Completely Unrelated Books Review (Calvin, A Taxonomy of Love, and Symptoms Of Being Human)

Hi! I'm back! Yes, I realize I haven't posted in a month. I'm sorry. Now let's get on with the post. Today, like always* I am reviewing books. Unfortunately, this time there is no obvious title I can use to relate Calvin, A Taxonomy Of Love, the Illustrated Man, and Symptoms Of Being Human. Because unlike last time, where I could somewhat relate the books, this time? Nope. 
Semi-Related-ness: Bent Not Broken isn't focused on mental health...kinda? It covers brain damage, mental health, siblings, and divorce? Shooter is about...plot twists.

Surprisingly, there isn't a lot I can say about this book. It didn't have a lasting effect on me, or show me the secrets of the universe. It is..odd. It has the writing style of a letter for thoughts, and the writing style of a movie script for dialogue. Think The Cursed Child style, except everything that isn't talking has been replaced by a letter to the author of Calvin and Hobbes.
Oh, yeah. This book becomes a lot better if you have read the Calvin and Hobbes comics. There's lots of references to scenes, that you most likely will not get if you have not read Calvin and Hobbes.
Also it centres** around Calvin and Hobbes so much, I have no idea how it got past copyright laws. The main characters are Calvin, Hobbes, and Susie, though 1/3-2/3 of those characters are hallucinations. 
Hallucinations? Right, Calvin is a seventeen year old with schizophrenia. He has been recently diagnosed, and since the reappearance of the tiger plush named Hobbes(of course) signaled the beginning of his schizophrenia, he decides the best way to become healthy is...

Question: Do GIFs have sound? 

To cross Lake Erie in the middle of January, to meet up with Bill Watterson (who has become a hermit) so Bill will draw him healthy and Hobbes-less. 

Yeah. Yet...Calvin never thinks of this as a bad plan, the way someone else would. It makes perfect sense to him. That's the perfect thing about this book: Hobbes is real and hungry, the plans make sense, and the hallucinations make sense. It is my favourite thing about this book, that (like the book says) it is real. But (as the book also says) is it true?

Oh and Susie is coming with him. It's very mysterious. Is Susie a hallucination? Is she going to die? 

PROS

-Very suspenseful

-Somewhat bizarre (joyriding with cars, on the frozen Lake Erie)

-What is real vs what is true?

-What I think is good representation of schizophrenia?

CONS 

-No lasting effects

-Is written from the future***

COS (con pros)

-Has a movie script style

-Calvin and Hobbes references

This book is great to read if you need blog post. That's not sarcasm, trust me. Thanks to this book, I have been inspired to write a blog post on what not to do in your YA novel.
I wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, there were some...issues. These issues include: too much crammed into the book, out-of-character moments, and characters built purely to keep Spencer and Hope apart. 
I think a lot of the problem was that this book takes place over the course of six years, and things have been chosen to be left out of the book. That's fine. I don't want to know every detail of Spence's life. But it is incredibly annoying when you market a book as dealing with racism, even though the only part about racism in the book is three sentences. Examples: Girl doesn't get chosen to do something because of her race. Girl mentions it to MC. Girl says she's going to fix it. Nothing else is said. Was it fixed? I don't know, clearly it wasn't deemed important. Do you know the solution to that? To not market this as a book that deems with racism. 
I really need to do an in-depth post to this. Some of the stuff contain massive spoilers. 
PROS
-Spencer has Tourette's Syndrome
-Might teach people about taxonomies, and how you can use them in everyday life?
CONS
-Out of character moments
-Some characters seem like obstacles rather than characters
-"Wait what that is creepy how could you just put that aside" moments
-Takes place over six years
-Kidnapping 
Moving on. 

This book seems to cross the not-so-fine line between fiction and non-fiction. That line is a mile wide, in fact. But this book seems less what you want to read if you're looking for story, and more what you what to read if you want information on trans people. 

My favorite parts of the book were Riley's blog posts (on a site that is clearly Tumblr). Because Riley is a good writer. Jeff Garvin? Eh. Because while Jeff Garvin wrote Riley's blog post, I prefer Riley's writing style. Makes sense, right? Probably not. 

Also how did Riley become internet famous in a month? This blog has been open months and I am still not famous. 
PROS
-Book about a gender fluid character
-Very informative

CONS
-Slow sometimes
-Strange writing style

And that's it for this post!

-Sarah

*But not always because soon I will post about writing!
**Why on earth does this program hate British spelling?
***This is good sometimes, bad other times, mostly because you know the main character lives.