The Freak by Carol Matas.
Title: The Freak.
Author: Carol Matas.
Genre: Fiction, fantasy, children's lit, teen lit, race.
Country: Canada.
Language: English.
Publication Date: 1997.
Summary: What if one day, you woke up psychic? What if, suddenly, you could see and know things about your friends and family that you probably shouldn't? These are the difficulties faced by fifteen-year old Jade when her recovery from life-threatening meningitis takes a surprising twist.
My rating: 3/10
♥ As for sex. Well, of course I could've had sex. Guys will have sex with a watermelon if they're desperate enough. Lots of girls try to prove their love by having sex. It only proves they're having sex.
♥ "It's just a coincidence, I'm sure, dear," she says. "After all, if nothing had happened you'd have forgotten you ever had that feeling. It's only when our fears actually match up with what really happens that we think we might be psychic. Think how rarely that happens."
♥ "Why would anyone write that sort of garbage? And they must believe it, or they wouldn't write it. But how could they believe it?"
"These people are terrified," Mr. Crossley says. "They're afraid of everything - unemployment, poverty, the lack of control they feel in their lives. This gives them the feeling of being in control. They find a group, more often a few groups, and blame everything on them. Then it's not their own fault that they can't get work, or no one values them, or even they are mean and violent people. They have been forced into those roles by these terrible other people. Perhaps it all stems from fear."
♥ "You see, everything we see around us we assume is reality. But Jade, there is no fixed reality. All you have in your hand is a bunch of atoms. It's no more solid than the air. If you could look inside your body with a big enough microscope you'd just see atoms, atoms swimming around in a vast space, an inner universe - ninety-nine percent of the human body is empty space. Everyone and everything in the world is made up of the same energies flowing between us all. For instance, our thoughts and feelings - the things we think aren't 'real' because we can't touch them - they're as real as that drink in your hand. Can you see the radio waves that bring you the sounds of radio?"
"No."
"Maybe your system is picking up thoughts and energies that are swirling around you, maybe you're just tuned in to what is invisible to the rest of us. That doesn't mean, though, that it isn't real, that it doesn't exist."
"But I can see the future," I say.
"On the subatomic level, Jade, there is no linear time. Everything happens simultaneously. We humans make linear time. So you aren't seeing the future. You're seeing the moment, the moment we all live in, where past, present, and future all live together. Eternity, for lack of another word. And Jade, I know you love science and math. Well, guess what? All these ideas I've just described to you are theories developed by quantum physicists."
♥ "Maybe the physical world is just an illusion," I say, trying out Dr. Manuel's theory.
"Maybe," she says, "but it's all we've got."