The Lost Brother and schizophrenia

Miles brother has disappeared. And Miles feels blame. Had his schizophrenia not broken that day, his brother would still be among them. Someone had paid attention to his brother and noticed how he has been kidnapped.
Since this incident he is with a psychotherapist and receives a lot of drugs that make life miserable for him. He can not concentrate, must reckon with nausea attacks and is ostracized by his students. Regarded as a ticking time bomb, he has few friends in his life. But all is not so important, because Miles wants to find his brother and everything will thus make amends.

Schizophrenia hardly a trace
As the name of the novel suggests, "Schizo" revolves around a young person with schizophrenia. But as soon as you read the first few lines, you have to find out that the image of the disease remains only superficiality. Not only is Miles an often one-dimensional man, who although his family is worried and might be sympathetic, but unfortunately barely developed its own character in this story. Instead, he's a pretty cliché-laden image of his illness. A more difficult protagonist who seems scarcely to have his rarely actually pronounced schizoid episodes under control. His body rebelled against the drugs and he himself falls into serious depression. But everything seems fleeting and drives only to himself without really reach into the depths.

Living with the disease
Besides this obvious problem, Miles's own identity is therefore difficult. Among his circumstances, shunned by his classmates, life is not easy, but also Miles itself seems simple headless running through the area, which may be due not only to his psychotropic drugs. Relations with other characters are so lax and emotionless held that one wonders when the authenticity is to come. Dealing his parents with him is almost frightening, especially after the end and you might think it does not even care the author what Miles wants eigentlch. Often stilted and executed bow, he stumbles into the midst of his friends, who come and go as it suits apparently. Scenes of security and love are downplayed and checked for shorter dialogues. While personality can muster so many minor character, but its occurrence can be short-sighted to help "Schizo" out of trouble and to bury the problems. Of true emotion any trace and so everything remains supercooled and sterile missing. Neither bred depression, nor hope, nor other strong emotions that need to be in Miles, really exist and truly felt. If they break out, then unexpected and not always very conclusive despite his mental disorder, which carries many logic errors in itself. Psychological depth and sensitivity at an interesting topic? Nic Sheff has not.

Soulless and empty
In this story Nic Sheff has his protagonist thereby convert so abstruse and without concept through the area that you repeatedly have to take to the head what that is now again. The search for the Burder designed much too simple, that you already relatively quickly knows what Nic Sheff wants to establish its end.
Many scenes seem empty and the access to history often remains closed to readers, not comprehensible and slides often from the abstruse. Only the quite liquid acting writing style leaves a quick slide through the story. Rau and honest about what this subject requires, it comes and not laminated. Helps only not when the rest is not consistent and the model follows. Because it opens everything in one end that comes up with a punch line, which comes just a bit tiring. Innovation and new aspects of schizophrenia remain out completely and there remains only a below-average standard reading about a guy with schizophrenia. One or the other moment exists that shows what of "Schizo" could have been, but even this potential is quickly swept under the carpet in order to avoid complexity and intensity, even if you have to Nic Sheff approve that he with a novel has stocked hope despite the difficult situation of Miles.
But the sensitive reading about a marginalized boy who suffers from his illness and tried to live with it is, "Schizo" no matter how hard it tries the novel.

Conclusion
Nic Sheffs "Schizo" is to be a psychological portrait of a teenager who suffers from schizophrenia. Instead, it remains a work which is staying with superficialities and not too rarely strikes the wrong way. From an empathetic and genuine image of a teenager with a stigmatizing mental stress is too rare to feel something. In approaches potential exists, which has been but not exhausted and not too rarely slipping into the absurd. Pity about the important issue.