The Surf
When Theo and Sunny find themselves facing life-threatening medical crises, they unlock a door to an alternate plane where they are free of their problems back IRL. Cohen's debut novel, THE SURF, explores what happens when two teenagers learn critical new truths about themselves (and each other), taking one step closer to the new life that awaits them.
Gimme the metadata, s'il vous plais:
Complete at 75,000 words, THE SURF falls squarely into Speculative YA.
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What other books & authors would this book sit with on the shelf?
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, John Green
THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END, Adam Silvera
I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN, Jandy Nelson
FELIX EVER AFTER, Kacen Callender
DIG and I CRAWL THROUGH IT, A.S. King
A HEART IN A BODY IN THE WORLD, Deb Caletti
THIS IS WHY THEY HATE US, Aaron Aceves
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Who's it about?
The book is told in 1st Person, in alternating chapters between our two leads — Theo and Sunny — as we follow them down the rabbit hole of their journeys.
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Tell me more about Theo.
While 16-year-old Theo battles through the coma he vaped his way into, he finds himself in an alternate plane of reality rather than the one where his body is stuck in the PICU. After a rough few years of smoking pot to deal with his anxiety and depression, Theo finds himself in what seems to be the last moments of his life…that is until he gets to the Surf.
After entering the Surf, he discovers he can go anywhere and experience pretty much anything. Surfing, as he discovers, is somewhere between flying and riding a Segway, except you’re invisible. And you can send yourself wherever you want. Theo surfs around the hospital and finds 16-year-old Sunny, who’s in her hospital bed – very much awake, and lying on the chest of her girlfriend. There is an immediate connection between Theo & Sunny somehow, but something is very wrong with Sunny, Theo senses, and he’s determined to help her.
Tell me more about Sunny.
Sunny has just received her third cancer diagnosis in three years. The most talented athlete on her Varsity soccer team, she is hell-bent on getting scouted by Duke, and spending the rest of her life with her girlfriend, Grace. But when she is forced to undergo a below-the-knee amputation, it threatens her entire understanding of who she is in the world.
While in surgery, Sunny unlocks the key to the Surf, and immediately meets Theo. As she begins to figure out what the hell is going on, they adventure to a beach in Istanbul and then to the Redwood Forest. It’s there that they laugh and cry and start to push each other to face some truths. And, while both of them are facing the most difficult moments of their lives, they may only be able to figure out a solution by working together in the Surf.