Flipped : A Thoughtful Review of this Classic Romance Must Read with Aneesha Aryan
“It's easy to look back and see it, and it's easy to give the advice. But the sad fact is, most people don't look beneath the surface until it's too late.” Happy Friday! We are excited to share the second installment of our mother daughter book review series, a series written by Gayatri Aryan and her daughter Aneesha Aryan. For today’s installment, Aneesha thoughtfully reviews “Flipped”, a classic “he said, she said” young adult romance novel by Wendelin Van Draanen. Looking for a cozy read for these cold winter nights? Enjoy!
Author: By Wendelin Van Draanen
Genre: YA Novel, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Comedy, Drama, Historical Drama
Publication Date: October, 2001
“Maybe it was how you looked at it. Maybe there were things I saw as ugly that other people thought were beautiful.”
“It's easy to look back and see it, and it's easy to give the advice. But the sad fact is, most people don't look beneath the surface until it's too late.”
Flipped is a young adult novel by Wendelin Van Draanen. The story is told from two perspectives: a curious and bold girl, Juli as well as an afraid and quiet boy, Bryce. When they both were seven, Bryce moved into the neighborhood — right across the street from Juli. Immediately, when Juli saw their moving van drive up and Bryce walk out of his car, she knew she was in love.
For six years, Juli stays madly in love with Bryce until suddenly she isn’t. Bryce spends those same six years avoiding Juli and seeing her as the most annoying person he’d ever met. Soon Bryce suddenly sees himself looking at Juli and wondering how he could ever feel anything for Juli other than love. At the same time, Juli begins to ask herself what she ever saw in Bryce.
They have flipped.
Bryce’s grandfather plays a big role in the story by becoming Juli’s friend and helping her realize what she believes and why. He also guides Bryce with the same thing telling him, “‘No, Bryce,’ he said softly. ’She's the same as she's always been; you're the one who's changed.’ He clapped his hand on my shoulder and whispered, ‘And son, from here on out, you'll never be the same again.’”
Juli’s dad, Richard Baker tells Juli, “A painting is more than the sum of its parts. A cow by itself is just a cow, a meadow by itself is just grass, flowers... and the sun peeking through the trees is just a beam of light, but you put them all together... and it can be magic.” Juli realizes this can be the same with people however with people their whole can either be greater than the sum of their parts or less. In this novel, both Juli and Bryce learn to identify whether a person’s whole is more or less and what that means to them. At different moments they see the whole differently but they undeniably flip their perspectives. As they get to know one another more, they learn about each other, what they missed when they first met and how that affected how they looked at the other for so long.
The readers learn along with the characters to look at the whole picture and to look for a person from the inside and not just how they are on the outside — to really ask ourselves why we do or don’t like a person.
When we do this, everything we might have believed can flip.