GIMME A CALL by Sarah Mlynowski

Imagine dropping your cell phone into a fountain, and when you get it back, it's broken - except it's not. Now instead of calling everyone you know, it only calls one person: you, at age fourteen. What would you tell yourself? Once Devi gets her younger self to believe that it's actually her on the phone, she sees the connection as her chance to fix everything that's gone wrong in her life. She convinces YoungerDevi to do everything from study harder (so they get into a better college) to convince OlderDevi's former best friend to not get plastic surgery. And, most importantly, she convinces YoungerDevi not to go out with Brian, the boy Devi spent her entire high school life with; the boy she lost all of her friendships over; the boy who just broke her heart. But there's no perfect way to mess with time, as both Devis quickly discover. Even as the college acceptance letter tacked to the wall morphs into one from a better school several times, the tiniest actions on the part of YoungerDevi affect OlderDevi's life in unexpected (and often horrifying) ways. Now she needs YoungerDevi to fix her present as well as her past - but how far is too far? Will she ever be content with things as they are? I thought this was a great read. Like OlderDevi, I have a list of things I'd like YoungerMelissa to go back and change - in theory. What would I give up from my present life in order to have some things I missed out on because of what YoungerMelissa chose to do? (What a great book club book this is.) The most interesting part of the whole thing, to me, is that I infinitely preferred YoungerDevi to OlderDevi, and definitely saw the merit in YoungerDevi getting to make changes in time to fix her future. There's a lot of humor here - sometimes YoungerDevi's decision whips OlderDevi out of one life and into another with absolutely no notice, to hilarious effect. I wish that OlderDevi had had a more indepth realization that she really screwed up her life - that she did it to herself - rather than just insisting that YoungerDevi fix everything. There are moments of reflection, but I wanted them to go farther than they did. Overall, though, this is a really good read (especially for summer) that will make anyone think about the choices they've made and are making in their life. And with the exception of a little underage drinking, it's clean. I definitely recommend it.

Comments

[Nora]

Wow, great review! This book sounds terrific, I will have to get it out of the library ASAP. I love time travel stories.