Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
First Person (Central Narrators): Julianna Baker and Bryce Loski
Get ready for double the narrator fun Shmoopsters, because in Flipped we've got two characters giving us the scoop. So that means we're getting two sides of the same story, with Bryce and Juli telling us about the same major events in each of their lives. And let's just say our narrators don't always agree on everything. Actually, let's get real here, they agree on nothing. Nada. Zilch.
The great thing about having two first-person narrators is that we get up close and personal with each of their thoughts and feelings—so there's no need to wonder what Juli thinks about Bryce's eyes (she loves them) or what Bryce thinks of Juli's chicks (he hates them). Our narrators each tell us their own super personal stories and their feelings about the guy or gal across the street.
But the best parts of having two narrators tell the same story are the inconsistencies. Oh the inconsistencies. These are the parts of the story that don't match up. So sometimes Bryce has one perception of an event, and then Juli has a pretty different view of how things went down. Just check out their renditions of the hand-holding incident.
Here's Bryce's take on things:
I was making this big windmill motion to break away from her, but somehow on the downswing my hand wound up tangling into hers. I couldn't believe it. There I was, holding the mud monkey's hand!
I tried to shake her off, but she just clamped on tight […] (1.14-15)
And here's Juli's take on things:
You see, I caught up to him and grabbed his arm, trying to stop him so maybe we could play a little before he got trapped inside, and the next thing I know he's holding my hand, looking right into my eyes. […]
I almost got my first kiss that day. I'm sure of it. (2.18, 20)
So Juli thinks this was love at first sight and Bryce calls Juli a mud monkey—oh yeah, those stories are a wee bit different. Now we're left with a big question: which version of the story do we believe? Or can they both be true?
So what do you think? What do you make of these moments when Juli and Bryce give us conflicting perspectives on the same event? Do you think one of our narrators is more reliable than another? Or are they equally unreliable?