Customer Reviews

Stuck in Neutral

5 star:		(102)
4 star:		(69)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you have ever watched a smart person with cerebral palsy being treated like an idiot by those around him, you will appreciate this short novel. This book calls into question the assumption made by many that a severe physical disability automatically indicates a severe mental disability. Shawn, the protagonist of this story, attends public school in a Severely Handicapped Special Day Class. He is surrounded by people who baby-talk to him and talk around and over him, assuming that he does not understand. Being fiction, one cannot take this story as proof that all people like Shawn are highly intelligent, but it should make one question the assumption that they are not. I loved his description of the Special Day Class, although I thought he was unbelievably forgiving of the people around him. I personally cringe (and sometimes enter into a deep depression) when I have to enter such a class, knowing that the students who are being changed and fed and listening to the same stupid nursery rhymes day after day have surely got other places they would rather be. It has to be extremely frustrating to be so unseen. If this book can make people question their assumptions about people with disabilities, then it has done a wonderful thing. It is less dangerous to assume that someone understands what is going on than to assume that they cannot, in terms of how much damage you are going to inflict on that person. Anyone who is going to work, play, or live with someone with severe CP should read this book. I used to reccommend Christy Brown's "Down All The Days" which is incredible, but a long, hard read and no one finishes it. This book is short and engaging and is more likely to be read.

I think that the book is interesting in its portrayal of someome who, because he is physically unable to communicate, is believed also to be unable to think. Certainly the story is a salutary warning to anyone who thinks that a communication disorder is equivalent to having nothing to communicate. There are parts of the book which are very well-written and powerful.

However, I think that the book is fatally marred from both a literary and an emotional point of view by its inconclusive ending. The issue of whether a boy is going to be killed buy his own father is so fundamental that leaving it up in the air is seriously damaging to the book. I understand that inconclusive endings are sometimes a literary device; I just feel that doing so in a book of this sort, especially one intended for young readers, is inappropriate, and may lead to the readers protecting themselves emotionally by treating it as just a case study in ethics, and ignoring Shawn's humanity: surely the complete opposite of the book's presumable purpose.

I am also concerned about the atmosphere created of the young disabled character's total powerlessness in the hands of adults; and the fact that this aspect is not directly questioned. One gets the impression that the father's thoughts of killing his son are wrong in this case; but not that it is wrong or unnatural for an adult to have that much power over their child (or over anyone). I think that the book may therefore appeal to young people who do feel powerless and are frustrated by it; but that the emphasis on powerlessness may ultimately be corrosive. It would be particularly dangerous if it leads to the impression that disabled people must invariably be totally under other people's power.

I realize that some of my comments may sound confused; but the book's whole message is confused. It is a strange book; possibly of interest to adults, especially those who are interested in
books that use defiance of literary conventions, such as plot resolution, as a literary device in itself. I don't think that it has much to offer young people.

"Stuck In Neutral" By Terry Trueman was a very wonderful book. In it, you read about the life of a mentally and physically challenged teenage boy, Sean, through his eyes, and see things from his point of view and what he thinks of those things in his life. It is also about the knowledge of how his Dad really thinks Sean's "pain" should end which adds mystery to the story. It makes you feel that you know exactly what a person of his nature thinks and feels in this story even though no one really knows exactly. This is one of those books you will not be able to put down. This story has given me a different feeling about persons with disabilities.

The book Stuck in Neutral is really a great book. I'd give it 5 golden stars. The main character Shawn McDaniel has cerebral palsy, he can not walk, talk, blink or swallow on his own. But he is really an amzing genius who is trapped inside his own body. He can remember everything he has ever heard or seen. And he loves his life although he is disabled. But he has seizures, and his father can not stand to see his son in pain. But he did not know that Shawn is not in great pain, he actually enjoys his seizures, they allow him to be free. But his father did not know, he loves his son too much, he even wants to kill Shawn to end his pain! Will his father kill Shawn or save Shawn? The book Stuck in Neutral is very exciting, and funny. I highly recommend this book. It is full of suprises, and full of scarybut awesome events. Some times they make you shiver, but more importantly, they make you wander. A paralyzed and retarded boy like Shawn McDaniel can love his life so much, what is the reason for us not to love it? Once again, I highly recommend this book.

Rather than focus on what was said in the pages of Stuck in Neutral I want us to examine the heart of the author. Trueman doesn't gloss over the bitter rock hard reality of life. He wants us to get real with our feelings, to lay bare our fears, our frustrations, to tell it like it is, speak the truth. Trueman did the same thing with his narrative poem Sheehan (the precursor to Stuck in Neutral), laying bare his vulnerability, daring to say what none of the rest of us would even dream of voicing to another, let alone print it in a book for the whole world to see. He has done the same with Stuck in Neutral.

