Trigger warnings: The focus of this book is mental illness, specifically OCD and schizophrenia, so this might be difficult for some to read. There are spoilers in this review, because I feel like I can't make my points very clear without spoiling story aspects.
Synopsis: Addie loves nothing more than curling up on the couch with her dog, Duck, and watching The Great British Baking Show with her mom. It’s one of the few things that can help her relax when her OCD kicks into overdrive. She counts everything. All the time. She can’t stop. Rituals and rhythms. It’s exhausting.
When Fitz was diagnosed with schizophrenia, he named the voices in his head after famous country singers. The adolescent psychiatric ward at Seattle Regional Hospital isn’t exactly the ideal place to meet your soul mate, but when Addie meets Fitz, they immediately connect over their shared love of words, appreciate each other’s quick wit, and wish they could both make more sense of their lives.
Fitz is haunted by the voices in his head and often doesn't know what is real. But he feels if he can convince Addie to help him escape the psych ward and everything will be okay. If not, he risks falling into a downward spiral that may keep him in the hospital indefinitely.
Waiting for Fitz is a story about life and love, forgiveness and courage, and what’s necessary to let go and learning what is truly worth waiting for.
Review: Waiting for Fitz is going to be one of those books that's very polarizing. Either people are going to connect with the mental illness rep and love it, or they're going to think it's handled poorly and hate it. Addie is our main character and she suffers from severe OCD which lands her in a psych ward. Her OCD mirrors that of the author so, with that information, readers can decide if they like the way her representation was handled. I have mild compulsive tendencies, and there were things Addie did that I saw in myself. That is something I appreciated. The entire book is told from Addie's perspective but, when she gets admitted into the psych ward, she meets Fitz who has schizophrenia. Personally, I didn't really like the way Fitz was handled. There is a scene towards the end where Fitz's schizophrenia gets out of hand and Addie makes statements like, "That isn't Fitz" or "Fitz isn't there" which makes Fitz seem like he is just his mental illness. That made me uncomfortable. There's another scene where we find out Fitz hurt someone because of his schizophrenia and this seemed to villainize him and his illness.
The story itself was short, but interesting. I liked seeing Addie's interactions with the others in the psych ward. Until Fitz suggests they break out of the hospital. He also makes comments about his meds and how he doesn't like to take them. His comments felt very anti-hospitals and anti-medication which I know will bother a lot of people. I'm also aware that the author spent time in a hospital for his OCD, so some of this might be drawn directly from his experience. Addie and Fitz successfully break out of the hospital, with the help of the other patients. By the end of the book, they are brought back, but none of the patients seem to be punished for helping Fitz and Addie break out. Regardless of how harmless it was, this felt like a major oversight to me. Granted, I haven't spent time in a psych ward. Nor have I broken out of any kind of hospital, so take my opinion however you want. I feel like Addie was written as a more stable character to balance out Fitz, which I appreciate, but some moments between them still rubbed me the wrong way.
Interesting book, but some scenes made me uncomfortable to read. I liked Addie, but I deeply disliked Fitz's view on the hospital and his own recovery. I'm going to leave this unrated because I don't feel comfortable rating something steeped in personal experience like Waiting for Fitz.
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