Stuck in Neutral

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Summary: Stuck in Neutral
Review: This book is about a helpless bot named Shawn. ha is almost 15 and has spent his entire life in a wheelchair. He has a mental disorder. He was born with damage to his brain and is unable to control hismovements. In other words he is paralyzed. His life is only in his head. There is one special thing about his condition. He has the ability to remebered everything since the age of three. However, after his father published a book on a father who murdered his mentally challenged son Shawn and his family believe that Shawn's father will do the same. In the end his father is alone with alone with Shawn and expressing his love to Shawn. that ws as far as it goes we don't know if Shawn was killed.
My favorite part of this story is when he describes his life. Even though he is fully paralyzed he still has a fun. He doesn't want to die, he wants to live and be happy. This book brought me into his life and I never realised that I was only reading.
It is my favorite because this brought me into reading not only adventure books, but stories about life. The words and events in this book were so exciting and sad at the same time. I would read it again and again. He described his life as if he was perfectly normal and then as a doll that was useless.

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Summary: Stuck In Neutral
Review: Stuck In Neutral,written by Terry Trueman,is a heart-touching,moving novel. This novel describes a fourteen-year-old boy that has Cerebral Palsy(CP). Unfortunately for Shawn McDaniel he can't voluntarly move anything,including his eyes or head. Shawn lives life sheltered and unable to express himself. The book is based on the troubles he has with his life. Shawn's father,Sydney McDaniel is a nationally known poet who wants to put an end to his son's suffering out of deep love and emotion. Shawn is left with the evil thought that his dad is trying to kill him.
I beleive the the plot of Stuck In Neutral is intensly moving. Although the book is not a plot driven story,but is more about the characters and their emotions. Shawn lives with his mother,brother,and sister. His mom and dad are divorced, so his dad lives separately. Mr. McDaniel can't withstand it when Shawn has his daily seizures. Mr. McDaniel believes that his hopeless son should'nt suffer like that. Shawn is the exact opposite;he loves his seizures. He loves it when his soul leaves hisbody and visits a dreamful place. Every so often,when Mr.NcDaniel decides to visit Shawn, he explains to his son that he loves him dearly. Mr. McDaniel always wishes that Shawn was a normal kid. At one point, Shawn's father actually wishes that he could switch bodies with his helpless son. Throughout the book, Shawn lives with the question in his head, am I going to live the rest of my life.
I believed throughout the book, the characters were extremely well developed. Their physical description was not only developed, but their mental descrition was also described. As soon as I picked up the book, Shawn was a developed, well thought out character. Shawn has this gift or special ability to think and analyze verbalized information. When something is said to him he automatically stores it in his brain. It's unfortunate fo Shawn because he cant express himself as a human being. Shawn can understand everything that is said to him,but he cant respond. I believe that Shawn could definately be a real person in real life. Shawn stands as the protagonist and the main character in Stuck In Neutral. Shawn's dad is also one of the main characters in the novel. I ne the book Mr.McDaniel is strange towards his son. He acts mushy to him because of Shawn's horrible disease. This strange behavior, has Shawn worried that his dad might be out to kill him because he doesnt want him to suffer.

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Summary: A Very Good Book
Review: Stuck in Neutral is book told inside the mind of Shawn McDaniel. He is paralyzed from cerebral palsy and can't control any of his body parts except for his mind. No one knows what he's like and think he's retarded and dumb. But he's really intelligent and remembers everything he ever heard.

I liked the book because Shawn had a good personality and was funny. It was entertaining and easy to read. Trueman goes into a lot of detail explaining what Shawn's seizures and classes are like. He makes you realize what parents go through when they have a disabled child. He makes you wonder when you see a disabled person what is going in their mind. I didn't like the end of the book because it leaves you wondering what really happened. I would recommend this book for young teenagers and adults.

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Summary: Story from a voice not often heard
Review: Shawn, a teen with severe cerebral palsy that leaves him incapable of controlling his own muscles, can't eat, speak or move. His doctors tell his parents that there is a chance that he is aware, and not retarded, but Shawn can't speak up to tell them truth -- that he is, indeed very aware, that he thinks about girls, that he loves barbeque potato chips, that he knows how to read. He remembers every single thing he ever heard or saw, and lives a rich and vivid existence in his mind. The seizures he has allow him to travel out of his body and run, walk, swim and fly. He lives in the cultural hub of Seattle, and is surrounded by a patient family who love him. Except for his dad, who is divorced from them. A writer with a Pulitzer award for the poem he wrote about his son, he always had trouble handling Shawn's condition, and now he's on a euthanasia kick and speaking out on letting go those who have a poor quality of life and can't snuff themselves. Is he out to murder his own son? Shawn, clever at putting clues together, sure thinks so -- and he doesn't have a way to let anyone else know.
Trueman, himself a dad to a child with cerebral palsy, writes a spellbinding novel about a teen trapped in his own body. It is a fascinating view from a voice not yet heard. Shawn is a bright and witty young man, surprisingly unbitter, and as descriptive narrator really conveys to unknowing readers what this situation could be like. In one heart-wrenching scene, he dreams he visits his father and talks with him for the first time, and is able to tell his father he loves him and plea for his own life. The reader must decide if Shawn's father is going to follow through with his plan or not in a Frank Stockton-like ending.
An excellent book, with possibilities for discussion and/or raising awareness of differently abled people.

