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‘As far as anyone at her high school knows, Jill McTeague is an average smart girl trying to get her dream date to ask her to the prom. But what no one knows, except for Jill’s mom and dad, is that for the four days Jill is out of school each month, she is not Jill at all. She is Jack, a genuine boy—complete with all the parts—who lives his four days of the cycle in the solitude of Jill’s room.
But Jack’s personality has been building over the years since the cycling began. He is growing less and less content with his confinement and his cycles are more frequent. Now Jill’s question about prom isn’t about who she will go with, but who will she be when the big night arrives?’
Cycler's unique story drew me in immediately. I’ve never read anything like it and haven’t come across any similar stories, so I was desperate to read it. As soon as I saw it come up on Curled Up with a Good Book’s review list I knew I had to nab a copy.
Cycler is the story of Jill, a run-of-the-mill high school girl who just wants a simple life, in which her biggest concern is how to get her crush to ask her to the prom (though it is pretty high up on her list of concerns as it is). Unfortunately for Jill, she spends four days a month as Jack, a rebellious boy with sex on the brain who wants to escape from Jill’s bedroom prison and live it up as any teenage boy should do.
At first it was easy to keep Jack under control and confined in the house, but now he’s gaining strength and Jill’s cycles are becoming more and more unpredictable - meaning Jack could appear at any time, in any place.
The writing alternates between Jill and Jack’s points of view, and I think this is one of the book’s strengths. Jill is a likeable girl who shares the same worries as the rest of us (aside from the monthly morphing into a boy), and Jack is a different voice completely. His chapters are short to reflect his limited cycles, but it’s easy to feel the anger in his voice as he talks about being locked up by his mother in Jill’s room.
The pace of Cycler is fast, I enjoyed as I didn’t find any elements of the story dragging and I didn’t have to skip over any unnecessary passages. I really enjoyed this one, and I’m glad I have Recycler ready to read as it does end on a bit of a cliff-hanger – a good one, though!
Jack and Jill (the names are a nice touch) are strong characters, but the other characters let the novel down and make it a good story instead of a great one. Ramie is just a little too ‘quirky,’ and elements of her personality are forced to try and make readers see how different and unique she is, like the whole ‘crazy fashion’ part of her personality.
Jill’s mother is another character I couldn’t quite work out. There’s clear tension between her mother and father but it’s never really explored, though it’s mentioned throughout the book. It’s almost as if the writer was going to add a subplot about her parents but never quite got around to it. That easily could have been removed to make the story even more immediate.
Another thing – when Jill and Ramie concoct a plan to make her more attractive to the opposite sex (to lure her dream date into asking her to prom), it really did make me a little unhappy inside. Okay, fair enough, girls are scheming and we do scheme to get boys to like us every once in a while - but I really don’t see how turning herself into a complete bitch was going to make Tommy like her. Maybe that’s the point McLaughlin was making, but it’s a little cringeworthy.
Also, Jill’s reaction to Tommy revealing that he’s bisexual wanted to make me slap her. Hard. Grumbling aside, though, Cycler is a truly unique read that made me realize a little PMS isn’t so bad in the scheme of things.
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Carly Bennett/2010 for curled
up with a good kid's book |
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Cycler