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crystalbooknerd's review against another edition
5.0
Miles and Alex were so cute together, it killed me. My heart broke for Alex and her struggle with her delusions and was put back together when Miles made her happy and feel normal.
joni7824's review against another edition
4.0
Such a fast read and a beautiful story. Loved it and can't wait to see what Francesca Zappia writes next!
suchonalways__'s review against another edition
5.0
This book has it's good and bad sides and sadly from what I have gathered the depiction of the illness was not accurate. It also wasn’t inaccurate. Despite that, I still found it worth five stars.
I find the need to explain why and what my reasons are.
Made you up is the story of 17 year old Alex, suffering from schizophrenia. The first thing you need to know is the story is told from first person point of view. At the end chapter we realize, Alex was infact narrating her experience of senior year at hight school to her mental facility attendant. Even in the very last chapter we are told, Alex isn’t reliable narrator.
So while this might be the very definition of using mental illness to sell fiction books, it can also be an unreliable story told by an unreliable narrator. As the story is told from the point of view of Alex, we can't be sure of what truly happened that year and the year following to that.
People diagnosed with schizophrenia show different signs, symptoms. While the story described her delusions, paranoia and hallucination (mostly shown symptoms in media and literature, often to glamorize the illness), it didn’t have mentions of other common traits or symptoms like- disorganized thoughts, speech impediment, lack of motivation, poor personal hygiene etc. Infact Alex in her own voice was taking initiative, actively engaing with the male protagonist of the story, has great memory, was smart.
While reading the book, this did not bother me because we already are introduced with the idea time and again that she isn't a reliable source of information. We can not trust her or take her every claim as true. So the lack of negative symptoms didn’t feel wrong to me.
How the relationship with her primary care-giver, her mother was explored was intriguing. I think though in times her behaviour and action was unhelpful for the patient, that's how most people act around mental health patients. They force medication thinking it will help, worry too much to provide the best care and as a result treatment often takes backseat.
Now if we assume her narration was unreliable but the stories were based on truth, it can be interpreted as- she heard or saw or experienced various incidents from third person narration. And that makes dicussing everything ever messier. For the sake of the discussion, lets assume miles' mother experienced physical violence and was wrongfully sent to metal rehabilitation center/hospital. We know this information because that's what miles said to us. And his mother, June confirms the physical violence but also adds she actually benifited from her treatment. In no point she insinuates she was sent to the facility wrongfully. So from the point of view of an abused teenager, what he says might be his truth, and maybe he isn’t ready to accept two things can happen at once but maybe they did.
This book could easily be as layered as I am capable of imagining but it could all also be a major pile of loopholes. While reading, it felt like the former option was true.
I find the need to explain why and what my reasons are.
Made you up is the story of 17 year old Alex, suffering from schizophrenia. The first thing you need to know is the story is told from first person point of view. At the end chapter we realize, Alex was infact narrating her experience of senior year at hight school to her mental facility attendant. Even in the very last chapter we are told, Alex isn’t reliable narrator.
So while this might be the very definition of using mental illness to sell fiction books, it can also be an unreliable story told by an unreliable narrator. As the story is told from the point of view of Alex, we can't be sure of what truly happened that year and the year following to that.
People diagnosed with schizophrenia show different signs, symptoms. While the story described her delusions, paranoia and hallucination (mostly shown symptoms in media and literature, often to glamorize the illness), it didn’t have mentions of other common traits or symptoms like- disorganized thoughts, speech impediment, lack of motivation, poor personal hygiene etc. Infact Alex in her own voice was taking initiative, actively engaing with the male protagonist of the story, has great memory, was smart.
While reading the book, this did not bother me because we already are introduced with the idea time and again that she isn't a reliable source of information. We can not trust her or take her every claim as true. So the lack of negative symptoms didn’t feel wrong to me.
How the relationship with her primary care-giver, her mother was explored was intriguing. I think though in times her behaviour and action was unhelpful for the patient, that's how most people act around mental health patients. They force medication thinking it will help, worry too much to provide the best care and as a result treatment often takes backseat.
Now if we assume her narration was unreliable but the stories were based on truth, it can be interpreted as- she heard or saw or experienced various incidents from third person narration. And that makes dicussing everything ever messier. For the sake of the discussion, lets assume miles' mother experienced physical violence and was wrongfully sent to metal rehabilitation center/hospital. We know this information because that's what miles said to us. And his mother, June confirms the physical violence but also adds she actually benifited from her treatment. In no point she insinuates she was sent to the facility wrongfully. So from the point of view of an abused teenager, what he says might be his truth, and maybe he isn’t ready to accept two things can happen at once but maybe they did.
This book could easily be as layered as I am capable of imagining but it could all also be a major pile of loopholes. While reading, it felt like the former option was true.
divadiane's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Apparently, there are flaws in the representation of schizophrenia but I don’t know what they are. I thought the books was very good not only for the nuanced discussion of mental illness, but for the many other issues that were represented sensitively.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse and Forced institutionalization
lottie1803's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
iramdham's review against another edition
5.0
This is the first book I finished reading in 2022, And I love It!!!
⚠️Spoiler Alert⚠️
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Yk, The end of Chapter 48 when Miles tells Alex that "Charlie's not real", it broke me.
I read the line, re-read it and then read it for the 3rd time and went all ohmygodohmygodohmygod for a solid 2 minute, before I could convince myself to continue reading.
⚠️⚠️⚠️
⚠️Spoiler Alert⚠️
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Yk, The end of Chapter 48 when Miles tells Alex that "Charlie's not real", it broke me.
I read the line, re-read it and then read it for the 3rd time and went all ohmygodohmygodohmygod for a solid 2 minute, before I could convince myself to continue reading.
⚠️⚠️⚠️
iheartpuns's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
theidesofmarch's review against another edition
1.0
I read this book because the premise sounded interesting. I could not have been less interested while reading, more power to you if you enjoyed it but personally… probably going to drop it off at the next street library I see.
Admittedly I skimmed over majority off the book as I found it extraordinarily dull, so I cant really review it properly.
The representation of schizophrenia is questionable at best as well.
Admittedly I skimmed over majority off the book as I found it extraordinarily dull, so I cant really review it properly.
The representation of schizophrenia is questionable at best as well.