Reviewed by Me for TeensReadToo.com
I'll it, right off, that I'm a very opinionated person. I believe that's why I love books that have endings that leave it open to personal intrepretation--I can use my own belief system, my own views on the rights and wrongs of a situation, to concoct my own ending. Whether it be a happily-ever-after or a tear-jerker, whatever ending you prescribe to STUCK IN NEUTRAL will, no doubt, leave you pondering the book for days.
That being said, Terry Trueman is the kind of author I love to hate. I love the way he writes, the kinds of stories he tells, the way that, with only a few well-placed words, he can make his characters come to life. I hate it for all of the above, in that I can't do what he does! Oh, to have the ability to influence someone so deeply that all they can do after reading your words is, for days afterwards, think about what you've read. It's an awesome talent, and nothing showcases Mr. Trueman's true gift of storytelling better than the life history of Shawn McDaniel, the boy at the center of STUCK IN NEUTRAL.
Shawn is what many people, "normal" people, would call a retard, a vegetable, a shell of a boy with no one home inside. In a way, they'd be right, but in all the ways that matter, they would be horribly, horribly wrong. Because Shawn is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting young men you could ever hope to meet. Although he can't speak, can't walk, and can't even control any of his movements as simple as winking his eyelids, Shawn is, in effect, a genius. He can remember everything he's ever heard--from a television commercial, to a music lyric, to a conversation overheard while waiting for the bus. He's also extremely brilliant, maybe even more so than a "typical" teen with an IQ of 180. Shawn learned to read by listening to his older sister, Cindy, play school. He learned about girls and beer from listening to one-sided conversations his older brother, Paul, had with his buddies on the telephone. He learned what unconditional love is by watching his mother bathe him, feed him, and take care of him every day of his life. And he learned what abandonment, brought on by love mixed with fear, was when his father, a Pulitzer-winning poet, left their family.
To say that STUCK IN NEUTRAL is about Shawn's fear that his father is planning to kill him would be correct, but it would also be wrong. Shawn knows the world only through what he glimpses when everyone thinks there's no one home inside his worthless body, and this book is, more than anything else, his story of life, love, loss, and hope. This is the story that everyone who has ever uttered the words "I'd do anything for my children" needs to read. This is the book that everyone who's ever laughed at the "retarded" kids in school needs to read. This is, without a doubt, the story everyone, for whatever reason, needs to read.
Shawn will stay with me for the rest of my life. My hope is that eventually my two children will read STUCK IN NEUTRAL and be better people because of it. In fact, my hope is that I'll now be a better person after having read it. Yes, it's that good, and yes, you need to read it today. If it doesn't affect you in some way, all I can say is that you're more of a vegetable than Shawn will ever be.
I'll it, right off, that I'm a very opinionated person. I believe that's why I love books that have endings that leave it open to personal intrepretation--I can use my own belief system, my own views on the rights and wrongs of a situation, to concoct my own ending. Whether it be a happily-ever-after or a tear-jerker, whatever ending you prescribe to STUCK IN NEUTRAL will, no doubt, leave you pondering the book for days.
That being said, Terry Trueman is the kind of author I love to hate. I love the way he writes, the kinds of stories he tells, the way that, with only a few well-placed words, he can make his characters come to life. I hate it for all of the above, in that I can't do what he does! Oh, to have the ability to influence someone so deeply that all they can do after reading your words is, for days afterwards, think about what you've read. It's an awesome talent, and nothing showcases Mr. Trueman's true gift of storytelling better than the life history of Shawn McDaniel, the boy at the center of STUCK IN NEUTRAL.
Shawn is what many people, "normal" people, would call a retard, a vegetable, a shell of a boy with no one home inside. In a way, they'd be right, but in all the ways that matter, they would be horribly, horribly wrong. Because Shawn is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting young men you could ever hope to meet. Although he can't speak, can't walk, and can't even control any of his movements as simple as winking his eyelids, Shawn is, in effect, a genius. He can remember everything he's ever heard--from a television commercial, to a music lyric, to a conversation overheard while waiting for the bus. He's also extremely brilliant, maybe even more so than a "typical" teen with an IQ of 180. Shawn learned to read by listening to his older sister, Cindy, play school. He learned about girls and beer from listening to one-sided conversations his older brother, Paul, had with his buddies on the telephone. He learned what unconditional love is by watching his mother bathe him, feed him, and take care of him every day of his life. And he learned what abandonment, brought on by love mixed with fear, was when his father, a Pulitzer-winning poet, left their family.
To say that STUCK IN NEUTRAL is about Shawn's fear that his father is planning to kill him would be correct, but it would also be wrong. Shawn knows the world only through what he glimpses when everyone thinks there's no one home inside his worthless body, and this book is, more than anything else, his story of life, love, loss, and hope. This is the story that everyone who has ever uttered the words "I'd do anything for my children" needs to read. This is the book that everyone who's ever laughed at the "retarded" kids in school needs to read. This is, without a doubt, the story everyone, for whatever reason, needs to read.
Shawn will stay with me for the rest of my life. My hope is that eventually my two children will read STUCK IN NEUTRAL and be better people because of it. In fact, my hope is that I'll now be a better person after having read it. Yes, it's that good, and yes, you need to read it today. If it doesn't affect you in some way, all I can say is that you're more of a vegetable than Shawn will ever be.
Shawn McDaniel's life is not what it may seem to anyone looking at him. He is glued to his wheelchair, unable to voluntarily move a muscle - he can't even move his eyes. For all Shawn's father knows, his son may be suffering. Shawn's life is in danger.
