John Corey Whaley

Agoraphobic sixteen-year-old Solomon has not left his house in three years, but Lisa is determined to change that--and to write a scholarship-winning essay based on the results.

Highly Illogical Behavior

It was a really enjoyable, coming of age and young adult book that discusses this mental illness called agoraphobia. What I really love about this book was it never romanticizes the illness (like some other books) its very real and very relatable to some readers. I can relate to Solomon too. 

Though, it doesn't blow me away but great writing, great story and plot, I love the characters especially their dialogues and it'll live the hype. I think I'm going to pick another book from this author.

Melissa Palmer

Book #44 Read in 2016
Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

Solomon has not left his house in three years, since a panic attack caused him to jump into the middle school fountain naked. He would now be a junior in high school. Lisa, also a junior, decides that Solomon would make a good person to use for her college scholarship essay about her experience with mental illness. She is hoping to "cure" Solomon. The two become friends and Solomon begins to open up to outsiders again. But will Lisa cure Solomon or make him worse? This is an emotional, riveting read. I recommend it. I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine in exchange for a honest review.

Beatrix Haase

Made to my favorites because it was such a beautiful story with amazing descriptions. 

Favorite quote: "He was an astronaut without a suit, but he was still breathing."

xoxo,
Bebe

Full Review To Come... I think I should take a break from reading and actually start a book review...

jess

Waffling between 3 and 4. Highly Illogical Behaviour was a solid 3 until the end where it could have been bumped up. 

Even though Solomon Reed's anxiety is, well, pretty much the exact opposite of my anxiety, I could relate to him a lot, which is impressive. (I can leave the house fine, but having to talk to people gives me anxiety and Badness all around. Sol can't leave the house, but he doesn't seem to have too much trouble talking to people, which leaves me impressed and a little bit jealous.) (view spoiler)[
  Also uncontrollable self-injury when the anxiety party really gets going HEEY - but no I'm actually pretty fine with the depiction of self-injury as Something Embarrassing That Happens, but not overly angsty.
 (hide spoiler)] He's a really good, rounded character, and I like that he doesn't seem particularly depressed. It's a different side to mental illness, not just combining anxiety and depression together because while it's a common experience, it's not universal. 

I liked Clark a lot, too. (view spoiler)[I was really hoping he's gay, but guh, I guess that would be too predictable, and yeah, not every story has to have a romance, not every gay kid has to end up in a romance at the end of the book. I get that too. (hide spoiler)] I really, really disliked Lisa for the majority of the book - it was the last chapter that sort of redeemed her. She didn't seem to care about whose feelings she was breaking and the trust and secrets of her friends. She only seemed to care about success. I know - Lisa's supposed to be written that way, and she's a teenage girl who wants to get out of her small town, but she wasn't likable at all to me. Her personality and indifference grated on me for the entire book. 

The plot was pretty predictable, (view spoiler)[but I'm glad the ending didn't have a miraculous cure, while also implying that Sol eventually got better. Because mental illness doesn't work like that - one thing happens and you're Cured Forever. He made progress, he did something wonderful, but it didn't magically cure him. And I liked that. (hide spoiler)]

The writing seemed sort of distant to me personally. I read Noggin and I think first person works better for Whaley.

Emi Gilmore 

:) 

Omigosh you can write your review on Amazon Kindle? I am amazed right now. Didn't realize this. Anyways, I actually really enjoyed this book. Full review to come on day...

Highly Illogical Behaviour

Eleanor Luhar

This is only a short book, but there is a huge story between these pages. I personally found this book amazing because I related so much to one character, Solomon, due to my own personal experiences with mental illness. (Hah! You'll get that reference if you read the book.) But I still think that anyone will enjoy this book, and gain a deeper understanding of the mental health issues that are discussed.

