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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Willamina Public Library | TEEN FICTION SHEFF, N. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Salem Main Library | TEEN Sheff, N. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The fascinating, shocking, and ultimately quite hopeful story of one teen's downward spiral into mental illness by the bestselling author of Tweak .
Miles's little brother Teddy is missing. The police believe he drowned at the beach--the very same day Miles had his first schizophrenic episode. But Miles knows better--Teddy is alive. Kidnapped. There was even a witness! Fueled by guilt, Miles sets off to rescue Teddy.
There is so much to overcome, though. The endless pills he must take. The girl who steals his heart and plays with it. The black crows that follow him.
As seen through Miles's distorted perception, his world closes around him as he pushes to keep it open. What you think you know about his world is actually a blur of gray, though, and the sharp focus of reality proves startling.
The New York Times bestselling author of Tweak offers a fascinating and ultimately quite hopeful story of one teen's downward spiral into mental illness.
Praise for SCHIZO:
Included in CNN.com's roundup of "new titles to feed your YA addiction"
"Readers fascinated by the dark side of the human mind in realistic fiction will enjoy this deft portrayal of a brain and a life spiraling out of control. Miles is an endearing character whose difficult journey will generate compassion and hope." - School Library Journal
"[T]he crafting of the plot and the convergence of the different storylines keeps pages turning. Schizo is a thrilling read for teens." - VOYA
"[A}}n insightful perspective on one teen's struggle with mental illness." -- Publishers Weekly
"Miles's clipped first-person narration is immediate and intimate." -- Horn Book
"[A] heartbreaking story, but particularly important in the climate around mental illness today." -Bustle.com
Author Notes
Nic Sheff is a columnist for The Fix and the author of two memoirs about his struggles with addiction, the New York Times -bestselling Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines and We All Fall Down . He also wrote for the hit TV series The Killing . Nic lives in Los Angeles, California. Follow @nic_sheff.
Meet Nic Sheff, the bestselling author of Tweak , an unforgettable memoir, who now delivers a gripping debut novel.
"As a teenager and young adult, I struggled with drug and alcohol addiction, as well as severe mental illness issues--bipolar disorder, depression, psychosis. My first two books were memoirs about my experience battling addiction. For my first novel, I wanted to continue my exploration of psychological issues within the framework of a thriller. When two of my family's friends, both high-schoolers, were diagnosed with schizophrenia, I began researching the illness. Apparently this disease, which often lies dormant in teens, has been surfacing earlier and earlier in those with a genetic predisposition to the illness after these kids try smoking pot--because our pot is so much stronger than it ever has been. I wanted to examine what happens to someone who experiences the symptoms of schizophrenia while still a teenager, someone trying to balance the hardships of mental illness at such a fragile time of life--the everyday struggles of high school and relationships. Much of the novel is borrowed from my own experience, but it is also a departure. I hope it shows that mental illness is not a death sentence."
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Sheff's novel reveals the painful and confusing world of teenage schizophrenia through the experience of Miles, a junior at a small San Francisco private school, where his mother works as a librarian. Miles's few friends only barely understand his struggle to hold on to reality, a tenuous grasp maintained through a dizzying array of pills and the love of his family. Miles is consumed by guilt at the kidnapping or death of his little brother Teddy on the same day he had his first extreme breakdown in a beach bathroom. Two years before, Miles believes, he destroyed his family. Now he believes that if he can just track down Teddy, he can restore their happiness and perhaps move forward himself. His plan is complicated by the return of Eliza, a close childhood friend whom he came to love and who rebuffed him just before her family moved away for two years. She missed his diagnosis and tentative re-entry to high school, plagued by the effects of his medication and suffering through frequent visits to a psychiatrist his family can't really afford. Now that she might actually return his feelings for her, Miles is distracted by Eliza when he needs to focus on Teddy's kidnapper. His visions of menacing crows and some questionable decisions indicate that Miles may be falling deeper into mental illness. Readers fascinated by the dark side of the human mind in realistic fiction will enjoy this deft portrayal of a brain and a life spiraling out of control. Miles is an endearing character whose difficult journey will generate compassion and hope.