Scan barcode
backonthealex's review against another edition
4.0
Cameron and the Girls is one of those rare books I chose to read without knowing anything at all about it - I was simply attracted to the cover and the title. I expected the story to be about a boy torn between two girls - and it is, but not in the way you would think.
Cameron Galloway is a 14 year old boy in the Emotionally Disturbed Program at the local junior high school. He has been living with schizophreiform for a while now, which is an acute form of schizophrenia that cause temporary breaks with reality rather than the constant break that occurs with chronic schizophrenia. When a psychotic episode does occur, Cameron hears the voice of the 'educated and knowledgeable' Professor. But Cam is supposed to take his meds everyday and as long as does that he has, no problems but he also has no feelings, no emotions, no voices.
So Cam stops taking his meds and now it has been 5 or 6 days and the comforting, familiar voice of the Professor has returned, but now so has another voice - the young, flattering voice that Cam calls the Girl. No girl has ever paid attention to Cam before and the Girl makes him feel good. But no sooner does the Girl come into his life, then another girl, Nina, does too. Nina is a new girl in his EDP (Emotionally Disturbed Program) class who suffers from depression and her mother's neglect.
Nina talks Cam in skipping school and going to the convenience store near her home. They begins talking and he finds himself oddly drawn to Nina. But as they get to know each other better, another voice comes along - the Other Guy. The Other Guy is dangerous, he taunts Cameron to be more of a man, to take what he wants, to take risks and behave in cruel ways. And the Other Guy begins to drown out the voice of the Professor and the Girl.
As Cam sinks into his hallucinations, Nina sinks into her depression, finally attempting suicide. Cam is the one who knows her the best, but will he be able to help the real girl in his life?
Cameron and the Girls is told from the first person point of view. This is refreshing because most novels about a young person with a mental illness are written from the point of view of a narrator on the outside looking in. But Edward Averett is a skillful clinical psychologist who knows how to take his readers into the mind of this young boy and really let them experience his life from the inside of Cam's head. Sometimes it is hard to understand that a person who hears voices in their head doesn't experience them as imaginary, but to people like Cam the voices they hear are real and so they respond to them as though they are a real presence. And yet, Cam knows his has schizophreniform.
Cam's story is at time funny, sad, disturbing heartbreaking and hopeful but it is always compelling. It is a coming of age story with a twist. Cam is not trying to find out who he is but he rather trying to make his own decisions about leading his life instead of having those decisions made from him by someone else. For most kids, making decisions about their lives is a maturation step that just comes naturally.
Cameron and the Girls is wonderful novel for that will leave a strong impression on all readers.
This book is recommended for readers age 14+
This book was purchased for my personal library
This review was originally published at Randomly Reading
Cameron Galloway is a 14 year old boy in the Emotionally Disturbed Program at the local junior high school. He has been living with schizophreiform for a while now, which is an acute form of schizophrenia that cause temporary breaks with reality rather than the constant break that occurs with chronic schizophrenia. When a psychotic episode does occur, Cameron hears the voice of the 'educated and knowledgeable' Professor. But Cam is supposed to take his meds everyday and as long as does that he has, no problems but he also has no feelings, no emotions, no voices.
So Cam stops taking his meds and now it has been 5 or 6 days and the comforting, familiar voice of the Professor has returned, but now so has another voice - the young, flattering voice that Cam calls the Girl. No girl has ever paid attention to Cam before and the Girl makes him feel good. But no sooner does the Girl come into his life, then another girl, Nina, does too. Nina is a new girl in his EDP (Emotionally Disturbed Program) class who suffers from depression and her mother's neglect.
Nina talks Cam in skipping school and going to the convenience store near her home. They begins talking and he finds himself oddly drawn to Nina. But as they get to know each other better, another voice comes along - the Other Guy. The Other Guy is dangerous, he taunts Cameron to be more of a man, to take what he wants, to take risks and behave in cruel ways. And the Other Guy begins to drown out the voice of the Professor and the Girl.
As Cam sinks into his hallucinations, Nina sinks into her depression, finally attempting suicide. Cam is the one who knows her the best, but will he be able to help the real girl in his life?
Cameron and the Girls is told from the first person point of view. This is refreshing because most novels about a young person with a mental illness are written from the point of view of a narrator on the outside looking in. But Edward Averett is a skillful clinical psychologist who knows how to take his readers into the mind of this young boy and really let them experience his life from the inside of Cam's head. Sometimes it is hard to understand that a person who hears voices in their head doesn't experience them as imaginary, but to people like Cam the voices they hear are real and so they respond to them as though they are a real presence. And yet, Cam knows his has schizophreniform.
Cam's story is at time funny, sad, disturbing heartbreaking and hopeful but it is always compelling. It is a coming of age story with a twist. Cam is not trying to find out who he is but he rather trying to make his own decisions about leading his life instead of having those decisions made from him by someone else. For most kids, making decisions about their lives is a maturation step that just comes naturally.
Cameron and the Girls is wonderful novel for that will leave a strong impression on all readers.
This book is recommended for readers age 14+
This book was purchased for my personal library
This review was originally published at Randomly Reading
theartolater's review against another edition
5.0
Contemporary YA being a genre that is filled with a glut of issues-related books, I didn't have incredibly high hopes for Cameron and the Girls, which comes across as having spun the Fiction Topic Wheel of Ailments and settled on schizophrenia. The great news is that the book is very short, but wastes no time getting to the point as well as giving a really well done, real-feeling portrait of a teen with schizophrenia. I can't speak for its accuracy, but it feels authentic, which is really what matters for this sort of group.
Highly, highly recommended. I truly hope this doesn't get overlooked.
