The Summary of The Book Highly Illogical Behavior

In the book “Highly Illogical Behavior” by John Whaley, some of the central conflicts the characters faced were mental illness, one’s questionable plan and love triangle. It all starts out with a teenage boy named Solomon Reed, who suffers from agoraphobia, the fear of any type of predicaments, due to an unfortunate event that happened three years prior. In eighth grade, he stripped down into his boxers and lowered himself down the school fountain which caused total embarrassment resulting himself locked up in his house for three years, two months, and one day. He thought that this would be his whole life, but all of that was about to change when he meets Lisa Praytor and Clark Robbins.

Lisa and Clark are a high school couple that made a great impact in Solomon’s life. Lisa was first introduced to Solomon. Her primary plan was to befriend Solomon in hoping to get her experience with mental illness, write her college essay and somewhat help him face the outside world again. Soon after, Clark was introduced and sooner than later, they become best friends. The couple managed to help Solomon conquer his fear and come out into the swimming pool in the backyard. However, with Clark and Solomon spending almost all of their time together, Lisa worried that the guys were gay for each other and even gave Solomon the wrong idea about Clark.

Solomon is gay and is in love with Clark, but the feelings of Clark aren’t mutual. A couple weeks later, after the night of Solomon’s meltdown when Lisa and Clark confessed about the college essay and how he felt like he was used, Solomon’s grandmother got into a car accident. That was when true friendship came about and Lisa and Clark was there to help Solomon get out of the house to visit his grandmother at the hospital. At the end, it showed the true value of friendships and how it can provide another source of help to those suffering with mental illness. Whaley reveals how important it is to understand people with mental illness and the moral support they need. He also reveals the misunderstandings of mental illness through different character perspectives and the importance of what keeps the friendship last, forgiveness. Putting the two together, mental illness and friendship, creates an incredible plot because some people do find comfort within friends and even consider them as family.