Adam is young and suffering from schizophrenia. Taking part in a drug trial, he is writing diary entries to record his thoughts and feelings throughout the process of his dosage being altered around to his needs as the voices and characters he sees and hears become stronger again.

As we see his life in diary form and his medication doses up and down, we follow him make friends with Dwight and get a girlfriend, Maya at his new catholic school his stepdad pays for him to attend. We also see his mum and step dad face a new challenge and not just with Adam as he manages his schizophrenia.

It was a very good book and especially as we see him fall in love despite hiding his illness from everyone around him, he finds strength and support when he needs it most. It shows truly how people suffer with the condition day to day and proves they can still lead normal lives just in a different way to a lot of us.

Thank you to the publishers for allowing me a copy to review!

This is one of the best YA novels I've read this year!

Told in the first person, it's an account of Adam's life, a sixteen year old, high school senior who is diagnosed with Schizophrenia. The book is his account of the effect of the experimental drug he is taking and since he cannot speak to his therapist, he writes down his experiences, feelings and he's brutally honest about what it means to live with Schizophrenia.

I loved the prose, mainly because the story is in the form of a diary.
I also identified with his list of the 6 things that bother him, and top on his list is my ultimate too:
When people borrow my books and dog-ear pages.

Adam moves to a new Catholic school and he is afraid of how people would react to the fact that he has Schizophrenia and that he hallucinates most of the time. It is this fear, that makes it hard for him to tell his girlfriend, Maya, about his condition, and being that they are high school, anything and everything goes against him and his take on the breakdown is In a lot of ways, she's the thing that keeps me sane.

The thing that made me empathize with Adam was the tone of the book. It is a first hand account of a teenager who is diagnosed with Schizophrenia. The narrator, Adam, also has a very loving and understanding family who go out of their way to protect him from the prejudice of those who do not understand him. The fact that his step-father, Paul's, an attorney, brought out the importance of people understanding and using the law in favor of everyone, especially those diagnosed with a mental illness.

However, I wonder, how tragic this book would have been if Adam's mother was single and could not make ends meet, what angle and tone would it take? I reckon, it'd reflect the tragedy and misery caused not by mental illness but by prejudice against those who are mentally ill.

Thank you: NetGalley for this insight into Schizophrenia, it took me back to my Psych lessons on Abnormal Psychology, with Dr. Joe Omolo telling us that everyone is crazy, it's just that some have to live with the fact every second of their life!

I do think this is a solid book, I adore the cover its so different and unique. I enjoy the overall story and I really liked the main character Adam.

Adam had schizophrenia, I've not read a book with a character that has this. Adam is starting a new drug and its meant to help him control it. All at the same time starting a new school where the kids don't know that he has schizophrenia.

I think the author did a lovely job in telling this story, I enjoyed it to the end.

Overall I rated the book three stars and the cover 1 this equalling 4 stars!

<b>"You can't possibly know what it means to doubt everything."</b>

Adam is starting a new experimental drug, ToZaPrex, to help him control his schizophrenia. He's also starting a new school, where his illness won't be known to his peers, and he has a new therapist who lets him write letters instead of talking during sessions. All in all, not so bad, considering. But no matter how high the dosage, his delusions never fade. There's still Rebecca, the constant presence in his life who seems to silently mirror how he's feeling. He occasionally gets visits from the mob bosses who shoot up public places, forever naked Jason, and the British comedy duo. Then there are the voices telling him that everyone would be better off if he killed himself. What Adam fears is not the hallucinations or the voices but believing they are real.

The new drug works until it doesn't. At first, it helps him separate reality from the tricks his mind plays on him. He makes a new friend who won't stop talking and starts dating a girl named Maya. But he keeps his illness a secret because he doesn't want them to fear him and abandon him. This gets more and more difficult as he's tapered off the drugs.

<b>"It's significantly more difficult to make friends when people know you see things you shouldn't be able to see."</b>

The cynic in me thinks authors like writing about schizophrenia because there can be a "twist" where none of the characters are real <spoiler>reading Made You Up soured me a bit</spoiler>. Adam is a good narrator and easy to connect with. I loved his bitterness over Harry Potter (the mysterious things <i>he</i> saw and heard turned out to be real). I enjoyed the healthy relationship he had with his mother and especially his stepfather.

Is this book a great representation of schizophrenia or mental illness? I honestly don't know. I'm not close enough to the issue to have an opinion on that. But I do think this is a solid book, and better than similar YA novels I've read.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.

4.5 Stars - A super important book that opens up a candid conversation about schizophrenia and mental health. Adam is an AMAZING protagonist, one that feels so completely real that teens will easily be able to relate to him as he not only navigates his illness but the highs and lows of adolescence as well (and there are many!). Seriously, I cannot recommend this book enough. It's not only a great example of compelling storytelling and character development, but it will educate and help alleviate the negative stigma we are quick to attach to an illness very few truly understand

Adam has schizophrenia. He's always know he's had it but it's only recently been diagnosed. He's usually able to cope with the voices he hears and the people he sees but sometimes it all gets to be too much. And now he is on an experimental drug to deal with the way the schizophrenia manifests itself in his life. Adam is also starting a new school and he decides he's not going to tell anyone at his new school about his schizophrenia. This includes his maybe girlfriend Maya. But as the experimental drug slowly stops working and Adam starts decompensating it becomes harder and harder for him to hide the outward signs of his schizophrenia. Words on Bathroom Walls is a wonderful novel to help readers understand what life is like for those who live with schizophrenia on a daily basis.