Ok. Soooo, let’s get this weeks YA novel out-of-the-way… Well, one of them any ways. I just finished reading Laura Dower’s Rewind. The book itself pulls you into the story line. However, it is weak.
The first encounter readers have with Hope is with her having been slapped across the face by Lucas. Readers automatically feel for Hope as under any circumstances, acts of violence committed by a male character against a female character is deplorable. The feelings of sympathy for her here is justified but feelings of sympathy for Hope are quickly lost as readers delve deeper into the story. Readers find her self-centered, conniving, insecure, and dangerous. One student reader (2007) from Amazon.com’s review list states that “Hope angered me throughout the entire book”.
Hope is the “it” girl-mainly popular with the boys. Lucas and Cady both seem enamored with her. Cady, because she admires Hope’s confidence, beauty, and capability to make a guy “memorize and categorize Hope’s every inch” (p.92) and Lucas, much like Cady, because of Hope’s physical appearance. Her dimension comes from her insecurities that produce fits of jealousy. Hope is not as confident in her self-image as she appears. On page 167, Hope explains that “she had to look good. It was a par of who she was”. Her insecurities are the cause of Hope’s dislike for Cady as Cady inadvertently attained Lucas’ attention and is naturally at ease with her self-image.
Dower provides readers with the rational as to why Hope feels that she has to depend on her looks to fit in. Hope’s family “was not a family that liked to hangout at home with each other. This was a family who looked for the next great resort” (p.167). This leaves Hope wondering if she has missed out on the close family ties, like those of Cady’s family, but most often was content with being able to travel and attain new things. Because Hope does not have a support system, she is not able to and value intrinsically as value in her family is based on extrinsic attainable things. Carlson and Corcoran (2001) argue that this leaves children with a great sense of insecurity and longing. Children such as Hope, try to find ways in which they may present themselves as put together and ways to compensate for the feelings of isolation. Hope not only relies on her looks to fit in, she also uses them to have power over other individuals. By having such control, Hope is also able to maintain a certain level of control over her life: “Lucas was Hope’s source of power these days, whether she felt like seeing him or not” (p.169).
When Hope feels as though she is loosing control of a situation, she uses whatever means necessary to regain that control. For example: Hope becomes upset at the back to school party when she finds that Cady there. Hope feels insulted at the host for inviting Cady because she is above individuals that run in Cady’s social circle. Hope’s anger is furthered by the fact Lucas is has shown only Cady attention. This is the impetus for the plot.
Hope’s issues with insecurity and control are exemplified in several different scenes where she physically hits Lucas. Chapter 13 takes readers to the beach where Lucas and Hope are on a date. Hope’s demeanor is angry and unpleasant because the weather is cold and she had rather be somewhere else. Hope tells Lucas that she wants to tell people about the two of them and to her surprise he does not take her seriously. Hope then proceeds to further goad Lucas by telling him she is surprised he had not brought Cady into the conversation. Hope is using Cady as a power play because she wants Lucas to reaffirm that he only wants to be with Hope. However, due to her being overly insecure, regardless of Lucas telling her he is in love with her, Hope tells Lucas that she doesn’t want to be with him. By doing this, Hope feels as though she is “make(ing) Lucas pay” for being to close to Cady and not putting her first (p.126). The break up leads to an argument and Hope biting Lucas. In a later chapter, Hope slaps Lucas in the face several times as well as throws picture frames and breaks a mirror because she found out that Lucas and Cady had been playing music together. Hope also starts crying uncontrollably when Lucas becomes upset at her, causing Lucas to feel bad he caused her to cry. By crying, Hope diverts attention away from the fact she physically hit another human being and threw someone else’s belongings and puts the center of attention back on her.
