Highly Illogical Behavior by John Corey Whaley

The story follows a teen named Lisa wanting to write a paper for her psychology college class. However, she wants to write the best paper in the program, and to do this, she will write about a teen she befriends named Solomon, who has agoraphobia and has not left the house in three years. Soon, her interactions make Solomon want to come out of his shell, and he expresses that he is gay. Their friendship leads to a crush on Lisa's boyfriend, Clark, and she starts to wonder if her boyfriend is gay. Eventually, Solomon sees Lisa's true intentions and the truth almost destroys their friendship. A story about mental illness and LGBTQ issues where "readers will easily come to care about these bright, wonderfully nerdy, flawed characters." ("A teen with her," 2016)

Critical Analysis

Highly Illogical Behavior is a realistic fiction novel in the third person narrative and alternates between Solomon and Lisa's perspectives. Themes include sexuality, friendship, and mental illness. The story contains details about mental illness involving agoraphobia, its symptoms, and LGBTQ issues like coming out. John Corey Whaley, who is gay and suffers from anxiety and panic attacks, was on the ALA's Rainbow Project Book List in 2017 for this book and won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2012 for When Things Come Back.

The story's strength is its unique perspective involving mental illness and sexuality. Its weakness is that Lisa does not feel like a genuine character. Readers may enjoy If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo, which contains a similar LGBTQ theme.

References

"A teen with her". (2016, May 10). Highly illogical behavior. Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved July 29, 2022, from https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/john-corey-whaley/highly-illogical-behavior/

Whaley, J. C. (2016). Highly Illogical Behavior. Dial.