A review by thekazholiday
Change Places with Me by Lois Metzger
2.0
In the spirit of continuing my trend of debut authors is Lois Metzger’s Change Places With Me. The description of this novel reads, “Something still feels wrong to Rose. Because until very recently, she was an entirely different person—a person who’s still there inside her, just beneath the thinnest layer of skin.” This had me hooked from the beginning, and I eagerly purchased it expecting a deep exploration into mental illness, particularly Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Rose, previously Clara, is a fifteen-year-old girl who is still processing the loss of her father that happened years before the events of the novel. She locks herself up in what she refers to as a “glass coffin” a la Snow White. The story starts off with Rose waking up, and feeling suddenly different. She no longer resents her step mother, she likes animals, and is talking to people she never gave mind to before. The novel explores Rose’s change of heart as well as the events that brought her to this point.
I hate to say that I did not get what I bargained for when I initially bought this book. Instead, I got a novel that was written in the same vein as the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind––a favorite of mine, might I add. Had I known that this was a book about memory alteration, I may have had a different opinion as I read through this. However, this novel committed what I consider a fatal flaw: it lied to the reader.
From the beginning of this book, I was under the assumption that this was all set in reality as we know it. There was nothing to suggest otherwise––no flying cars, no strange fashion choices, no other staple sci-fi elements save for a new type of bus the city was implementing. Looking back, I can see that the mention of the bus was likely Metzger’s attempt at letting the audience know that they are not in the real world––an effort that ultimately failed. Not until halfway through the book did I realize that this book had sci-fi elements, and it was only when Rose realizes she may have had her memories altered. After that, there’s constant mention of strange ads that, if mentioned sooner, may have clued me in to what sort of story I was reading. In the end, it comes down to a failure in world building that could’ve been remedied had some mention of technology been dropped in sooner.
Another issue I struggled with while reading this was the main character, Rose. She’s supposed to be fifteen, yet she read much more like someone in the ten-to-twelve years range. Many of her actions were naive, such as insisting her uncool best friend eat with the popular girls and later fawning over a dog in a sweater. Furthermore, there were things about her that simply didn’t make sense, such as her eagerness to become a girl that she never even meets.
Flaws aside, I did devour this book when I had the time to read it. Because of Metzger’s simple word choices, her writing was easy to read and fairly enjoyable. There was never a need to pause, save for the occasional bathroom break. It’s for this reason that I believe Metzger may find her niche in middle-grade rather than young adult.
Although Change Places With Me was a book I enjoyed while reading it, the flaws were a bit too overwhelming for me to say I’d ever pick it up again. Metzger certainly has a career as a writer ahead of her, and with more careful development of her worlds and better rounded characters, I believe her future works will be something to look forward to. The first book is only that: a first.
Rose, previously Clara, is a fifteen-year-old girl who is still processing the loss of her father that happened years before the events of the novel. She locks herself up in what she refers to as a “glass coffin” a la Snow White. The story starts off with Rose waking up, and feeling suddenly different. She no longer resents her step mother, she likes animals, and is talking to people she never gave mind to before. The novel explores Rose’s change of heart as well as the events that brought her to this point.
I hate to say that I did not get what I bargained for when I initially bought this book. Instead, I got a novel that was written in the same vein as the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind––a favorite of mine, might I add. Had I known that this was a book about memory alteration, I may have had a different opinion as I read through this. However, this novel committed what I consider a fatal flaw: it lied to the reader.
From the beginning of this book, I was under the assumption that this was all set in reality as we know it. There was nothing to suggest otherwise––no flying cars, no strange fashion choices, no other staple sci-fi elements save for a new type of bus the city was implementing. Looking back, I can see that the mention of the bus was likely Metzger’s attempt at letting the audience know that they are not in the real world––an effort that ultimately failed. Not until halfway through the book did I realize that this book had sci-fi elements, and it was only when Rose realizes she may have had her memories altered. After that, there’s constant mention of strange ads that, if mentioned sooner, may have clued me in to what sort of story I was reading. In the end, it comes down to a failure in world building that could’ve been remedied had some mention of technology been dropped in sooner.
Another issue I struggled with while reading this was the main character, Rose. She’s supposed to be fifteen, yet she read much more like someone in the ten-to-twelve years range. Many of her actions were naive, such as insisting her uncool best friend eat with the popular girls and later fawning over a dog in a sweater. Furthermore, there were things about her that simply didn’t make sense, such as her eagerness to become a girl that she never even meets.
Flaws aside, I did devour this book when I had the time to read it. Because of Metzger’s simple word choices, her writing was easy to read and fairly enjoyable. There was never a need to pause, save for the occasional bathroom break. It’s for this reason that I believe Metzger may find her niche in middle-grade rather than young adult.
Although Change Places With Me was a book I enjoyed while reading it, the flaws were a bit too overwhelming for me to say I’d ever pick it up again. Metzger certainly has a career as a writer ahead of her, and with more careful development of her worlds and better rounded characters, I believe her future works will be something to look forward to. The first book is only that: a first.