LET'S RIDE BIKES!

A TIME-HONORED TALE

Two high school graduates take off on a cross-country road trip. One returns. Is it a legitimate disappearance, or is it MURRRRRDER?

NO, I MEAN THE EVOLVING FRIENDSHIP THEME

Spoiler alert: I'm not quite sure why these two are friends in the first place. Jennifer Bradbury brings us Shift, a bike trip mystery. As far as I know, Agatha Christie never covered this territory, so this might be the first book of its kind. My favorite part: the constant flat tires. I quit biking to work after getting three consecutive flats on a goathead-infested stretch of the only path in town, so I received some perverse pleasure in watching these boys fall victim. However, they had patch kits and could fix a flat in two minutes. Screw you, I'm calling a cab. 

Alternate title: Something Wheeled This Way Comes

So, these two guys are friends, but Winston, who disappears, is a slacker and a user; an utterly repugnant character, not because he's evil, but because he so casually lies and manipulates to get his way. He's from a privileged background, and his parents don't care about him - making him the kind of person I find hardest to root for: I'm well off, but my dad just wants me to get into an Ivy League school and doesn't know me as a person. Boo hoo. I don't want to sound insensitive, but I do, so what the hell. 

What really gets to me is why narrator, Jeff or something, is even friends with Winston. HE USES YOU FOR EVERYTHING, JEFF. GET A NEW BEST FRIEND. Bradbury attempts to establish rituals and traditions between the two besties, but they're just not developed enough for me to buy that they're so bonded. They both come to some realizations about themselves, one another, and their relationship through the course of the book, which is standard and somewhat saves this story, but I just can't get beyond the trope of two kids scamming their parents into letting them bike from West Virginia to Seattle all by themselves, with no support, and their own seemingly stilted friendship. 

The mystery portion of this story involves a lazy FBI agent, Winston's domineering father, who thinks Jimbo or whatever his name is, killed Winston. Question: Winston ditches Johnboy somewhere in Montana, and all the guy can think to do is ride around for a couple hours looking for Winston, then turn and head to the Pacific Ocean so he can catch a bus home in time to get to college. 

Yeah, I remember when my best friend disappeared in the middle of nowhere and I did next to nothing to attempt to find him, even though he's a total flake, and then went all the home WITHOUT TELLING ANYONE WHAT HAPPENED. At least Bradbury has the sense for Jerky to unconsciously protect Winston after the fateful decision, which would stand to reason. Bradbury doles out tidbits of information as the story goes on, but the Tolkien references Winston makes in some postcards as clues are so obvious, and it takes Joe Blow a hundred years to figure it out. If that's the case, HOW DID YOU EVER GET INTO GEORGIA TECH IN THE FIRST PLACE. Yet, this guy is clever enough to evade an FBI agent's (weak) line of questioning. I sincerely believe he rode his bike into a brick wall and suffered brain damage. 

*INTERMISSION* 

No bike story review is complete without this

BACK TO IT, THEN

Another gripe: this is a road trip supreme book, but the narrator casually mentions a handful of instances without developing them, completely antithetical to what a boy's travel journal would look like. You partied with some cute girls in Minnesota? TELL US ABOUT IT. I can't believe I'm saying this, but some romance WOULD HAVE ACTUALLY HELPED. Excuse me while I punch myself in the kidneys. There is a tiny bit of budding romance between ol' what's his face and a girl in his college class, but that also gets tossed aside. 

So, I guess that's it for Shift. Oh, and I just looked it up. The narrator's name is Chris. This changes everything. So does the huge list of awards this book won. I must have missed something. Was it the one-dimensional parental characters? The delayed realizations of Chris? Winston's moronic selfishness? I suppose readers can really identify with Chris being "pissed off" at Winston for leaving him, and all of his annoyances building to a titanic wrestling match in an old barn. Sure, those parts are cool, and even I could empathize. [The wrestling part for sure: Bradbury captures that aggression well, especially when Chris says that this time it was real - more than a for bragging rights. That part was good, and made me want to hit someone with a folding chair.]

Bradbury really likes bikes, I guess. So why not write a novel centered on a long bike trip. She gave it a ride, but in the end, it made this reviewer saddle sore. 

She's been "framed!" HA! HA!

Bradbury herself says of Shift: "And yeah, Shift is pretty good."

Pretty good at loose ends! OH, SNAP. 

Anyway, it was an okay book. I hope my review doesn't derail you, as I spoke negatively of parts, but perhaps it's geared to a crowd that doesn't tire of such a format. Who am I to judge? I simply pedal my own biased view. 

NEXT TIME, I YELL ABOUT

A book I'm ashamed to admit I've never read. I blame Jennifer Bradbury. Let's just say, you don't want to ride your bike into ANY OF THESE!

BORING STUFF

Shift

Jennifer Bradbury 

2008 Atheneum Books for Young Readers