Alex is a 16-year-old girl who finds herself in that exact situation in Both Sides, a novel that begins when – while on a class field trip – Alex and another girl, Sandra, end up in a horrible accident.
If the doctors act quickly, they may be able to save one body…and one brain. Amid the confusion and uncertainty, we hear everything that’s going on in Alex’s mind – from her initial disbelief to her quips about the absurdity of it all to her realization that she may have to go through the rest of her life living in the body of a girl she couldn’t stand. If she survives.
Both Sides tackles these issues and more. Within its pages every reader will find her own answers and discover, in the end, a story of courage and a girl who never before existed.
Award-winning author Paul E. Stawski captures the minute-by-minute struggles of a 16-year-old girl whose world is suddenly turned upside down in Both Sides. Radical brain surgery is the only option. Time is running out and Alex’s mind is racing: will she still be the same person when she comes out on the other side?
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My experience with the novel Both Sides:
This book was a very unique experience for me, it is one of the first books that I have read where I felt that the main character was having a conversation with me. The story grabs you from the very beginning and holds you in a grip of emotions that sneak up and surprise you. The event that takes place and the story that unfolds is something I will never forget, quite possibly because the fact of this being someones true story is very real. But also that as science moves forward the ideas can also become very real.
Alex became almost a close friend through her horrifying ordeal. In the same breath I was able to hate, love, feel compassion, feel pity, and much more with each turn of the page. The reality of her situation caused me to think consistently about how often her condition can be happening. That is probably the most frightening thought, the thought that it CAN happen and it COULD happen to me.
My question to you is what would you do? How would you feel? Are you vain? Could you learn to accept? These are just a few of the questions that I have for you after reading this book. It really makes you take a good look at yourself as a person, it makes you think of what really is important. Both Sides is a book that I would recommend to anyone. In fact, I plan on having my teen daughter read it, just to see how it affects her.
About the Author
Paul E. Stawski won the Highlights for Children fiction contest for his short story, Code Red, a science-fiction story about a little girl who has to make a very grown-up decision. As a child, Paul was the subject of Newbery-Award winning author Lois Lenski's We Live in the North. Then, as an adult, he taught at an all-girls' high school before becoming a full-time writer. Both Sides is his first novel, he is currently writing the second book in the Both Sides series, Taking Sides due to be released January 2014. He lives in Troy, Michigan, with his wife and two cats.
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Taking Sides is the second book in the Both Sides series. In BOTH SIDES, Alex grappled with the idea of her brain being transplanted into Sandra’s brain-dead body. In TAKING SIDES, she struggles with her new reality, starting with the ride home from the hospital and the ensuing media circus. She’s now a celebrity who literally comes face-to-face with her new identity every time she looks in the mirror – and every time someone else looks at her. How will her friends react? How will Sandra’s? And what about their classmates and their parents? With everyone taking sides, Alex begins to wonder: is anyone on her side?
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2 comments:
It's really chilling to think of the possibilities. I loved this book, cannot wait for the second.
Thanks for the great review - and for planning to have your teenage daughter read it as well. Quite a few people are doing that with their teens. Very gratifying! Thanks, again!
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