Vice Versa

A Lesson to Fathers by F. Anstey

August 12, 2025

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Over the weekend, the movie Freakier Friday exceeded initial predictions, grossing $44 million globally. Here’s what critics had to say:

  • Freakier Friday Is Humiliating to Everyone Involved. TIME | Stephanie Zacharek

  • 'Freakier Friday' is exactly what it needs to be — millennial escapism at its best. MSNBC | Hannah Holland

  • ‘Freakier Friday’ Review: Round and Round, Here We Go Again. The New York Times | Alissa Wilkinson

A sequel to the 2003 hit starring Lindsay Lohan, the film is Disney’s latest installment in their Freaky Friday franchise inspired by Mary Rodgers’ 1972 novel of the same name.

But Freaky Friday wasn’t the first book to use the premise of a parent swapping bodies with a child.

Nearly a century earlier, Thomas Anstey Guthrie—writing under the pseudonym "F. Anstey"—published his comic Victorian novel, Vice Versa, where a father and son magically exchange bodies, flipping their worlds upside down.

Even C.S. Lewis, best known for The Chronicles of Narnia fantasy series, mentioned Vice Versa when discussing books he grew up with and admired.

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“[Vice Versa] is the only truthful school story in existence.”

— C.S. Lewis, highlighting the book’s uniquely candid portrayal of school life’s harshness contrasted with the warmth of home​

SMARTEST TAKEAWAYS
Lessons from Vice Versa

1️⃣ Empathy Through Experience: Paul Bultitude, a pompous businessman who dislikes his son’s boisterousness, suddenly finds himself at a strict boarding school in his son Dick’s body. The grim realities of school life and the challenges Dick faces become Paul’s firsthand lesson in patience and understanding.

2️⃣ The Limits of Assumptions: Paul naively declares school days “the best years,” but his bitter boarding school experience proves that childhood isn’t a golden era for all, and parenthood requires more than just commands and wishes.

3️⃣ Appreciation and Growth: The body swap forces father and son into each other’s skin, literally and figuratively. By the end, both gain a fresh appreciation for the other’s struggles and joys — reshaping family dynamics toward empathy and better communication.

INSIGHTFUL EXAMPLE
Roles Reversed

The story kicks off with Paul nervously enduring his son’s impending departure back to boarding school, exasperated by the boy’s reluctance. When a magic stone from India grants a wish, the two find themselves switched. Paul’s misadventures amid the brutal realities of school life deliver both laughter and a poignant eye-opener. Meanwhile, the son’s brief turn at business life exposes him to adult responsibilities he had not envisioned.

BOOK FACTS
Vice Versa

  • First Published: 1882

  • Print length: 220 pages

  • Listening length: 11:23

  • Ratings: 4.2 Amazon, 3.7 Goodreads

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