Review #28 - Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini

Be More Chill is a book about Jeremy Heere who is at the bottom of the social ladder (side note - there are so many books and films about people at the bottom of the social ladder - what about people in the middle?). He gets a mini supercomputer implanted in his brain so he can become cool and get the girl.

Be More Chill is written by the same author who wrote It's Kind of a Funny Story. I expected this to be a book on depression as I know Ned Vizzini struggled with depression all his life and killed himself last year. It wasn't at all. It was about social status and getting through High School and it was very different to what I was expecting which I really enjoyed. It was funny and observational and just fun to read.

Be More Chill was pretty hard to put down. It really is everything that is wonderful about Ned Vizzini in one book and that was wonderful. It just had a great plot idea and the squip had wonderful dialogue. There was a lot of social commentary hidden beneath the surface: how hard it is to be popular in high school, what computers and modern society are doing to us, and why popularity isn't the be all and end all.

I did feel it was quite gender specific which I did find a shame because of this infatuation with a girl and getting a guy to like you is so different for getting a girl to like you that it locked me out a bit. The rest was really accessible though, so sorry for my criticisms. I found it accessible even though senior school sounds really different to High School.

I would recommend this if:
You loved It's Kind of a Funny Story
You want a book about High School popularity with a twist
You want a book that's funny and accessible.

I gave this four stars.


P.S. My friend Nina did an amazing book haul which you should totally check out.