Highly Illogical Behavior

Highly Illogical Behavior is the third Young Adult novel by John Corey Whaley, a former teacher turned full time YA novelist. Published in 2016, Highly Illogical Behavior was named an NPR Best Book of 2016, a Chicago Public Library Best Teen Fiction of 2016, among other accolades. Published by SPEAK, an imprint of Penguin Random House, this novel represents the Young Adult fiction genre often referred to as “Teen Fiction.” Like many YA novels, Highly Illogical Behavior explores the relationships teenagers have with their own developing selves, their changing friends, and their families. YA novels typically explore a coming-of-age story as teenagers learn to navigate the world around them. Highly Illogical Behavior also explores mental illness, another popular trope in contemporary YA literature.

The structure of the novel is told in a third-person omniscient narration, but each chapter focuses specifically on either Solomon or Lisa. Because the reader goes back and forth between the two, Whaley uses dramatic irony to keep the reader engaged in the characters’ development as the plot unfurls. Often, the narrator speaks directly to the reader, as if it’s a journal being read aloud to a group of people.