Slipping [Paperback]

Cathleen Davitt Bell (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up

Michael has enough problems to deal with: low grades, parents that compare him to his perfect sister, and a best friend who gets more distant with each school day. So he can’t really focus on his grandpa’s death. Besides, how do you grieve for someone you barely knew? But then Michael starts seeing his grandpa’s face in the mirror—and he seems to be reaching out for help. Soon, Michael is slipping out of his body and into his grandpa’s memories—wading in the river between the living and the dead. As the slips become longer and more frequent, Michael struggles to resolve the feud that ripped his family apart. But each time he visits the world of the dead, it becomes harder to return. He will have to rely on an unlikely group of friends to keep from slipping forever. . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In most ghost stories, a house is haunted, or perhaps an object, the echoes of past tragedies captured in musty rooms or a threadbare doll. In Bell's intense if uneven debut novel, however, the haunting occupies not so much a physical space as the broken bonds between fathers and sons.Thirteen-year-old Michael Kimmel's family is wealthy, but hardly comfortable, and in many senses undernourished. Facing an upcoming ballet recital, his older sister, Julia, is too nervous to eat—fearing that her daughter is anorexic, their mother stops eating in turn. Their overworked father thrives on protein shakes, perfectionism and canceling the family vacations at the last minute. Michael retreats from all this stress into the rule-governed chaos of video games.Then one night Michael's father comes home with cracks in his armor: My dad is someone who is never late, who is never wrong, who is never sad. But just then, he looked like he was maybe all three. Michael's grandfather is dead.The family's reaction is strangely muted. Michael hasn't seen his grandfather for years, since a break between father and son that he's too young to remember. But as in any ghost story, the past isn't dead. Soon the grandfather's spirit is haunting Michael, drawing him into a demimonde of the restless dead, where family history (and family secrets) are revealed.Being haunted is not healthy. Michael returns from these slips shaken and half-frozen. Without meaning to, his grandfather is sucking the life out of him.Ghosts, of course, always want something—the trick is finding out what. Ghost stories are puzzles, games played to uncover a hidden past. So it feels both inventive and logical when Michael approaches his haunting like a new video game.He collects an assortment of allies: his former best friend, his big sister, a bully, a paranormal geek and a professional psychic. He learns the rules of the afterlife, and braves deeper levels of his grandfather's memories. Ultimately, Michael discovers the roots of his unhappy relationship with his own father, and the truth of what the ghost is looking for.Bell's spare prose evokes a tightly wound family, and elegantly renders the world from Michael's gloomy, nescient point of view. But the book's paranormal set pieces often feel muddled—the mechanics and geography of the demimonde don't become clearer as the game is played. (There's a River of the Dead, and tunnels under the river, I think.) But the story succeeds in that its paranormal dynamics echo the real world's. Breaks between father and son, parent and child, do play out in the next generation. Families really are haunted by the past, in a way that houses are not.Scott Westerfeld is the author of the Uglies, Midnighters and Peeps series. His next book is Bogus to Bubbly, an Insider's Guide to the World of Uglies (Simon Pulse, Oct.).
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6–8—When his estranged grandfather passes away, Michael Kimmel, 13, begins to feel a weird eeriness that develops into moments where he "slips" into the world of his grandfather's memories. He begins to communicate with the deceased, learning more about his sad and dysfunctional relationship with his son, Michael's father. Each "slip" into the dead man's mind brings the teen dangerously closer to his own passing as he becomes increasingly unable to "slip" out of "the river of the dead." First-time author Bell has created a gripping supernatural fantasy and psychological drama, blending family controversies with coming-of-age issues of peer acceptance and success. Michael's concerns over his height and abilities on the basketball court are continually overshadowed by his own strained relationship with his demanding father. Michael is a well-developed protagonist balanced by four supporting roles: his older sister, Julia; best friend, Gus; and new friends Ewan and Trip, fleshing out a teen-centered story with adults clearly taking an ancillary role. Persuasive descriptions of Michael's physical pain and psychological exertions climax in a vivid death-defying scene. An interesting short addendum on the fact or fictions of "time slips" will keep readers wondering about the plausibility of a loved-one's connection between death and life.—Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens; Reprint edition (June 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1599903601
• ISBN-13: 978-1599903606
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,270,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny stuff, January 15, 2009

By 

K. Scott (New York, N.Y.) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Slipping (Hardcover)

My young nephew had just finished reading this book. I asked him, "Did you like it?" He said, "It's good." Which for him is a rave review. I picked it up and, as they say, I couldn't put it down. There are so many funny observations about people and family life, it had me chuckling, page after page. The young narrator writes, "I guess I take after my mom... she never does the dishes until it comes time to actually use the plates... One of my mom's jokes is to call our stack of take-out menus her cookbook." By the time the supernatural stuff started, I was hooked. (And, thank god, the ghostly time-travel stuff is anchored so deeply in the real world, I stuck with it and began to really enjoy it, even though I usually flinch from fantasy.) This is such a well-written and delightful story. I look forward to the author's next book.

4.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, August 14, 2008

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slipping (Hardcover)

Michael is an average, ordinary boy. But, when his grandfather that he barely even knew dies, something happens to him.

Somehow, Michael is seeing his grandpa. All of a sudden he'll get really cold and he'll open his eyes and he won't be where he was a minute ago. He'll be in a dark place with his grandfather standing in front of him. His grandpa tells him that he can pull Michael in and show him all of his memories. Because of this, Michael is finding out things he never knew before. Like how he and his grandfather always fought and never got along. And that that's why his father is the way he is today.

Of course, Michael is freaked out about all of this and has no idea if what's happening is real or just an elaborate dream. A boy at school, Ewan, who is obsessed with the dead because his father is deceased, tells Michael that what's happening to him is called "Slipping" and that it's very rare. Michael's art teacher even gives him the number of a very famous psychic and tells him to go see her, because even she doesn't believe what Michael is telling her.

He ends up going to see the psychic with his ex-best friend, Gus, his older sister, Julia, Ewan, and Trip (Gus's new best friend). The psychic tells him that what's happening to him is much more serious and dangerous than Slipping and that he should try to stop it immediately before something happens to him. But can Michael really control what's happening or will he end up dead just like his grandfather?

This was a pretty short but very intense story. From the very first page I was hooked. What was happening to Michael was totally freaky but cool at the same time. Being able to see his grandfather's memories and everything was so awesome. The whole book was very touching, along with all of the crazy, intense moments.

The ending was pretty good. I feel like it could have been a bit longer and the author could have gone in to detail a little bit more. But all in all, SLIPPING was a very good book. I hope Cathleen Davitt Bell writes another great one soon.

Reviewed by: Breanna F.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read for any age!, July 26, 2008

By 

Nancy Lind (LA, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Slipping (Hardcover)

This is a fabulous book that is so well written. I got instantly captivated by the story line and finished the book in 2 days. It is a great read not only for adolescents but parents should check it out as well. It will provide fascinating discussion between you and your child. As a former fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teacher who knows kids literature I highly recommend it.