One morning Claire is alone with her father having breakfast together when he falls over sideways. Her parents don’t understand her and have a tendency to see humor in situations that Claire doesn’t find humorous. Her brother is perfect-he has great grades, a girlfriend, and teachers like him. Show More doesn’t have a great attitude. Sonnenblick gets his point across without beating you over the head. Much of Claire’s actions and emotions are based on this. We tend to think that strokes only occur in older people, but Falling Over Sideways was inspired, in part, by a teenage friend of Sonnenblick’s son whose father had a stroke. Claire’s feelings and actions are contrasted with her mother’s and brother’s actions and emotions, since we know everyone handles trauma differently. All the while, Claire must deal with the trials and tribulations of middle school life, which we all know can be traumatic. She’s afraid to be with her father who is not nearly the man he used to be. Claire goes through so many stages: guilt at possibly being the cause of the stroke, denial, fear of the future, shame. She rode with her dad to the hospital, all the while feeling that in some way, she caused the stroke.Īs Jordan Sonnenblick has done with After Ever After and Notes From the Midnight Driver, two of my favorite Sonnenblick books, he uses humor to tell what is generally serious stories. Panicking, she called her mother who, true to form, had her cell phone turned off. The next morning, when just the two of them were at breakfast, her dad stood up and, all of the sudden, listed to one side, mumbling gibberish. The night before his stroke, Claire and her dad had an argument, Claire being the drama queen and her father making light of the situation. Falling Over Sideways flashes back to the events leading up to her father’s stroke and takes them forward to the present.
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