Lisa seeks out Solomon, the "crazy" kid who jumped into a fountain three years ago, in hopes of writing a scholarship-winning essay on him. Solomon hasn't left the house in three years. Not even to go in his own back garden. Every time he tries to, or even thinks about it, he has severe panic attacks. So instead of trying anymore, he gave up and made peace with a life inside four walls.

As an aspiring psychologist, Solomon's case is perfect. But they become close friends, and eventually, Lisa even brings her boyfriend, Clark, to meet Sol. One thing they never expected was Sol falling in love... with Clark.

I have had times where I have been unable to leave my house. I used to have my school work sent home, and would avoid seeing anyone for as long as I could. It never got as bad as Sol's case, but I would happily stay inside my house 24/7. (My mum won't let me, though.) So I really did relate to Solomon. The descriptions of his behaviours and thoughts were really accurate in my opinion. It was quite inspiring to watch him slowly emerge from his shell and start living again.

Of course, there's also the topic of homosexuality in this. I love how Clark remained so friendly even when he knew Sol was gay - not doing the whole "ew he might fancy me" thing that a lot of guys tend to. They were best friends. But Lisa was fed ideas by her friend, Janis, that made her worry Clark was cheating on her with Sol. Yeah. Awkward.

Overall, I just thought this was fantastically written. There are aspects for everyone to relate to, I think. And hopefully, it will help people understand why some of us may seem so "crazy".

I can easily give this book 4.5 stars. I really enjoyed it, and loved the characters and their relationships. Even when Lisa was using Sol, I could see how she had good intentions. It was so well written.

Samirah Arif

Yes part of this came from an ELA assignment

I finished reading, Highly Illogical Behavior which was about a sixteen-year-old boy named Solomon who struggled with severe anxiety, to the point where he couldn't leave the house. He hasn't left for over 3 years. Then we have Lisa, a girl desperate to leave her hometown. To do so, she decides to apply for the #2 school for a psychology scholarship, where she must write an essay on her experience with mental illness. This is where their paths cross, as Lisa decides to cure Solomon and write her essay on him.

I can't say whether or not this portrayal of anxiety is accurate. I can say that it was interesting to read about, despite the ending being a little too open-ended for my tastes.

Tiffany Robinson

I thought this was a great book. A very fast read.

María Belén

3.5 stars

This has been a surprisingly entertaining read.

The plot is very simple, as is the writing. But the author managed to make it entertaining and funny with well developed and lovable characters. Except for Lisa, who is so freaking annoying. Her character was the main reason why I thought this book wouldn't be so good. But she sort of redeems herself towards the end so it was okay.

So even if Highly Illogical Behavior isn't a completely accurate take on mental illness and the reality of it (like most novels aren't), it's still a funny and light and engaging book. I enjoyed it a lot.

Rebeca 

4 stars!!!!! 

This book was fantastic. It caught my attention from page one and kept me hooked that I didn't want to put it down. I loved it so much but the reason it isn't 5 stars instead of 4 is because of two reasons. Lisa Praytor and the ending. I thought Lisa was okay from the start, but towards the end of the book after telling Sol the truth, I just feel like even if her friendship with Sol was true or became true, she still cared more about her situation and her NEEDING to help Sol (and her fucking essay) when the reality of it was that the friendship her and Clark built with Sol is what really was helping him. I hated her and even though her and Clark helped him get to his grandma I still can't like her. The ending now, I understand that she said Sol was okay with her writing her essay, but i feel that if she TRULY felt sorry for what she had done ("hurting the two people closest to her") then she wouldn't even have bothered with writing her essay anyway. The story would have meant so much more without her essay. 
That's just my opinion. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Bonus points for Clark though for being such an amazing character!!!!!!!

Ariel Himboi

I definitely heard a few things about this book albeit few were good. However, I came in with the notion that there would be quite an amount of representation and that is exactly what I got. There are morally grey characters with harmful, selfish motives, and social commentary on mental illness and life in general. 

