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July 4, 2011 · Filed under Book Reviews

‘Switch’- by Tish Cohen

“I pass a big mirror and stop. Even out of the corner of my eye, even in a dead soldier’s overcoat, something doesn’t look right. I stare at myself and nearly faint.

It isn’t me in the glass.

It’s Joules Freaking Adams.”

Page 66 of ‘Switch’

This is an incredibly funny, creative, and enthralling story about a charmingly awkward teenaged girl switching lives with a girl that she’s jealous of who goes to her school. When I saw this book, I felt that it was too clichéd a storyline, and that it was like many movies and books prior to it. This assumption was backed by the comparison to ‘Freaky Friday’ on the back cover.

However, it became increasingly obvious throughout the book that the author was trying to avoid similarities to ‘Freaky Friday’. For example, the main character’s perspective is the only one we experience throughout the story. The author diverges even further, because the main character, Andrea, and the rude and reclusive Joules barely know each other, despite having been in classes together. At times, I wished I could know more about the life of Joules, the girl the main character, Andrea, switches lives with. At first, we only know a few details about Joules, such as that her dad is a rock star; she doesn’t have very many friends, other than her boyfriend, who Andrea is also in love with, and the guy she was cheating on him with. Despite the lack of friends, Andrea describes Joules as a gorgeous, enviable girl, adding to her mystery. Once the girls trade places, we are only aware of the positive aspects of Joules’ life. Towards the end of the novel, we realize why the author was so secretive about revealing other aspects. Tish Cohen was simply creating suspense for the unveiling of the shocking imperfection that is Joules’ family life.

I highly recommend this book. It was amusing, at times suspenseful, and the characters were pleasantly real. Andrea’s most memorable character trait is her ability to awkwardly babble for long periods of time, as well as her lack of fashion sense, which is shown when she unintentionally wears a thong as a bracelet on her first day of dressing in Joules’ clothing… I recognized that my own nerve-induced verbal ineptitude was very similar to Andrea’s and was able to relate. Her happy ending gives me hope that it won’t always inhibit me when talking to people that make me nervous!

So, essentially, I loved ‘Switch’, and I hope you want to read it now too!

If you’ve already read this book, please comment and let me know what you think!