After the death of his beloved mother, 16-year-old Max Friedman struggles with his spiraling depression and an unhealthy obsession with an imaginary brain tumor. Withdrawing from his grieving father and completely unable to cope at his public school, he is given the opportunity to switch to a progressive private high school. The school matches new students with a student fellow and a faculty mentor and so Max meets Felicia, the pink-haired free spirit who goes by the name Fish, and the demanding professor Gates. The change is a lifeline for Max. With the help of his new circle of creative friends, some inspiring teachers and his supportive father and grandmother, Max hopes to lift the heavy veil of his depression and make a fresh start. Many of the characters in the book are intriguing; well-developed and flawed or struggling in some way and Max’s relationships with all of them ring true. The writing is emotionally charged and Max’s grief is palpable. Pixley peppers the pages with scenes from Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Shakespeare’s Hamlet, writings that mirror Max’s pain and depression, but also help him come to terms with his own struggles.

For a more in-depth review watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSrZy...

Max Friedman has a brain tumor...at least he thinks he has a brain tumor. Max's mother just died from brain cancer and at her funeral he made a mental promise to take in her tumor. The tumor has become a constant companion to Max and has caused him to act up and almost fail out of school. To try to save Max's academic future his father enrolls him in the Baldwin School, a progressive school where he meets Fish, The Monk and Mr. Cage. Will Max's new environment save him or will his phantom tumor win?

I had such a mixed reaction to this book. It is very beautifully written and was, at times, almost lyrical. Plus, it is one of the few books I can remember that features a teen boy dealing with his emotions which is something we should see more of in YA books. However, I thought the story moved slowly verging on dragging at some points. Plus, many of the character actions turned them into caricatures making it hard to care about them and making the drama of the book feel like a melodrama. Yet, even with the issues I had with this this book I appreciate the author's writing style and I will read future work by this author.

I received an eARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was another of my Can't-Wait Wednesday picks, and I when I looked back at the all the reasons for why I wanted to read this book, I have to admit, I would highlight all those things are "pros", because they are some of the elements I really liked, but there were more that made this a great reading experience for me as well.
Pro: The way Pixley handled Max's grief was so real, yet so odd. He exhibited all the common symptoms - withdrawal, weight loss, anger - but his grief also took the form of an imaginary tumor, which he believed transferred from his mother to him, and the interactions with the "tumor" were quite odd, though there was a lot of real emotion attached to the interactions. It was interesting and different, and it added an extra layer to Max's grief, which he had to work through.

•Pro: This book is filled with some great and complicated characters. Fish, Ms. Pruitt, The Monk, the twins, Grandma Jean, Dad, Mr. Cage, and Ms. Grossman all added something special to the story. I was especially fond of Fish, because she and Max shared that common bond of having "lost" their mothers.

•Pro: Speaking of mothers. The tears!!! Every time Max shared something about his mom, I got a little verklempt. He shared beautiful and tender moments with me, but he also shared some final and painful moments. The love and adoration he had for him mother was unquestionable, but I also knew, that he knew he was very loved by her too.

•Pro: This school was as awesome as I thought it would be, and Pixley did an incredible job weaving a tapestry of pain and grief that included Kafka and Hamlet.

•Con: Though hopeful, the ending left me with some loose ends, and I like rather tidy endings. I was not too frustrated though, so minor con.

•Pro: The title comes from a trust exercise, which Max and the other thespians engage in, and I really think it was quite brilliant to use this as the litmus test for where Max was on his healing journey.

•Pro: I was impressed by the story and the writing. Pixley loaded this book with vivid imagery and whip smart dialog. The words grabbed me and pulled me right in.

•Pro: I cared so much for Max, Dad, Grandma, and Fish. I wanted them all to find some happiness and healing, and I reveled in every good thing that happened to them.

Overall: The pain, grief, and loss that Max was wrestling with brought tears to my eyes, as did the joy and peace he eventually found.

After Max's mother dies, the cancerous brain tumor that killed her sets up residence in Max's brain. The tumor is a terrible tenant and makes it impossible for Max to live a normal life. In order to keep Max from failing, he is sent to a more progressive school with a stronger focus on...(I am not really quite sure why this environment was better, only that it was different). With the help of a new friend The Monk and pretty girl/possible love interest Fish, Max begins to come out of his grief and begins interacting with the world.

I had some problems with this book, but there were also areas that I enjoyed. I did enjoy the writing style. I took issue with several of the characters, like the tumor and Mr. Cage (his last hurrah just didn't sit well with me. The way it came up, the way it went down, and the treatment of it afterwards). I found myself enjoying the story more as it went on

This book was neither here nor there. I think the love I had for Max and his family evenly balanced the dislike I had for his special snowflake group of friends who got on my nerves to an extreme degree.

Excellent YA novel. I believe that many of my students will relate to the characters.

Ready to Fall, by Marcella Pixley was definitely an interesting and worthwhile book. The protagonist in this story was lucky to have such support from his family and friends. I would like to believe that most teens have as much support and love in their lives.... but I know that is unlikely. We meet Max as a little boy when he is learning that his mother is very sick with cancer and we are there through the remission of his mother's cancer and then through her death after the cancer returns. The story is basically about Max's grief as he works his way through her death. Most of the characters in the book are fairly well developed and interesting. Max, while temporarily struggling with some mental health issues from his grief, has some periods where he is barely able to function. A new arts school (and friends and teachers) seems to offer Max an escape from his grief, but it isn't an easy ride. I recommend the book especially to teens who have lost a family member to death, but really to all teens as the book is interesting and well worth the time to read.

This book was good. I liked that the main character is male because that only seems to happen these days in dual POV books, so that was refreshing.

The beginning was heartbreaking and I genuinely felt Max's pain and I felt so sorry for him. I think what I most felt sorry for was that the adults in his life didn't get him help. It was very, very evident that he wasn't coping with his mother's death and instead of taking him to therapy, he transferred to another school. It worked out in this situation, but barely. The only person who seemed to want to help him was Dr. Cage, who was the best adult in this whole book.

The story flowed well and the writing was really nice. I was engaged the whole time and I wasn't bored. The secondary characters were okay, but not developed enough for me. We don't learn anything about their history or background which was a missed opportunity in my opinion.

Why three stars then, you ask? Because it was too much like The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It was completely unoriginal in that regard. You have a mentally unstable teenage boy who is befriended by the quirky, artistic girl and her friends. He has a crush on the girl and she flirts with him back. And there's even a stage performance at the end (Rocky Horror in Perks vs Hamlet in this one). It honestly turned me off to it.

That being sad, it IS a good book. I don't think it dives enough into Max coping with his grief and instead it almost disappears instantly, like here one day and gone the next, so if you're looking for a book that really dives deep into mental health issues, this isn't entirely a good book for that. However, if you liked Perks and want something similar, definitely read this one.

Overall, yes I do recommend it.