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But one thing I have learned is that the mental always comes.
I picked up Cameron and the Girls while taking a look around my local Barnes & Noble with my dad. The cover is beautiful, if a little unsettling, which was exactly its purpose. It's a book about an unsettling mental illness, so the cover was absolutely perfect in showcasing that.
I tend to be highly interested in books about mental unhealth and dealing with afflictions of the mind, so this was an obvious choice for me. My dad very sweetly bought it for me and I started reading it a few weeks later.
Cameron suffers from schizophreniform disorder. Schizophreniform disorder is an acute type of schizophrenia that is diagnosed in patients who show schizophrenic symptoms that appear to be short term and react well with medication. If treated, it is the most hopeful diagnosis in the fact that it can go away and the patient has the possibility to live symptom-free for the rest of their lives, though it is not guaranteed.
When Cameron decides to go off the meds his doctor prescribed for him, it isn't long before he starts to hear the voices again. But where there was only one voice to begin with, he now hears three. "The Professor," the voice he recognizes from before the meds; "The Other Guy," the dark, menacing voice that scares him; and "The Girl," the one he'd risk everything to hear all the time.
Just as "The Girl" begins butting her way into his life, another girl (a real girl) butts into his life. Nina suffers from depression and is also quite fond of stopping her meds. She begins spending more and more time with Cam, clearly growing fond of him as more than just a friend. However, it's going to take a lot to reach Cam, who is far too distracted by the voice of "The Girl" to notice how close Nina is getting.
This was definitely an interesting book. It starts off slow and it takes a while to become invested in the characters, but I believe that a good portion of this is due to the fact that Cam is such a detached observer. He's so caught up in his own mind that he could really care less about much else. The effect of the schizophreniform disorder is clear in making his thoughts more disconnected and out of order. The way the author captured that disconnect and its effect on his mind felt very raw and I definitely appreciated that.
I liked the book well enough, but it's nothing to write home about. I enjoyed reading it, but probably won't be revisiting it for a long while. If you're interested in reading more about mental illness and the like, you should try it out. If that's not a topic that appeals to you, then I'd advise skipping this particular novel.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
"I haven't done anything wrong," she wails, but I'm busy trying to snatch each of those words out of the air and throw them back at her. I manage to snag done and wrong, but the rest of them float up to the ceiling and out of my grasp.
I picked up Cameron and the Girls while taking a look around my local Barnes & Noble with my dad. The cover is beautiful, if a little unsettling, which was exactly its purpose. It's a book about an unsettling mental illness, so the cover was absolutely perfect in showcasing that.
I tend to be highly interested in books about mental unhealth and dealing with afflictions of the mind, so this was an obvious choice for me. My dad very sweetly bought it for me and I started reading it a few weeks later.
Cameron suffers from schizophreniform disorder. Schizophreniform disorder is an acute type of schizophrenia that is diagnosed in patients who show schizophrenic symptoms that appear to be short term and react well with medication. If treated, it is the most hopeful diagnosis in the fact that it can go away and the patient has the possibility to live symptom-free for the rest of their lives, though it is not guaranteed.
When Cameron decides to go off the meds his doctor prescribed for him, it isn't long before he starts to hear the voices again. But where there was only one voice to begin with, he now hears three. "The Professor," the voice he recognizes from before the meds; "The Other Guy," the dark, menacing voice that scares him; and "The Girl," the one he'd risk everything to hear all the time.
Just as "The Girl" begins butting her way into his life, another girl (a real girl) butts into his life. Nina suffers from depression and is also quite fond of stopping her meds. She begins spending more and more time with Cam, clearly growing fond of him as more than just a friend. However, it's going to take a lot to reach Cam, who is far too distracted by the voice of "The Girl" to notice how close Nina is getting.
This was definitely an interesting book. It starts off slow and it takes a while to become invested in the characters, but I believe that a good portion of this is due to the fact that Cam is such a detached observer. He's so caught up in his own mind that he could really care less about much else. The effect of the schizophreniform disorder is clear in making his thoughts more disconnected and out of order. The way the author captured that disconnect and its effect on his mind felt very raw and I definitely appreciated that.
I liked the book well enough, but it's nothing to write home about. I enjoyed reading it, but probably won't be revisiting it for a long while. If you're interested in reading more about mental illness and the like, you should try it out. If that's not a topic that appeals to you, then I'd advise skipping this particular novel.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
"I haven't done anything wrong," she wails, but I'm busy trying to snatch each of those words out of the air and throw them back at her. I manage to snag done and wrong, but the rest of them float up to the ceiling and out of my grasp.
