By Its Cover: Inside Out

I understand how this cover fits the story, but it's not the imagery I would have chosen.

There is a brief reference to Zach's mind as being inside-out and all mixed up because of his schizophrenia, but it isn't a very evocative image. I'm not sure what I would use, but this just doesn't fit quite right.

What I do like, very much, is the faint text across the whole cover. It consists of the nonsense phrases and syllables that the voices in Zach's head repeat to him when he gets close to needing his medication. It shows very clearly that this sort of thing is just an overlay, sitting on top of everything else Zach sees. It's background noise that doesn't go away. That part is just perfect.

I'm with Alex that the picture part of the cover, doesn't necessarily fit the book.  I mean, I understand the "inside out" thing, but I'm not really sure using a t-shirt to portray that was the way to go.

But I also love the words over the picture thing (and, in fact, they're interspersed within the book too), because that's pretty much how his life is all the time.

Review Me Twice: Inside Out by Terry Trueman

Inside Out is a very short book. Terry Trueman has been praised again and again for writing books that not only find a genuine teenage voice to delve into difficult topics, but for doing it in books with language choices and lengths that appeal to reluctant readers.

Without talking down to the audience by being overly simplistic or didactic, Trueman tells a compelling tale about two boys holding up a coffee shop, from the POV of another boy, with severe adolescent-onset schizophrenia, who is one of their hostages.

It's a quick read, but it isn't fluff. And please, take my advice... if you are a fan of maple bars, get one before you sit down with this book. Otherwise, you are going to be seriously jonesing for one before you're done.

This book reminded me a lot of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.  Our main character, Zach, has the very same kind of mannerisms.  He seems a lot younger than he really is but... he's weirdly endearing during the book.
 
Also, I like that the "bad guys" in it aren't really bad.  They're just confused, scared kids.  I like that not everything is as it seems in the book.  It's well written.  

The ending was... surprising.  It didn't end exactly how I thought it would, but I like it more for that reason, I think.  A quick read, so worth picking up.

My Bottom Line 4 out of 5

Favorite Book about Psychology

This week's review book, Inside Out by Terry Trueman, is about a teenage boy with schizophrenia, so we're choosing our favorite books about psychology / psychological disorders.

This was a hard choice for me because this is one of my favorite subgenres of YA fiction: psychological disorders, depression, self-injury, psych wards... I love it all. So I'll be talking about the first book of this subgenre that I recall reading: Kissing Doorknobs by Terry Spencer Hesser.

Tara is a teenage girl who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The title of the book comes from her compulsion to - before opening any door - touch her lips with all ten fingers with equal pressure before touching the knob. She has several other compulsions and obsessive behaviors, including repeating prayers, arranging food on her plate perfectly before eating it, and avoiding stepping on cracks (for fear of genuinely breaking her mother's back).

I read this book over and over (to the point that I was almost concerned that I was developing OCD myself) in my teen years. It talks about the inner turmoil Tara suffered, the external influence of her OCD on her friends, parents, classmates, and it talks about how her treatment works (exposure therapy and - if I recall correctly - a medication to balance certain chemicals that leave certain neural pathways open for too long, causing the obsessive, repetitive behavior in people with OCD).

If you don't know a lot about OCD, this is a good place to start. If you're familiar with the disorder, this book might be a bit too simplistic.

Like Alex, I had a few options that I could pick.  The big one in my mind was Fight Club.  While good, it's not my FAVORITE psychological book.  However, I loved everything about Ellen Hopkins' Identical.

I'm going to tell you this right now: THERE WILL BE HUGE SPOILERS FOR THIS BOOK!!  I can't really tell you why it's my favorite psychological book without the spoilers: sorry.

The book gives us twin girls, one of whom Daddy "loves" (read, sexually abuses) and the other who wants to be "loved" by daddy, because he ignores her. 

The abuse alone does all sorts of terrible things to the girls' mentality.  One of them binges and cuts herself: the less "loved" one turns to drugs, alcohol and sex.  And as if their father (who is a judge) wasn't enough, their mother, the woman running for congress, pretty much just ignores both girls and turns a blind eye to their father.  She's also still blames him for an accident he caused, injuring her.

Through the whole book, we're following both twins.  We see how completely different they are and see how they deal (or really, don't deal) with their issues.  At the end, in typical Hopkins fashion, we find out that one of the twins DIED in that car crash... and the other developed a split personality of her sister.

It's fascinating and crazy and heartbreaking and you realize that the twin left alive probably feel like it was all HER fault, despite it not being her fault at all.  And it's interesting to read it a second time and realize that it's, technically, from the viewpoint of one person.  One person who thinks she's two.

Problem Novels

The word "Problem Novels" really incorporates a lot of things.  I was going to give you some psychological based novels but... I think this is better.  Really, problem novels are anything that have to do with intense, hard problems that people (mostly teens) deal with.  Cutting, suicide, rape, schizophrenia, even autism.  Problem novel really just refers to an issue that most people don't have to deal with.

I'm going to give you a few books that deal with these things.  I haven't read them all, but the ones that I haven't, I hear are good.  Enjoy!

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

Probably one of the more well know books that deal with psych problems, this book takes us into a mental institution.  One of the inmates writes about a patient who faked insanity to serve out his term, Randle Patrick McMurphy.  He's constantly upsetting the whole place and is challenging the, scary, head nurse, Nurse Ratched.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

This book has been mentioned here before, and probably will be again.  But it's such an amazing book, I couldn't exclude it.  Our main character, Malinda, is raped by the school hot shot.  Instead of speaking out, she clams up, barely speaking at all.  It's a great book about facing your fears, relationships and how terrible things can really effect you.

Girl, Interrupted Susanna Kaysen

I, personally, have not read this book, but I know that Alex has, and loves it.  It's Kaysen's memoir about time that she spent in a mental institution during the 1960s.  She talks about her mindset while there, the girls that she stayed with and how their insanity effected each of them differently.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

I've read this book a few times, and still really like it.  Haddon worked with autistic patients for many years, and this book is what resulted.  A 15-year-old boy with Asperger's lives with his father and discovers a dead dog.  Instead of minding his own business, he decides to investigate the murder.  He faces fears, presses against his limitations and has to deal with all sorts of new issues he's never faced.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

If you haven't read this book, you've probably seen this movie (if not... well, don't read this because there are spoilers.)  About a guy who has split personality disorder, but doesn't discover it (and neither do we) until the end of the book, when everything starts to get serious.

These are just a few "problem novels."  What are your favorites?  Let us know in the comments!