BOTM for February is Restart

[SaraKat]

Please leave your thoughts about Gordon Korman's Restart here.

[Justine]

I really enjoyed the book. It was very well written and I got into it easily. I read it within 2-3 days during a working week, it was that engaging. On the theme of bullying, well, it's sort of but not quite hits the mark for me. I have read other middle grade books about bullying where we get to see the bully's back-story, and that bullying is just the tip of the iceberg of why children do it.

Unlike those stories, the Chase we know is not a bully. From this point of view, there is no character growth of a bully. At the end of the day, he wasn't even able to turn his old partners-in-crime round. They continue to be nasty pieces of works, even if they are not as threatening as before having lost their ring leader.

[SaraKat]

I really enjoyed reading the book this month. I enjoyed the way the POV changed and the small, bite-sized chapters. I agree that there was no growth of the bully and no back-story, but I can imagine it. I enjoyed the redemption arc with the bullying in the past because I have a hard time reading books that are so awful and unfair in real time. In this book, most of the terrible stuff was behind us so we could focus on the happy ending portion. I also think that if he was able to redeem his ex-friends, it wouldn't be as realistic. There will always be awful kids in school, but at least they didn't have as much power as before.

[Jenni]

I really enjoyed this one too, but I haven't read anything so far by Korman that I haven't liked. I thought the middle grade voice was spot on, and while I don't usually like alternate POV, I think itreally worked in this one, because we got to hear from the kids who were bullied. I liked that there was a bit of growth in the Dad, who seemed like a former bully, but the two sidekicks seemed a bit flat to me. Maybe it was that they didn't grow or have backstory, but I also thought the delineation of athletes as bullies and artists as the bullied was a little too simplistic. The redemptive aspect of it, that Chase gets a second-chance at life, so to speak was really nice. I also loved the subplot about the You Tube videos. Those were some of my favorite chapters!

[Rebecca]

This one was an enjoyable read. The amnesia idea created some interesting possibilities, even if I found it a bit unbelievable (could a knock on the head really change someone’s personality? I think to make it real, I’d need more sense that the “good Chase” was always there lurking under the surface, and instead we find more and more that he was just awful). What made it work, I think, was the chance to have one character see bullying from both sides, as it were.

[Justine]

Jenni wrote: " I also loved the subplot about the You Tube videos. Those were some of my favorite chapters!"
Me too! Especially the lengths he went to to create 'Leaf Man'! I could never bring myself to do that! :D

I'm glad you mentioned about the simplistic characters. Indeed, they strike me as stereotyped as these sporty vs not-sporty characters are not the first tropes I've come across. So I have this question for my friends across the pond who work in schools, do the US education system really have occurrences like this ie are American footballers such a big deal that they rule the school despite such behavioural problems? This would not be tolerated in the UK. I am not aware of any sports, despite the popularity of football and rugby, the lads, not matter how good they are, are not local stars to the extent that they escape disciplinary actions.

[Jenni]

Justine, I grew up in a small town where it was all about football. The jocks were popular, but they wouldn't have gotten away with what these kids did. If they did get away with stuff, it was because the admin wasn't aware. Most of my teaching experience is at the elementary level. I've seen admin go soft on bullies because they're trying to be "nice" and understanding (to the bully), but nothing like what I saw in this book.

[Trudy]

Yes. A brain injury can change the personality. Worked in a psychiatric hospital for children in the 1990s some of whom had suffered severe brain injuries. Often the physical child survived, but families struggled with the loss of who the child had been along with the challenges of their child's new needs and behaviors.

I wondered if children were more susceptible to this dramatic change and perhaps the science behind treating TBI knows more that we "observed" decades ago.

[Rebecca]

Trudy, thanks for that input. I guess I could have done a little research, but I was lazy. I assume you are talking about real personality changes, not the loss of the child that was due to reduced capacity, etc.

What about Chase’s sudden change from near-failing student to straight-As, including apparently having retained all that stuff he supposedly wasn’t learning before? I have more trouble buying that.

[Jemima]

Rebecca wrote: "Trudy, thanks for that input. I guess I could have done a little research, but I was lazy. I assume you are talking about real personality changes, not the loss of the child that was due to reduced..."
Not having read the book I suppose I shouldn’t discuss it, but I tend to agree with Rebecca on a change to ‘brilliant’.
Most brain injuries I’ve heard of the person often has to relearn from scratch. As Rebecca knows, I have a friend who has had to relearn how to talk, although thankfully her knowledge and understanding didn’t suffer.

[Caylee]

I absolutely loved restart. I think it shows that a bad situation can have positive impact later in life and that you can turn your life away from old bad ways.

[Justine]

Jenni wrote: "Justine, I grew up in a small town where it was all about football. The jocks were popular, but they wouldn't have gotten away with what these kids did. "

Oh good. Glad to hear, glad to hear!

[Carlin]

This book had a surprisingly long waitlist at my library, so I’m late to the party. And, sorry to say, I’m also the lone dissenting voice. I barely started it, but have no desire to finish. It’s an interesting enough concept that really didn’t require a complete abandonment of neurology or how traumatic brain injuries work in order to pull off. I admit I have more than average understanding of this due to my occupation, but a small amount of research could have gone a long way. I was having a difficult time suspending reality as it was, but add in some completely one-dimensional, stereotypical characters (hyper-masculine dad with the young new wife and sports metaphors), and completely unrealistic plot elements and thought processes (this kid with zero memory, background info or sense of himself doesn’t think everyone is looking at him strangely or timidly or with trepidation... he thinks they’re looking at him like he’s a time bomb about to go off any second. How exactly does that look, kid?... And mom hasn’t found the time or desire in 5+ years to change the locks to her house despite her (un-amicable) ex-husband continuously letting himself in as it suits him? Gotcha.)

So many of you loved it that I’m tempted to dip my toes in a bit further to try to understand why, but I really just don’t think this is my cup of tea!!

[Maria]

I also read Restart late and am finally getting a chance to add my thoughts here.

Although it did require extra effort to maintain the suspension of disbelief because of the unlikely situation with the amnesia, I enjoyed the book and thought it was a neat way to look at the possibility of starting over. Readers could come away with the liberating idea that they don't have to be stuck forever in the path that they are currently on. Also, the idea that we shouldn't insist on treating people as if they never will change. I also liked the plot twists.

One thing that occasionally bothered me was the way the author kind of "cheats" in the first-person writing. When writing in first person, one needs to use words and phrases that the narrator would use. But in that first chapter, when Chase is waking out of his coma and is thinking things like "The lady beside me is choked with emotion," or, "the last thing I'm in the mood for is to be soothed," and things like that, it distracted me because the words didn't seem like how the character would express himself.

[Rebecca]

Carlin wrote: "This book had a surprisingly long waitlist at my library, so I’m late to the party. And, sorry to say, I’m also the lone dissenting voice. I barely started it, but have no desire to finish. It’s an..."

Carlin, I'm sure you see that you are not alone in finding the premise and the execution a bit unlikely :) I'm glad to have my take on it confirmed!