Book Review: Crazy by Han Nolan

Synopsis from Goodreads
Title: Crazy
Author: Han Nolan
Publication Date: 13 September 2010
Publisher: Harcourt Children's Books
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages

Fifteen-year-old Jason has fallen upon bad times—his mother has died and his father has succumbed to mental illness. As he tries to hold his crazy father and their crumbling home together, Jason relies on a host of imaginary friends for guidance as he stumbles along trying not to draw attention to his father’s deteriorating condition.

Both heartbreaking and funny, Crazy lives up to the intense and compelling characters Han Nolan is praised for. As Jason himself teeters on the edge of insanity, Nolan uncovers the clever coping system he develops for himself and throws him a lifeline in the guise of friendship.

My Review



This is one crazy book with crazy ass characters and plot.

Crazy follows Jason, whom his mother died recently, and his father is losing his sanity. Jason tries his best not to drag attention to himself by basically being a loner at school. When I say a loner, I literally mean he's a loner, he has imaginary friends and actually we, the readers are one of them. He talks to us and drags us into his crazy not so adventurous life.
He basically shows us how hard he tries to cope with having to take care of his mentally ill father and keeping it a secret from everyone.
Until one day, he started not to care of how he lives his life, and through that mistake, he was in everyone's attention at school. He was forced to join a group session during his lunch break with three other friends, who might have issues of their own. He slowly has to reveal his secret when his father goes missing, and he has to approach them for help.

This is a really nice coming of age novel. It was entertaining and did not have a moment of dullness. Jason's imaginary friends are all awesome, and each had their role in the book which fitted perfectly. You have the father figure, mother figure, the group clown and the sexy lady. They actually portray what Jason thinks as they re part of his thoughts and imagination. Crazy reveals the struggles of a teenager and how their feelings and emotions fluctuates as they grow up and move on. I literally felt those feelings as I read the book, my emotions kept fluctuating with Jason.

I have a feeling that I will never forget the contents of this book because it had left its prints all over me. I can't say how much I love this book, but of course there are times when I got frustrated with the book and Jason, as he seems unreasonable at times which lead me to give this book a rating of 4.5/5.

Xoxo Meera