Initial Impressions: Wow, that ending was kind of a let-down. That was not how I thought it was going to go! 
 The beginning was pretty decent. I was definitely interested and was invested in Calvin's journey. The middle started to get slow and didn't really seem like it was going anywhere. The ending was utterly disappointing but that was mostly because I thought I was onto something here and it didn't play out like I thought. 
 The writing wasn't anything spectacular and although the book did give us a good example of someone suffering from schizophrenia, I don't feel like there was really much discussion about details or education at all. It's not always something I need from a book concerning mental illness but when it's in a contemporary aspect, I do feel like that's something important to include. Calvin did have his own discussions about it but I just feel like it wasn't really talked about in detail like I had thought it would. 
 To be honest, it was hard to read the end of the the book because... well, spoiler: (view spoiler)[I thought Susie was a schizophrenic manifestation too. Calvin admitted this to himself even though that apparently turned out not to be true?? (Another reason the ending disappointed me) So I found it tedious to have a whole book where he's talking essentially to himself (even though I guess he really wasn't) and I also though this whole lake thing was a schizophrenic episode which also turned out to be true as well. The tables were turned on me there, huh? (hide spoiler)] For those not viewing the spoiler, essentially the book just didn't seem like it was going anywhere and I didn't feel like anything was developing. Calvin also wasn't a very emotional person and I had a hard time connecting to any characters. There was a lack of personality there. Wasn't terrible but also wasn't good for me. 
 Full review as originally posted HERE on The Book Addict's Guide 1/6/16: CALVIN seemed like a really interesting concept as well as a quick read (the book is under 200 a pages!) and with the end of the year drawing near, it was the perfect time for me to grab a book that would keep me intrigued and help me get that much closer to completing my reading challenge for 2015! 
 CALVIN is the story of a boy named Calvin who discovers that he has schizophrenia. He believes that if Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson would just write one more comic, he would stop having visions of a real (to him) version of Hobbes and his life could just go back to normal. Calvin then leaves on a quest to go find him by walking across the frozen lake from Canada all the way to the US. As interesting as this concept sounded, the book really fell a bit flat for me. I've always been interested in psychology so naturally, books with a psychological aspect of any sort tend to grab me. I started out really interested but the book quickly lost steam for me and despite its short length, I had trouble focusing and staying interested. 
 Calvin as a character didn't really seem to have a lot of depth. I suppose it's hard to have a well-rounded character when the whole point of the story is a single obsession but I would have loved to see more emotion from him throughout the book! I suppose because I knew Calvin was having schizophrenic episodes, I also found it hard to get a grip on what was real and what was being manifested inside Calvin's head. Obviously I knew Hobbes wasn't real but I found myself questioning the entire situation and several characters so just the smallest of doubts really threw off my whole reading experience. That's also how I am when I read books that I know involve psychological aspects or psychological twists -- I'm always looking for a twist, even if it isn't there, so I actually ended up making this book more complicated than it really was. 
 I was actually not too impressed with the book overall. It should have been a quick read but I didn't find the writing terribly engaging and (though possibly due to my own faults), I was kind of let down with the ending. I just didn't really feel like the book was taking me somewhere and the middle really dragged for me. I kept hoping for something to reel me back it but I never quite made it there. I was also sort of upset that the author didn't really include any information about schizophrenia and what it is. There were some quick passages where Calvin is trying to explain it to Susie but I just always feel like books dealing with mental illness should educate the reader a little bit since most people don't know details. I feel like CALVIN missed an easy opportunity to just open that conversation up to the readers. 
 CALVIN wasn't a bad read for me but I'd have a hard time recommending it. I can usually zip through a nice, short book and I felt like this book actually dragged a bit. It really didn't impress me on any level and like I said, not bad but just didn't really stand out in any way for me.