-Suzanne Gordon, Lanier High School, Sugar Hill, GA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Sixteen-year-old Miles has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and he explains to readers that he had his first delusion on the same day that his younger brother, Teddy, disappeared from a San Francisco beach. While Teddy is presumed to have drowned, Miles believes a witness who claims he was kidnapped and becomes obsessed with the idea that "Teddy is out there. It's up to me to bring him home." After Miles flushes his pills, the voices in the head take him down a dangerous, self-destructive path. In his first novel, memoirist Sheff (Tweak) provides an insightful perspective on one teen's struggle with mental illness, including the challenges of finding the right medications to treat his condition. Sheff's spare writing style, combined with descriptions of San Francisco's foggy skies and Miles's own neglected home that "lets in water when it rains," creates a mood of isolation and desperation that permeates the story. While the ending wraps up a bit neatly with a rather cinematic revelation, it also provides a welcome note of hope after Miles's hard-fought quest for peace. Ages 14-up. Agent: Amanda Urban, ICM. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Two years ago a family outing to the beach ended in trauma when fourteen-year-old Miles experienced a psychotic break. While recovering in the psych ward, Miles received a life-changing diagnosis of schizophrenia along with some devastating news: during the commotion of his episode, Miles's little brother went missing and is presumed drowned. Now Miles has a therapist and a cocktail of daily prescriptions to control his symptoms, but nothing can help put his suffering family back together. Miles--sensitive and anxious--is acutely aware of the financial and emotional impact his illness has on his family and friends; he comforts himself with nicotine and self-deprecation ("Believe me. I bring nothing to the table," Miles insists) and carries the heavy burden of his illness and grief alone. Although the prose lacks the breathless verve of Sheff's 2008 memoir Tweak, Miles's clipped first-person narration is immediate and intimate, pulling readers into his formidable daily struggles while diverting attention from his increasingly "shaky" mental condition. When Miles begins a risky investigation into his brother's disappearance shortly after ditching his medications, some readers will guess the story's twist but will nevertheless hope for Miles to find peace with his life and with his illness. jessica tackett macdonald (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
A teen with schizophrenia is getting betterisnt he?Miles has a slew of meds that keep him just stable enough to function, if not enough for popularity. The medication keeps his schizophrenia under control, but it cant do anything about his guilt and grief over lost baby brother Teddy. Teddy vanished (perhaps drowned, perhaps kidnapped) the day Miles hallucinations first manifested, and his family is saturated with misery, refusing to speak about Teddy and hiding all photographs of him. Miles is convinced he can fix his familys dysfunction if only he can find Teddy, and he sets out on a disjointed, confused but passionate quest for his brothers kidnapper. Meanwhile he negotiates relationships: with his best friend, who is careless with Miles safety when pressuring him to use drugs and alcohol; with his best friends girlfriend, the only person who actually looks out for Miles; and with his childhood sweetheart, who is both popular and a two-faced back-stabber. Miles mental health may not be improving as much as he thinks it is, and his quest culminates in disturbing revelations. Overly choppy prose attempts to represent Miles delusional state of mind but mostly serves to distract; still, this is a cleareyed, surprisingly hopeful look at the disorder.Given the grim reality of medical management of schizophrenia (and the bleakness of depictions of it in teen fiction), the cautious optimism of Miles life is most welcome. (Fiction. 14-17) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Sheff, author of the drug memoirs Tweak (2008) and We All Fall Down (2011), tries his hand at fiction, with similar-feeling results. Two years ago, Miles had a schizophrenic break at the same moment that his little brother, Teddy, vanished from a San Francisco beach. Plagued with guilt for letting it happen and convinced that Teddy was kidnapped, Miles flushes his meds down a drain and determines to find his brother. Much like Sheff's depiction of himself in earlier books, Miles is a mostly incapable protagonist, mumbling through his investigations and vomiting regularly from medicinal unrest. As a protagonist, he is a bit of a rag doll, tossed here and there by external forces and guided only by a schizophrenic God voice. It's an interesting idea a second personality acting as one's own police partner but it's sporadically applied. Miles' bouts of depression come off as too abrupt, and most of the relationships dead-end without notice, but the genre tension is excellent: is this a mystery novel or is it all in his head? A tad undercooked, but not without interest.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist