3.5 out of 5 stars.

Full Review from my blog Owl Eyes Reviews

I’ve been reading this book for quite a long time, simply because I’m in college. I was really hesitant about reading this one because I knew the main character was pretty young. My connection with young high schoolers in books has not been very good recently. However, I connected to this book quite nicely. Even though not everything in this book was wonderful, the parts that were wonderful felt very authentic.

One thing that really struck me with this story is the fact that Craig was going through things that I didn’t go through until my freshman year of college. I couldn’t get over the fact that Craig is so young. A fifteen year old kid who just started high school was thinking about whether or not his education will allow him to live a sustainable life. All of that pain for someone so young. At first it seemed really sad to me, but this book reminded me that that doesn’t really matter. Pain is unfair and doesn’t care about how young or old you are. This book is immensely important for those who have been told that they are too young to feel pain. Pain isn’t a maturity thing, and I think that in our society we forget so often. Everyone can feel pain and I think that by insinuating that certain types of pain are acquired by maturity we are actually perpetuating the problem. This book addresses this issue perfectly.

I’m really glad that Ned Vizzini left us with such a beautiful story. I am sure that this book has helped many young people who have been told that they are too young to feel mental pain.