Title: Flipped

Author: Wendelin Van Draanen

Paperback: 212 pages

Published on: October 1, 2001

Publisher: Random House

Genre: YA > Coming of Age

Rating: 4.5/5 

Flipped was actually a book recommendation from a friend of mine, I think a year ago. She sent me an ebook copy of the book. At that time, I only read until half of the book, and watched the movie. I must say that the movie was also amazing! After watching the movie, I decided to read the book again and I was stuck in the middle of the story. Yesterday, we had a brownout for the whole day and the whole night. I needed something to do or else I think I'd go cray cray, so I browsed my ebooks and read the book until the end. 

When Juli Baker first set her eyes upon blue-eyed Bryce Loski, she fell in love. Juli was always following him around in school, which Bryce hated and he would do anything just to get rid of her. That's basically the pattern of both characters until eight grade. When eight grade came, there situation had been totally reversed. Juli finds Bryce as an arrogant jerk, while Bryce started to notice Juli on how brave she is, how pretty she is and all of her beautiful characteristics which he has never thought of before. 

Wendelin wrote a book told in two different voices and that gave us a wider scope of the events and a greater understanding of what was actually going on. Both the plot and character development really worked for me. You could really see the reason behind everything, and it certaintly won't leave your questions unanswered.

The story definitely had this creativity factor in it. I'm aware that there are also books that have a similar plot with this one, but I don't think anything can beat how great this book was. It would totally stand up, and based on my experience, it's unforgettable. 

If you have been reading lots of violent, gritty, sad ending books, etc, I highly recommend this book for you. It'll give you a sweet smile just by reading the first page. It's a breather and a break from all the intense books. 

Reread Factor?

YES YES and YES. I will definitely

read this again. The book was just amazing and cute. Even the movie was.

Favorite Quotes:

“Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss….” He turned to me. “But every once in a while you find someone who's iridescent, and when you do, nothing will ever compare.”

“To be held above the earth and brushed by the wind,” she said, “it's like your heart has been kissed by beauty.”

“There was other stuff, too, like how something can be so much more than the parts it took to make it, and why people need things around them that lift them above their lives and make them feel the miracle of living.”

“Man, I'll dive after her into a chicken coop full of poop if that's what it takes. I'll ride my bike all the stinkin' way to school for the rest of eternity if it means being with her.”

It is when a book hits so close to home that I find it the most difficult to write a review and make sense of how I feel about the story. Played is unexpectedly one of those books, and I've spent days trying to decipher my thoughts into words. Nevertheless, I shall attempt. 

Played tells the story of Riley and Sam, two people with completely different backgrounds, whose paths one day cross on a leadership camp for intelligent and outstanding students. They instantly hate each other: Sam thinking of Riley as a spoiled bossy white girl, while Riley thinking of Sam as this rude, moody and arrogant guy. But when they are paired up to work together, Riley finds herself in danger with only Sam there to save her. After spending a whole day together stranded at the bottom of a cliff, they form an unlikely friendship. Riley then decides to repay Sam by helping him get together with her brother's girlfriend who is Sam's crush. Told in the alternating POVs of Sam and Riley, Played is about how two different people fall in love. 

At first I found this premise quite shallow and unoriginal, considering there have been several stories made about a boy and a girl who hate each other but eventually fall in love and/or a girl who helps the boy get together with someone else but they 'unexpectedly' fall in love and end up together in the end anyway. The story of Played is a mesh of these two tropes and I wasn't as enthusiastic about it at first. However, Played drew me in the moment I got a glimpse into Sam and Riley's thoughts. I found both these characters very interesting, not necessarily likable but very compelling - and I wouldn't want to admit, but also relatable. 

Riley seemingly has the perfect life, especially in Sam's eyes. Her family is rich, her grades are high, what more could she ask for? But throughout the book you see how much she struggles to meet her parent's expectations, to excel beyond what she is capable of. Though Riley is presumed to be a good girl, the obedient one who never drinks and always gets straight As, we get to see Riley get in touch with her rebellious side, the side that we honestly all have but try the hardest to not unleash.  Throughout the book Riley does a bunch of stupid and selfish things, but through all of these, Riley is able to break out of her shell and mature into a person who can distinguish between right and wrong and also one who does not just follow blindly.

Sam is different. Being one of the few Native Americans in their school he tries hard to fit in. It was interesting to see how Sam juggled with his life home in the Rez and his life outside of it - how these two opposite ends would meet. Sam's struggle to be recognized by his father comprised a major part of his story and I liked how it worked out in the end. 

Both of them have their own problems to deal with - problems that are not unfamiliar to teenagers today. These are problems that concern family life, societal expectation, acceptance and yes even race. There is a part in the book where the characters ponder over what the politically correct term for Native American is, something that has possibly crossed the minds of any teenager in today's generation. At the beginning Riley experiments with Botox with her best friend, and here we see a girl who has for a long time obediently followed her parents expectations and now realizing that maybe just maybe, she does not want to anymore.

There is also a diverse group of secondary characters. Fred and Ryan, the two main characters in the first novel Hooked, contributed a big part to the story and I loved how they fit into it. I loved how they were a big key to Riley and Sam's realization and journey to acceptance of themselves. Everyone else was also very interesting and well-rounded characters: Trevor, Fred's brother who helps Sam by selling him his bike, Jay, the misogynistic jerk, Drew, Riley's best friend who's always there for her, Martin, who gives the best advice to Sam, Riley's parents who just really want the best for her, Sam's parents who struggle to understand him and last but not the least Sam's grandmother who I found so likeable and so genuinely nice.

The romance between Sam and Riley was well-paced as well. I absolutely abhor insta love so I liked how they started by not exactly liking each other. I loved seeing how they evolve from strangers to friends and finally into something more. The dream basket which Sam's grandmother gives to Riley is an important component of their love story and I found if to be a sweet but simple way to wrap things up. 

The best part of the book is the probably the last 15% of it. I loved how the story was concluded and the ending was just perfectly wondrous. It gave me this good squirmy feeling like I wanted to hug these two people and pat them in the back for a job well done.