From TV personality and radio host Bill Flanagan comes a “funny and sharp” (Rosanne Cash, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter and bestselling author) time-traveling adventure novel about how the past never gives up its hold on the present and how even sixty-five-year-olds are still kids at heart. If you had the chance to live your life over again, knowing everything that you know now, would … know now, would you take it? Would you still take it if it meant losing everything you had today? Would a second chance to correct every mistake and missed opportunity be worth giving up the world you know and the life you have built? In Fifty in Reverse, fifteen-year-old Peter Wyatt does just that.
In the spring of 1970, Harvard psychologist Terry Canyon is introduced to Peter, a quiet kid from a wealthy family who has been suspended from ninth grade for stripping off his clothes in Algebra class. When Terry asks Peter why he did, the boy explains that he was trying to “shock myself awake.” It turns out that Peter believes he is a sixty-five-year-old man who went to sleep in his home in New York in the year 2020 and woke up in his childhood bedroom fifty years earlier.
Hilariously depicting Peter’s attempts to fit in as a fifteen-year-old in 1970 and to cope with the tedium, foolishness, and sexual temptations of high school as he tries to retain the sense of himself as a sixty-five-year-old man, Fifty in Reverse is a thought-provoking and enlightening novel about second chances and appreciating where you are in life.
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Clever unusual storyline. Loved! The music and artist references. I did like their were caring parents.
“{Ricky DeVille spoke in class,” Peter said. “My hallucination has departed from reality. I expect to see leprechauns emerging from Pepsi cans and orangutans aloft on silver wings. It’s all wide open now.}”
Fifty in Reverse was a heartfelt funny too fast of a read! This book will be even more appealing to people who enjoy the music from around the 70’s and so on. I am not in my fifties but I didn’t feel like I couldn’t understand some of the references made to the past. A nice climb in your favorite relaxing and reading spot, put something in the crook pot and just relax in your happy place and read! Happy reading everyone!
“{Our children pass into another life,” she thought, “where they will be secure and easeful, into which we can never go.”}
“{Peter said, “Are you still with us, Mom?}”
“{I’m right here,” she said.}”
“{The boy looked at her like he knew her thoughts. He said, ”Then we are all where we’re meant to be.}”
Wow, wow, wow. I picked up this slender book thinking it would be “merely” a pleasant diversion based on an almost “Parent Trap”-like gimmick premise: Peter Wyatt, a 65-year-old man living in 2020, wakes up to find himself back in 1970, inhabiting his 15-year-old body and living in his childhood home with his still-youngish parents, albeit with his 65-year-old man’s life experiences intact in his brain. And Bill Flanagan does indeed have a lot of fun, initially, with Peter’s “What the hell is happening?” wonderment—the ability to unleash his worldly knowledge and vocabulary upon unsuspecting teachers, and to claim “Born to Run” as his own composition. (Shades of the film “Yesterday,” too.) But as the novel progresses, the gimmickry fades away and the book takes on psychological heft, as Peter is truly pained by his predicament—of being unmoored, missing the family he created with his wife while re-relating to his still-in-their-prime parents. The novel builds to a moving, bittersweet conclusion. I should add that this book is YA-friendly, provided that your teens can weather lots of Boomer-era cultural references.
Old-time music fans are sure to love reminiscing on the tunes mentioned within. I was inspired by the text to turn on the radio, searching for some oldies to listen to. (Smokin’ In The Boys Room!) While this story was an alright read for me, anyone in their 50’s or from the genre of cassette tapes, records, and record players, I could see gravitating towards this, and loving and cherishing it.
Writing- Short sentences
• Can easily be read in a day or two
Storyline- Unique, Short
• An additional 100 pages would really amplify this
Funny pop culture references-
“Is Alexa your wife?” “No. My wife is Janice. Alexa turns the lights on.”
I had no idea the ARC cover portrayed a record and cassette tape on the front until pretty far along into the story. I wasn’t sure what those items were at first. From the book blurb description on the back, I had no idea music would be a big theme, but it makes sense seeing the cover. I think an updated book blurb would help readers of Classic Rock N’ Roll or music in general, find this title easier, giving a better indication of what this story is really about. It’s so much more than a kid stripping down in algebra class. I think an entirely new description would really help this story along.
I liked the perspective the book gave on second chances. That part struck my heart in an unusual way. I don’t usually like how second chances are done or given out, this was clever and sweet.
I enjoyed some of the quirky characters, while others, I couldn’t bring myself to agree with at all.—”Blend in don’t draw attention to yourself.” The MC’S mother has some parenting techniques that I definitely don’t agree with. She basically says to be like everyone else and only tell those you love, what you really think, that way adversity won’t hurt so much. I thought this was extremely harmful to mental health and exactly what is wrong with society today. The suppression! Ugh, my heart. There were quite a few items in the book that were well-intended but I found odd. (Just my experience with it… Could be the author’s own experience… To each their own, I say.)
The characters that I resonated most with were wild, out there, sporadic, and didn’t have much of a backstory. I wanted more insight into their lives. I felt a pull but there was no info. That’s why I say this story could use some juicing up, adding an additional 100 pages would be most helpful and fun, I think. Give me some more details! The storyline is really unique, I liked it. I just wish the balance between the beginning and the end was more aligned. Why do endings have to wrap everything up so quickly after intricately weaving such a picture? Where are my sweet details the beginning shares? Why cut me short!? I’ll never understand this formula. Therefore, this was an alright read for me.
Much gratitude to the Goodreads Giveaway Program compliments of Tiller Press for the paperback ARC I won. (2020) I was under no obligation to write a review, my honest opinion is freely given. The quote I chose may not reflect the final print, as the author may have made changes prior to final publishing. The ARC still had some unfinished editing and typos that needed correction yet.