A part of me felt that the second part was far better than the first. In the beginning, we are thrust into the lives of two people; One, an agoraphobic gay teen who is too afraid to leave his house, and a girl who's just trying to leave her town to get into a college by means of an essay on mental health. As you'd expect Lisa, our secondary character, wishes to befriend our main protagonist Solomon to "help cure him" of his agoraphobia so that she can get a good grade into her college with her newfound experience. 

I say this with profound anger and grief because we spend most of the book forgiving Lisa for her wrongful actions. Not to say there wasn't a proper reason, but despite being told to not go in this direction that could harm someone, Lisa continues to justify her actions to use this secluded teen and his mental illnesses. 

Throughout the book, you are TOLD that Lisa is slowly becoming friends with Solomon outside of her research. You also see that she has dragged her innocent boyfriend into the picture, her boyfriend who openly refuses to help her with her project and continuously tells her how wrong it is, and then later on spends the majority of the plot suspecting her boyfriend of a long time of being secretly homosexual, BECAUSE he won't have sex with her.

I give Lisa props for being a pretty well round character with motives and a sometimes antagonistic outlook with a personality to boot. A gentle kind person who cares for others and a passion she doesn't give up for. What she has as a powerful character is great, but there are many grey areas that don't add up at all. 

I like that the author tried to give her a redemption arc, and brought them all back together but telling Solomon that he will "be okay" and selfishly thinking of herself even to the point of in the very end how she still wrote the paper anyway and had the nerve to get Solomon's permission to write it. Despite them being good friends I really didn't think it was appropriate or "sweet". 

On the contrary, as much as I disliked parts of Lisa's character ( I do still like her a bit, for reasons ) I found Solomon to be engaging and real. Mostly because I experience a lot of similar anxiety and moments of breakdowns that did have me in tears. It was incredibly well written and I do think the representation of mental illness was good. However, there were times I thought that he was recovering remarkably fast for someone whose only made friends for one month. 

I also liked Clark, Lisa's boyfriend. He wasn't the typical character who gets insanely jealous over any guy. He felt human and real, and good. I liked that he didn't want to have sex with his girlfriend not because he was secretly interested in guys, but because he simply didn't want to. Society takes masculinity to a whole new level and tells men that sex is important, that its a step up in a romantic relationship, to the point that teens feel pressured. And it's not even the fact that he could be asexual or not, but that we have a character who doesn't force himself to give into a "role". He says, "Lisa, no, I'm not ready." And it's unfortunate that Lisa often tried to force herself on him, and even guilt tripped him for not wanting to. It was a complete role reversal. It was different and I hope it speaks better to those guys out there who feel pressured or insecure. Its your body, fuck society!


There were many plotholes in this book and character decisions that weren't amazing and definitely were a bit "iffy", I enjoyed a bit of this book enough to give it a high rating. This isn't a book I would reread too many times but for a first or second read, this is something for the books. I think it would be better as 3.5 stars but definitely a pretty good read. I think this is perfect for someone looking for a somewhat cliche, little-angst ball filled story about characters who make bad decisions in drama-like situations. 

Overall I cried a few times and felt soul for Solomon and his family and his friends. I liked him a lot and his relationship with the characters in this book. I think the author could have done better justice to Lisa and to not completely justify her wrong-doings. Granted we all make mistakes and do horrible things, I wish that she was written a tad bit more and that we knew more from her perspective. Another thing I didn't like was that the POV often shifted from Solomon to Lisa and they were consecutively within the same minute of each other. There wasn't much variety in the writing. 

Anyway, the point is that it was a pretty rough ride to get through but that it was pretty worth it. I think most people would enjoy this book and give it a try, on Solomon's sake. But I really hope people aren't encouraged by Lisa's character to do the same. It really wasn't right.

Angelyna Mintz 

Alyssa Wilson

i read this in one sitting i loved this sO much

Jasmin

I really like this book because I like solomn also have anxiety promblems. This book helped me get a new perspective and I hope it does to you too.

Highly Illogical Behavior

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