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A review by dodie
Backwards by Todd Mitchell
5.0
I first became familiar with Todd Mitchell through his YA novel, The Secret to Lying. In that title, his main character recreates himself. In Backwards, the main character is trying to figure out who he is, pulling the reader along every inch of the way, back through time. I hesitate to call Backwards a time-travel novel, since time only moves in one direction - in reverse. When a "Rider" finds himself hovering above and then inhabiting Dan, a teenager who has just committed suicide, he does not understand what his role is, or what the sequence of events was to bring him to this moment. As the story unfolds, readers will discover that the next day is actually yesterday, for Dan. It is not until Dan's rider befriends another, named TR, that he begins to grasp what his potential is - and there are options. Through the rider, readers learn about Dan's broken family, problems at high school, and his longing for a relationship with a girl named Cat.
As it becomes apparent the rider may be able to change the future as he goes into the past, the pace and intensity of the story grows, giving readers the feeling of driving in reverse by looking in the rear view mirror. Mitchell artfully unfolds what keeps Dan, whom the rider nicknames "the zombie," from being wholly human and compassionate. And though the other rider, TR, seems complacent at first, his story becomes a beautiful parallel to Dan's, intersecting at the most unexpected moments.
Through Dan's story, we learn about bullying, including the acceptance of it by adults in the position of authority. Mitchell introduces this in bits and pieces; there are mean girls who harass Cat for looking and acting differently from them, a gay teenager in denial that calls his lover a fag when in public, and anti-Hispanic taunts and slurs. Being that October is National Bullying Prevention Month, this title would be an excellent choice for One Book One School program. Underage drinking and the negative aspects of it are laid out as well, but never with a heavy hand.
Backwards is totally unique in its offerings, with themes and issues that concern teenagers and their adults, told in language that compels the reader to keep going forward while considering the actions of the past. Highly recommended to readers grade 8 and up.
As it becomes apparent the rider may be able to change the future as he goes into the past, the pace and intensity of the story grows, giving readers the feeling of driving in reverse by looking in the rear view mirror. Mitchell artfully unfolds what keeps Dan, whom the rider nicknames "the zombie," from being wholly human and compassionate. And though the other rider, TR, seems complacent at first, his story becomes a beautiful parallel to Dan's, intersecting at the most unexpected moments.
Through Dan's story, we learn about bullying, including the acceptance of it by adults in the position of authority. Mitchell introduces this in bits and pieces; there are mean girls who harass Cat for looking and acting differently from them, a gay teenager in denial that calls his lover a fag when in public, and anti-Hispanic taunts and slurs. Being that October is National Bullying Prevention Month, this title would be an excellent choice for One Book One School program. Underage drinking and the negative aspects of it are laid out as well, but never with a heavy hand.
Backwards is totally unique in its offerings, with themes and issues that concern teenagers and their adults, told in language that compels the reader to keep going forward while considering the actions of the past. Highly recommended to readers grade 8 and up.