The Boy Who Reversed Himself

Sleator, William. 1986. THE BOY WHO REVERSED HIMSELF. New York: E.P Dutton.

“‘Oh, come off it, Omar,’ I said. ‘The fourth dimension is just an hypothetical math concept. Or else it’s time, or something. Just a lot of sci-fi crud. You expect me to believe that?’”

When weird things begin happening, Laura wonders who’s to blame for writing backwards notes and getting into her locker. Her suspicions are drawn to her next door neighbor Omar and, upon further investigation, she realizes his face has reversed. Intrigued by the mystery Laura begins to ask questions. What she discovers leads her into a new dimension and a situation from which she may never escape. "'If [the fourth space creatures] catch us, we have to die'" (page 30).

The three-dimensional characters in the book are limited to Laura, Omar, and Pete, the boy Laura has a crush on. Development of all three is minimal, though slightly more for Laura who tells the story in first person. In the beginning of the story Laura is introduced as being brainy and wanting to be a doctor; this helps explain how quickly she catches on to the concept of the dimensions. The other characters are in the other dimension. Readers observe them as Laura does, but interaction is minimal.

Like the characters, the story lacks development. Everything happens too quickly and too easily. For example, Omar has a secret that could destroy the universe and yet he shares it with Laura as soon as she asks, simply because he wants a friend. However, the quick pace does allow the book to be primarily filled with action. “The sum of all these disparate parts is a novel that is viscerally exciting, mentally stimulating, and deeply satisfying” (Cart).

The book is split between locations. While in the three-dimensional world, the story takes place at Laura’s house and at school. Omar’s house remains a mystery until further in the story. During the rest of the book, the other dimension is the setting. While there, much emphasis is placed on the description of the area in order to let readers see and understand what Laura is seeing and understanding.

The scientific aspect of the book, such as other dimensional universes and how to transfer between them, is tricky to understand. Though Omar explains it Laura and the readers as simply as he can, the concept is still extremely difficult to grasp; the idea of it, however, is interesting and forces readers to think beyond this world and dwell in the realm of possibilities.

Cart, Michael. 1986. School Library Journal. Reed Business Information, Inc. Available at http://www.amazon.com

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