Highly, highly recommended. I truly hope this doesn't get overlooked.
ashrocketship's review against another edition
3.0
I thought the writing in this was VERY good with some really interesting descriptive and metaphorical language and a very true-to-age narrator and a stream-of-consciousness narration that is pretty successful at making the reader feel what the narrator is feeling. There was nothing fun, funny, or pleasant in this, but not every book about mental illness needs to be to be accessible. Cameron is an engaging narrator and he is sympathetic, even though I spent much of the book feeling a VERY adult-level frustration with him. (I'm old! I'm starting to be the parent in YA books instead of the kid!) In my old age, I am trying not to feel like every story for young people needs to teach a ~lesson, but I do wish this had dealt more with the consequences of such a profound medical decision. In the end, Cameron chooses to take his medication and while I don't need him to be enthusiastic about it, I would have liked to see that he had more of a personal understanding of why he needed to take it, instead of mostly doing it out of half-hearted obligation.
koby's review against another edition
4.0
This quick read follows our 14 year old protagonist, Cameron, who has a form of schizophrenia. Cameron has decided to stop taking his medicine, just an experiment. The results are, perhaps, not what he expected.
Cameron meets a new voice, whom he names "The Girl." He thinks he may love The Girl. He also meets The Other Guy, who worries him. The Other Guy is mean and dangerous and Cameron worries he is getting too strong. But he knows if he takes his medicine, he will lose The Girl, too, and he can't handle that.
On top of the new voices, Cameron meets Nina, a new student in his Emotionally Disturbed Program at school. Nina and he are drawn to one another, although she doesn't like competing with The Girl.
This book details Cameron's struggles to reconcile the different aspects of himself, his illness, and his family. Because of it's unconventional story, I gave it 4 stars. I found myself wanting to revisit "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden."
Cameron meets a new voice, whom he names "The Girl." He thinks he may love The Girl. He also meets The Other Guy, who worries him. The Other Guy is mean and dangerous and Cameron worries he is getting too strong. But he knows if he takes his medicine, he will lose The Girl, too, and he can't handle that.
On top of the new voices, Cameron meets Nina, a new student in his Emotionally Disturbed Program at school. Nina and he are drawn to one another, although she doesn't like competing with The Girl.
This book details Cameron's struggles to reconcile the different aspects of himself, his illness, and his family. Because of it's unconventional story, I gave it 4 stars. I found myself wanting to revisit "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden."
safaracathasa's review against another edition
3.0
This is a young adult book with main character, Cameron, who has a mental problem. He has a schizophreniform, which is a more specific type of schizophrenia. He is currently 14 years old.
I can relate to his feelings about how he feels he can rule anything in this world without his parents' help. I mean, this is the age where it will be like that, right? But the problem is, his parents don't really understand what is going on. They don't have a helicopter parenting but rather watch it too closely I guess.. So there is no room for mistake, especially because he has a mental condition.
I don't like how the parents portray Cam as a serious rebel but I guess that is the part of being 14??? Slip out from school and have a girlfriend?? I think the heavier problem rather than Cam's condition is actually his friend, Nina, who has depression and been left by her mother.
This book also makes me think about segregation between disability children which can actually make it worse for the children themselves.
I can relate to his feelings about how he feels he can rule anything in this world without his parents' help. I mean, this is the age where it will be like that, right? But the problem is, his parents don't really understand what is going on. They don't have a helicopter parenting but rather watch it too closely I guess.. So there is no room for mistake, especially because he has a mental condition.
I don't like how the parents portray Cam as a serious rebel but I guess that is the part of being 14??? Slip out from school and have a girlfriend?? I think the heavier problem rather than Cam's condition is actually his friend, Nina, who has depression and been left by her mother.
This book also makes me think about segregation between disability children which can actually make it worse for the children themselves.
m0rganh's review against another edition
3.0
Despite high hopes, this one fell a little flat for me (I have an affinity for YA/kids' books that deal with mental health issues so, admittedly, I can be kind of picky about them). Beef #1: I felt that Averett didn't dig enough into Cam's family issues or spend enough time developing his characters; Cam's family/Nina felt like rushed, cliche stereotypes. Beef #2: I would have liked a bit more background on the origin/particulars of Cam's disease. Beef #3: Even at Cam's darkest and most manic moments, Averett's descriptions felt too clinical. Beef #4: I don't know ANY teen (and hardly any adults) who use "as if" to describe something (i.e. "It feels AS IF my head is splitting in two") and yet "as if" comes out of Cam's mouth about a hundred times. I don't know what teens Averett is talking to but I can't imagine they say "as if" when they could just use "like" a hundred times in one sentence like the rest of us lazy slobs.
Long review longer, I'll stick with "Stop Pretending" by Sonya Sones when I need my YA-mental-breakdown fix.
Long review longer, I'll stick with "Stop Pretending" by Sonya Sones when I need my YA-mental-breakdown fix.
zelma's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting take on mental illness in teenagers. I really like the first person narrative of Caeron and seeing how his schizophrenia affected him. describing the aural, visual, and tactile hallucinations was fascinating. All of the characters in the book are pretty unlikeable (including his parents) but I still wanted to see where the story went. This was more of a 2.5 but still not bad.
merer's review against another edition
4.0
This book is coming out later this year. I picked up the ARC because the cover art was so appealing. An awesome quick pick and great middle grade read!
lemonlady's review against another edition
3.0
Cutesy cover art hides a realistic, if at times disturbing look into schizopheniform disorders. I’ve seen complains that Cam’s behavior is unrealistic but believing that you don’t need the medication when it is doing the job it was prescribed to do and you lose symptoms is actually a fairly common occurrence in patients being treated for everything from depression to bpd. For an adolescent struggling to find his identity Cameron’s form of rebellion is even more understandable.