Hope’s need for control doesn’t only encompass Lucas; it extends to Cady as well. When Hope becomes aware of Lucas’s attraction and amount of time he spends with Cady, she decides that she too will befriend her. Hope, after breaking up with Lucas, continuously offers Cady advice on how she should feel about Lucas. She isn’t doing this out of true friendship but because it allows her to keep power over Lucas and influence Cady’s opinions. In chapter 18, Hope’s instability is directed at Cady as she attempts to confide in Cady. Hope and Cady walk out of play practice and Hope breaks down into tears. This is startling as readers have not experienced emotions other than anger or narcissistic behavior, nor will it be displayed hereafter. Cady tries to help her friend by talking with her but Hope is still secretive about RUNN4U; Lucas. Hope describes her relationship to Cady as a “boy getting the wrong idea” (p.87). As Cady hastily departs from Hope, leaves the reader with “so much done and so much left to do” (p.88). Such a statement leaves readers wondering if Hope’s breakdown was feelings of honest fear and overload or if it was part of her overall plan to keep Lucas a secret and have other people feel sorry for her. With the reputation of Hope throughout the book, it feels more like a strategic plan to keep her reputation as victim with Cady, keeping her power over Lucas as she keeps punishing him, and Hope the center of attention.
Cady
Cady Sanchez voices 14 chapters and is written as the sweet, confident, musically inclined, naïve girl. The last line of the book, chapter one, describes Cady’s actions and motivation throughout the entire novel: “The only thing Cady could do now was wait for Lucas. And see “(p.243). Cady accepts Hope’s sudden interest in her as nothing more than the two being in a play together and naïvely watches Lucas become tense and upset when Hope ignores him or he sees her with another guy. She never makes assumptions that Lucas is lying to her when he says he doesn’t know Hope or contributes the relationship to the fact that he is growing increasingly introverted or distant. Out of the three main characters, Cady is the most stable. She has been accepted to the college of her choice, comes from a typical nuclear family, and responsible. Her sense of responsibility is depicted on page 88 as Hope tells Cady about how she is having a break down due to her stalker and Cady interrupts her so that she can be on time to meet her music teacher.
Cady is the most static character in the novel, as mentioned above. Her emotions may vary from small burst of anger or frustration at Lucas to worrying about her music. Cady’s moment of realization or change is when Lucas is taken out of the prom for hitting Hope. However, because of the abrupt end and lack of resolution, Cady is left in her usually state of waiting on Lucas.
Lucas
Lucas Wheeler moves to his new high school and instantly becomes popular-winning Chesterfield’s hottest senior guy. Lucas’s dimension is a little more defined than Cady’s but he too, is lacking. He moves from Boston with his father because both of them are running from the death of his mother. The death of his mother has greatly affected the way that Lucas functions. It is also one of the reasons he is drawn to Cady, she reminds him “of his own mother” (p.219). Readers are given an unjustifiable characterization of him as they are introduced to him as he slaps Hope in the face. Although, this action is not acceptable, it is also an uncharacteristic action for Lucas. Lucas, as previously stated, is also fascinated and enamored with Hope. Lucas is not sure what it is about Hope that makes him drawn to her. He felt that “deep down, he knew Cady Sanchez wasn’t just anyone” (p.154). His attraction to Hope comes from his need to have someone with supposed confidence, has the appearance of being emotionally stronger than he, and the ability to be physical with him. There are several situations where Lucas and Cady are physical but never to the point of having sex. He and Hope however, share that kind of relationship. After Hope breaks up with him, his character turns from the sweet kind Lucas to one that becomes increasingly introverted and grouchy. His change in mood can be directly related to the fact that everyone in his life that he has cared about has left him. His father has become a recluse and offers Lucas no support due to his mother’s death, his mother was killed in a car wreck that he survived, and Hope left him because she was self centered and insecure. His incessant calling is slightly disturbing but he is looking for answers for why he was left by the only person that can give them to him. Hope’s selfishness and need to lord over Lucas is not only cruel but psychologically damaging. Lucas’s inability to see past the fact he was left by someone he loved again, leaves him missing out on a true and strong friendship with Cady. Sadly, it is not until he is pushed to his breaking point at prom that he realizes that Hope was not good for him and that Cady would have been the better choice.
