his soul leaves his body. It is unknown whether or not his father kills him. I like this book. It's good and also a very fast read. I would recommend this book to just about everyone I know.
Do You like book Stuck In Neutral (2012)?
A very touching book that makes the reader think. Do we really know people as well as we think we do? Who are we to pass judgement on others? This book really opens the readers eyes and makes them think about whether what they know is correct or not. My students made the connection that, just because they think someone is different, doesn't mean they are. We learned that a surprising number of students in each class have family members with cerebral palsy, and they shared their experiences with the class. It was an eye opening discussion, and one we all learned from. Though the book is short, some of the themse are mature and should be discussed with care. The figurative language in the book is very well done, and it can be used to spark a lot of the discussions.
—Jennifer Lavoie
Stuck in Neutral is a novel about a boy named Shawn Mcdaniel. Shawn was born with physical and mental disabilities. Shawn cannot tak, cannot move or even control any of his muscles. He also has seizures everyday. His father views Shawn's life as hell for him and his seizures are hard for his dad to watch. Little does Shawn's dad know that Shawn loves his life, and loves his seizures because he finds it as a way to get away from his life. However, Shawn cant speak to let his father know this, so his dad wants to put him out of his misery. Shawn thinks his dad is planning to kill him.In Stuck in Neutral, Terry Trueman uses tons of suspense to hook the reader and keep reading. She uses this by stating Shawn's dad's plan at the bginning of the novel. Then she lets the plan fold out through out the book. The suspense will leave you on the edge of your seat! The book is narrated from Shawns point of view so you hear his side of the story in his head and you hear his dad's plan. Terry Trueman also uses a great deal of irony in this novel. She uses irony by having Shawn's dad who plans to put Shawn out of his misery of his seizures and paralyzed life, however Shawn loves his life and his seizures.
—Pandas
This is a short book, but I still didn't finish it. I was too disturbed by the fact that the real author maybe wanted to kill his own son and was using this novel as a way of working through that. Also, and this is kind of strange, the first few chapters reminded me of Bud, Not Buddy because the narrator in both is a little kid in a terrible situation who's just so darn upbeat about everything. And by "upbeat" I don't mean optimistic, I mean uses a lot of whimsical expression punctuated with exclamation points like "Golly!" and "Gee whiz!"
—Destinee Sutton
