Stuck in Neutral

Rating:
Summary: Stuck in Neutral
Review: This is a book that you won't want to put down, even after you have read the last sentence. As a reader, you feel honored to get inside the head of Shawn, a 15-year old boy with Cerebral Palsy. You are able to see how the world seems or feels to someone like him. I laughed and cried while I read this book. You might not, but you will definitely think. Be prepared because the book deals with serious issues, such as euthanasia.

Rating:
Summary: Very strong, powerful, and entirely unique perspective
Review: This was such an extraordinary story. The main character, Shawn, has been completely disabled by the misfortunes of cerebral palsy. At birth, a blood vessel exploded in his brain "in exactly the 100 percent perfectly wrong spot". This has left him entirely paralyzed, without the ability to move any of his muscles.

The first chapter is a brilliant piece of writing. Before we know that Shawn is entirely disabled, he tells us the good news and the bad news of his life. The good news is that he's lived on Earth for fourteen "(almost fifteen!) years and that he remembers everything that he sees or hears. The bad news is that he is a "retardate", a total retard. He tells us that everyone thinks that he is stupid, that his brain doesn't work, then saying: "They don't know that's only partially true".

What we get to see throughout the rest of the book is what it *might* be like inside the head of someone who has cerebral palsy, and it's fascinating. Shawn speaks of being attracted to women, speaks of not being able to control himself "down there" (although that has very, very minor mention in the story), goes into details about the seizures he has when he blacks out, what he hears other people saying when he comes out of him (very telling and intriguing), and that he believes his father is trying to kill him.

He has good reasons for thinking so. His father has commented on his "uselessness", although doing so, perhaps, from a loving place. He has also said to Shawn in a whisper, "Maybe it would be better if I ended your pain?" The father's torn emotions are nearly as powerful as Shawn's.

The voice in this book is so powerful and strong, Shawn's thought processes so infectious, that we are live with him on the very first page. The book has an interesting ending, which may seem to break a cardinal sin of writing, but as we never really know the ending, we can't be certain of that.