Review: In My Shoes
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 27, 2011
My initial reaction to the premise of this book was, "it's been done." The idea of swapping places with someone goes back at least as far as "Cyrano de Bergerac" who did a low-tech version. The book "Black Like Me" wasn't a full-fledged swap, but did mine the same territory. "Freaky Friday" is an even better touchstone. I'm sure there are many more I'm forgetting or don't know. Then I read the Stephen's bio on Amazon where he says he wasn't much of a reader, rarely reading for fun, until about five years ago. I wondered if someone with so little experience as a reader could do a competent job as an author. My concerns turned out to be unfounded.The reason certain story types are used and reused is the basic premise has a lot to offer. The cliché about walking in someone else's shoes, the obvious inspiration for the title, has endless variations. The variations on this theme that are most likely to make a good story are those with two people prone to misunderstanding who find it difficult to imagine what the other person's life is like. The parent child swap in "Freaky Friday" is a natural. So is swapping a teenage boy with a teenage girl.As you'd expect Nicole and Jake find living the life of the other is more complicated than they realized. Stephens thought a lot about what it would take to make a situation like this work. Jake and Nicole gave each other extensive debriefings so they could learn to act correctly, otherwise they could damage relationships with friends and family for the other. Jake, in the body of Nicole, had to learn how to apply makeup and stop walking like a man. I was impressed at how well Stephens handled the details; especially the difficulties Jake had being Nicole.A potential pitfall of a novel like this is keeping track of who is who. If Jake does something, is it Nicole in Jake's body or Jake in Nicole's body? Most of the time Stephens managed to keep this clear. Any uncertainty was limited to the confusion the characters were also feeling.This is a fun read for teens and many adults. It should give either gender an appreciation for the challenges of the other - I know it did me. Or you can choose to overlook the lessons and concentrate on the humor in the situation. It's funny, as long as it isn't you in someone else's shoes.**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog.**