Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini

Reviewed by Leah H.
Grade 12

Be More Chill is told from the perspective of Jeremy Heere, a high schooler, whose one wish is to date Christine Caniglia. The only issue is that Jeremy is tragically awkward and unpopular and Christine is witty and decently popular.

Jeremy only has one friend, idolizes the popular people, and gets bullied. All his attempts to fit in only exacerbate his ostracization, until one of his tormentors, Rich, tells him about his SQUIP. SQUIP, a Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor from Japan, sits in his brain and tells him how to be cool. Seeing this as his opportunity to date Christine and finally fit in, Jeremy follows Rich's instructions and gets his own SQUIP. The SQUIP helps Jeremy learn how to talk to girls and turn his former tormentors into friends, but it also strains his relationships.

The characters are a little 2D and cliche in the beginning due to Jeremy idolizing them, but they become more well-rounded once Jeremy stops putting them on a pedestal and becomes friends with them. Rich is an excellent example of this because he’s just a bully to Jeremy at the beginning, but it’s revealed that he used to be dorky, and his SQUIP made him bully Jeremy to become popular, and they end up becoming friends. Christine is also a well-rounded character. She’s sensible, witty, determined, and doesn’t fall for all the cliche things the SQUIP has Jeremy do and say.

Although some parts at the beginning are painful because of how much Jeremy overthinks things, I would still recommend Be More Chill to people who struggle with social anxiety because it teaches a great lesson of self-acceptance. I would also recommend this to those who are fans of the musical based off of the book. I would however not recommend this to anyone under the age of 13, as it is a YA book.