Flip

Alex wakes up one morning in Phillip (Flip)'s body and finds he has lost 3 months of his life and now has a new sister parents and a dog plus two girlfriends. As Alex, he was the nerd who played the clarinet, as Phillip he is the good-looking boy with loads of friends who plays sport. What has happened? Alex sets out to discover what has happened to "Alex" - is he dead? And to try and get back to his old life all the while pretending he is Phillip. (SPOILER ALERT Alex is in a Coma /PVS )
Great one for pondering life's big questions of what makes us who we are.

3.5 stars. I thought this was well-written, and generally an entertaining ride. A bit redundant, though, especially in the beginning as Alex is first realizing his situation.

It didn't wrap up very neatly, which was maybe necessary, but still disappointing. A lot of characters that interested me were just dropped flat, never to be seen again. Meanwhile, a cheesy, overly convenient explainer-type character, who I didn't care for at all, took up quite a bit of the second half of the book. I think I would have preferred the story without him.

I would read more from this author. Especially if he turns out more stand-alones of this quality. Any YA author who can write fantasy/sci-fi/supernatural anything NOT in the form of a series gets my love.

** spoiler alert ** Alex is running home from a friend's house one night to make it back before curfew and the next thing he remembers is waking up… but everything is wrong… the room, the people, and HIS body; and six months seems to have flown by. Not sure what is going on Alex soon comes to realize that everyone believes him to be Philip - aka - Flip. In an unknown body in an unknown place Alex's world is torn apart. Trying to find someone to believe his real identity is impossible and on top of that he is expected to get used to a body and friends that aren't his. Fast paced and filled with mental twists and turns Flip is a brilliant read. The plot was often heart wrenching, but I really enjoyed it. The characterization was great show more and I easily connected with Alex. I think the reactions from those around him were realistic and the entire situation felt real. The pace of the story was perfect and kept you questioning and wondering until the end. I was happy with the ending, yet wanted the story to continue because I was not ready to say goodbye. Flip was a great read that I recommend; make sure to read it when it comes out in April! show less

London teenager Alex wakes up in a strange bedroom, in a stranger’s body. The last thing he remembers is coming home from his friend’s house on a December night — now he is hundreds of miles away in Yorkshire and it’s June. What happened?

Alex finds out that he is trapped in the body of a boy named Philip, also known as Flip. As he struggles to figure out what happened to him, he has to keep up the charade that he is actually Flip, even though the two boys have little in common. Eventually, Alex learns about psychic evacuation and that he is not the only person this has happened to — but he is the only one whose original body is still alive….

Can Alex find a way to switch his and Flip’s souls back to the right bodies or will show more he be trapped in Flip’s life forever?

This is a brilliant mystery that raises questions about the nature of identity and the mind/body connection. Is Alex still “Alex” while he is in Flip’s body? If not, then who is he? show less

This was a fantastic and fast-paced YA thriller! The book is written from Alex's perspective, so one easily feels for his character. Poor nerdy Alex is stuck in quite the conundrum and you wonder how/if he will ever get back to his own life. The suspenseful plot kept me turning the pages, I swear I finished it in a blink! Yet the book also causes many thought-provoking questions to arise. How much of who you are is your memories vs. what others expect of you? Especially pertinent to young adults is: which is better, being popular or being yourself?

Flip is Martyn Bedford's first foray into the young adult genre and I think he should definitely write more YA lit! This is a story of friendship, life and identity with many plot twists and show more turns - I absolutely recommend this tightly paced book! show less

Few words can describe Flip with justice, so I am not going to try. Taken from the inside jacket flap:

One morning fourteen-year-old Alex wakes up to find himself in the wrong bedroom, in an unfamiliar house, in a different part of the country. Six months have disappeared overnight. The family at the breakfast table? Total strangers.

This will undoubtedly be the shortest review I will ever have the privilege of writing. Whatever the top prize is each year for young adult literature, Martyn Bedford has written the year’s unquestionable winner. His writing, brilliant and captivating, is the reason I read and review whatever comes my way. It is the golden nugget. These pages will stick to your fingers, begging to be turned, until all that show more is left are blank fillers. Your mind will not let go, even then. I am stunned – at what I just now finished reading. It is purely magic to be led down an unfamiliar and unbelievable path, and find one’s self believing to the end.

Bravo!

note: received from publisher show less

If any of you are 70’s movie buffs, you might remember the award-nominated film “Heaven Can Wait” with Warren Beatty and Julie Christie, which was a remake of the 1941 classic “Here Comes Mr. Jordan.” In the 1978 movie, a Los Angeles Rams quarterback is accidentally taken away from his body by an over-anxious angel before he was supposed to die. Therefore the angel puts him in the body of someone else so he can finish out his life.

Flip could be considered a YA version of that story, in which 14-1/2 year old Alex Gray wakes up one day to find himself inside the body of Philip “Flip” Garamond. The only problem is, the body of Alex isn’t quite dead yet – he is in a coma after a car accident. In this case, an angel is not show more the cause of the soul switch; rather, it is the result of a phenomenon that supposedly occasionally occurs after death called “psychic evacuation” or PE. It seems so hard for Alex to believe and yet, he muses, if souls can go to heaven, why couldn't they go somewhere else? Alex/Flip feels so lonely and alienated until he finds a website for other PE victims that offers support:

"For evacuated psyches, it can be a hard, lonely world out thee, where no one believes or understand what we’ve been through and will go through for the rest of our new existences. To live out your days in corporeal exile is a bewildering journey of loss and grief for what you’ve had to leave behind, combined with alienation from what you’ve become. You’ve been ripped from your body your old life, your loved ones, and thrust into someone else’s. Not to mention the guilt you’re bound to feel over the soul that has been cast aside to make way for yours.”

For most PEs, there is no way back. But Alex’s evacuation was a mistake because his body is not yet dead. Can he figure out how to reverse the process?

Evaluation: I love the Warren Beatty movie, and this YA and modernized adaptation also works well, with Flip’s friends struggling to figure out why Flip is acting so unlike himself. This is a fast-paced and heart-warming story you won’t want to put down until you finish. show less