If you have read other reviews on this story you should know by now that Trueman is actually the father of such a child. Shawn is a severely mentally disabled victim of Cerebral Palsy. Or is he? That is the question. However, this isn't "just" a story written in the voice of a helpless child trapped in an uncontrollable body; and neither is it "just" an attempt by the author to help the world to see through the eyes of the disabled. Both of those are indeed very worthy endeavors, especially by the father of such a child; but this story goes much deeper.

Behind the pages of this story you will find a father who has been torn to shreds by circumstances beyond his control and still managed to come out on the other end a winner. And not just a winner because he managed to survive, but because he has done something for his son that nobody else on this whole earth could have done, not the medical doctors, not the psychiatrists and not the innumerable therapists who tried to help. His love for this child is what enabled him to place himself inside Shawn's body, to mingle with his mind and muscles, to see through his eyes and create in him a whole new person from the inside out, by the power of the written word. Trueman brought his son back to life. That is the real miracle of this story. Please keep that in mind as you read the last few paragraphs and then you won't have to wonder about the outcome. ELE.

"Stuck in Neutral," by Terry Trueman, is a novel told in the first person by an extraordinary character: Shawn McDaniel, a 14-year old boy who is completely paralyzed. Although he is unable to move or communicate, Shawn possesses both a keen intelligence and the ability to perfectly remember anything he encounters.

Shawn has a troubled connection to his father, a poet who has earned fame by writing about his disabled son. This is a well-written and fascinating novel. In the character of Shawn's father, Trueman effectively explores the relationship between art and life.

This powerful story raises some difficult ethical issues. Shawn is a compelling and skillfully realized character. At one point Shawn refers to Helen Keller and the play "The Miracle Worker." Like that play, this book is a valuable addition to the body of literature that deals with human disability and human dignity.

This book makes anyone reconsider deeply what they believe about others. Exploring the complex thoughts and emotions of a young disabled teen, the book is thought-provoking and you will still be thinking about it weeks later. The book is well-written, although sometimes slow, and has fascinating characters with an interesting plot. Although bored at times, I was still touched by the book's message weeks later. `Stuck in Neutral' is a wonderful book and fully deserving of five stars. I hope that you will read this book; it truly opens your eyes.

I read a compelling story about a fourteen year old Shawn McDaniel, who was stricken with the incapability to voluntarily move any muscle in his body. Since he can't talk, nobody really understands him, and no one really knows him. He sees clues leading him to believe that his father may be planning to kill him in order to end his pain, since his dad "loves him too much" to see him suffer. Not being able to defend himself,- he must now come face-to-face with the facts that he may soon die.- This is a wonderful book that many should read, not only because you can see the silent fight in Shawn, but also because you will see the fight in yourself as well.

Shawn is a vegetable to the outside world, a young man unable to more his eyes, stuck in a wheelchair, unable to communicate anything about his life. His Dad worries that Shawn is in pain, that he suffers terribly when he is overcome by seizures. The reader is the only one with insight into Shawn's inner world-his iron-clad memory, his acute observations about personal relationships, his appreciation of girls, and his wisdom about his family and special education class. Does Shawn's Dad think that ending his son's life would end some unbearable pain?

I've heard others talk about the dark overtones of this book. Certainly being severely disabled and misunderstood is dark, but Shawn's narrative voice carried me through the book. He has inner strength which buoys the reader through his own tough times. In many ways, I am envious of the personal acceptance and wisdom of our 14-year old narrator.

Here's one terrific passage from [p. 41]. "I use the word `retard' the way I use any word or words: dolphin, racehorse, sandwich, sidewalk, and apple. Is a dolphin better than a racehorse? A sandwich better than a sidewalk? An apple better than whatever? Words just stand for things they are and for what people mean them to stand for. A retard is not a normal persona. Putting us in baseball caps and Reebok high-tops and teaching us to connect bolt A to nut B, to count back change, to stack plastic-covered packages of pork chops, none of these things will make us normal."

This is one of those books I plan to buy a few copies of to pass out to friends. It's a slim book that packs a powerful message (and not in a sad way).

Shawn McDaniels is one of the brightest 14 years olds ever. Everything he says, hears, or reads is imprinted in his memory eternally. Although he has a photographic memory, he is considered a retard because of his cerebral palsy. He cannot move any of his body because of this . On top of his impairment, his father's out to kill him. As readers join him they jump into the mind of a hidden prodigy and see what life is like though his eyes.

Terry Trueman's Stuck in Neutral is a twist on the idea of the vegetative state theory. His writing is a brand new frontier of paperback exploration, and his ability to tell stories is simple and fun to read. This fast read is not for the weak hearted, but it's worth readers time.