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Summary: The Gift of Life
Review: Rather than focus on what was said in the pages of Stuck in Neutral I want us to examine the heart of the author. Trueman doesn't gloss over the bitter rock hard reality of life. He wants us to get real with our feelings, to lay bare our fears, our frustrations, to tell it like it is, speak the truth. Trueman did the same thing with his narrative poem Sheehan (the precursor to Stuck in Neutral), laying bare his vulnerability, daring to say what none of the rest of us would even dream of voicing to another, let alone print it in a book for the whole world to see. He has done the same with Stuck in Neutral.

If you have read other reviews on this story you should know by now that Trueman is actually the father of such a child. Shawn is a severely mentally disabled victim of Cerebral Palsy. Or is he? That is the question. However, this isn't "just" a story written in the voice of a helpless child trapped in an uncontrollable body; and neither is it "just" an attempt by the author to help the world to see through the eyes of the disabled. Both of those are indeed very worthy endeavors, especially by the father of such a child; but this story goes much deeper.

Behind the pages of this story you will find a father who has been torn to shreds by circumstances beyond his control and still managed to come out on the other end a winner. And not just a winner because he managed to survive, but because he has done something for his son that nobody else on this whole earth could have done, not the medical doctors, not the psychiatrists and not the innumerable therapists who tried to help. His love for this child is what enabled him to place himself inside Shawn's body, to mingle with his mind and muscles, to see through his eyes and create in him a whole new person from the inside out, by the power of the written word. Trueman brought his son back to life. That is the real miracle of this story. Please keep that in mind as you read the last few paragraphs and then you won't have to wonder about the outcome. ELE.

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Summary: Five college student's review
Review: The book, Stuck in Neutral, is about a teenage boy, Shawn McDaniel, who was born with a severe disability inability him to communicate or move in any way. The book is told from Shawn's point of view. He is actually able to see, hear, and understand all that goes on around him despite the fact that Shawn cannot express his intellectual abilities. Frustrated with Shawn's inability to move or communicate and the possible suffering of seizures, his father struggles with a decision that he feels will relieve his child's suffering.
We felt this was a good book and thought provoking. It encourages insight and empathy into the life of a person with severe disabilities. The book is written in plain language and would be appropriate for middle school students to read.

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Summary: Stuck in Neutral By: Terry Trueman
Review: Stuck in Neutral is such a great book. The main character in this book is Shawn McDainel. Unfortunately, he has cerebral palsy and has no control over any of the muscles in his body. He can't feed himself, can't swallow food or anything on his own, he has many seizers, and he is in a wheelchair. He also has no control of his bladder. Imagine not having any control of anything that your body can do. Shawn lives with his mother, sister, and brother. His dad obviously doesn't live with him but still loves him very much. He often sees shawn suffering by having seizers and he feels bad for him and doesn't think he deserves to go through this. Shawn gets the idea that his dad wants to kill him to "end his pain." Shawn is frightend and doesn't know what to do. His dad later goes on a talk show with a man, Earl Detraux, who killed his son to also end his pain. By what Shawn's dad said, Shwan is now very frightend. What will happen to Shawn?

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Summary: engaging enough BUT
Review: The main character, Shawn McDaniel, has cerebral palsy. He can't speak, walk, eat or use the bathroom by himself. However, his brain - at least parts of it - work better than average, and his memory is picture perfect. He has a loving family, although his dad has left, and he isn't "warehoused" in an institution somewhere. He's also funny and endearing, as he takes the reader inside his head. You can't help but root for him, and hope that somehow someone will be able to break through and realize what's really underneath all the tics.

But just as you don't make fun of the handicapped in real life, I feel bad criticizing this book. But anyway....Knowing that the author has a son with the same condition as Shawn, took away from the book. I couldn't help wondering if the author sometimes hated his son and was writing this book as therapy. The end scene - which I won't give away - disturbed me in light of this.
Since the fact that the author has a handicapped son was not hidden in the pages outside the actual story, it saddened me to think that any of the animosity that occurred in the book might have roots in reality.

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Summary: Literature Circles
Review: A group of four college students interested in special education thought this was an overall a good, quick read. It had many meaningful issues and gave a good perspective of what it would be like to have a significant disabiltiy. Imagine being a teenager who literally has no choice or control in his life. How would you feel about getting up and starting each day? Would you want to continue on, or have someone put an end to your pain? While reading this book you really develop a connection to Shawn and his family. You feel for each individual and can side with each emotion. As a whole this group is waiting for the sequel in order to feel closure to this story.

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Summary: Joel's "Stuck in Neutral" Review
Review: Terry Trueman's "Stuck in Neutral" is an insightful story that shows life from a totally different perspective. It is about a fourteen-year-old boy who has a special gift; he can remember anything and everything that he has ever experienced in his life. Inside his head, he is the same as everyone else and can understand what goes on around him and what people are talking about, but the problem is that nobody will ever know, because he was born with cerebral palsy and is completely incapable of any form of communication or any vuluntary movement. The worst part of this lack of communication is that he is afraid that his father is going to kill him in order to "end his pain." This story follows an interesting storyline as the main character reflects on life and his apparent inability to enjoy it. What I liked about this novel was how unique of a point of view it has. Nobody ever thinks about what might be going on inside the minds of people that we consider "vegetables" and unable to learn and contribute to society. This book appeals to anyone who likes to see things through other peoples eyes and wants a new concept to think about.