Backwards

December 1, 2013

Gr 7 Up-The "Rider" slips from the body of a high school senior and observes the aftermath of his attempted suicide in the first pages of this suspenseful paranormal novel. Readers have to wait to find out what happened to Dan as the book travels backward in time, beginning on the day he tried to take his own life. The ghostlike Rider lives with Dan through one day only to be thrust back at day's end to the previous day. The Rider is mystified by his current existence and disgusted by the teen to whom he is bound. He becomes increasingly convinced that he must save someone Dan has hurt, and, as time creeps toward that event, the Rider exercises more and more influence to change the outcome of what he has seen. References and parallels to Alice in Wonderland are numerous and apt as the themes of self-perception, identity, and recognizing the consequences of action and inaction emerge. It is ambitious to tell a story backwards, with a nameless narrator who doesn't understand his own existence, or know anything about Dan's history. This reverse plotting sometimes causes the pace to lag, and the disoriented and distanced narrator makes knowing and caring about the characters difficult. The action and emotion accelerate toward the end of the book, however, and the conclusion is at once thought-provoking and satisfying. Readers who stick with the Rider will be rewarded.-Martha Baden, Prescott Public Library, AZ

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