The Switch by Anthony Horowitz

The novel I read is 'The Switch' by Anthony Horowitz. The main character of this story is 13-year-old Thomas Arnold David—Tad. He is a spoiled child and is like a large, contented cat curled up in the lap of luxury. It all started when his parents denied his wish to go to a theme park. Carelessly, he wishes to be 'somebody else,' and poof, he wakes up in the body of carnival worker and sometime thief Bob Snarby.

 That is when he started to realise what is the cruel reality. Reality beyond the warm and cozy mansion that he was living. Tad had to help his parents (Bob's parents). On the same carnival ground there is a caravan with a freaky guy called Dr. Aftexcludor and his assistant from the Arambayan tribe of Brazil. Dr. Aftexcludor enlightened him about the stars that are responsible for the changes that happened to him. Meanwhile on the other side, Bob Snarby who is now in Ted's body enjoys the luxury life. As Bob, Tad finds himself nabbed by the police and deposited at a home for troubled children that is, ironically, run by Tad’s father.

  

While there, Tad learns some awful truths about his father’s business. His father uses homeless children as experiment rats for his cosmetic products. He vows never to return home even if he returns to his proper body. While the events that transpire in this winsome adventure are delightfully absurd, the transformation that Tad undergoes strikes a genuine note. It is the young person’s journey to self-definition writ large. Dramatically and irrevocably separated from his family, Tad sees his parents from another perspective and in a broader context, which enables him to begin to establish a moral compass for himself that is much different from his father’s. 

                                                                                             Anthony Horowitz

By,

Priiya Paramasivam

4 Cergas

31st January 2014