I really wanted to love this one, but I just couldn't figure it out. The premise sounded interesting, but I couldn't get into it at all.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this book for an honest review. This was the first book that I have read by David Arnold. It was well written and the story was interesting. There were many twists and turns after school started. It was a little confusing at times, but overall a good read.

Is it okay to call this thoughtful, bittersweet, non-holiday, YA 2019 version of It's a Wonderful Life? Because it absolutely is.

Thank you very much to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this title.

I am a huge fan of David Arnold's work; he writes beautifully quirky, poignant, human stories and this is no exception. I was immediately drawn into Noah's strange story and the characters around him.

My biggest gripe is that I didn't believe the characterisation of his little sister. I know Arnold's worlds are full of fantastic people, but I felt she was false and 2-dimensional. No kid speaks like that. Even some of the teen dialogue felt forced at time, something I haven't come across in his other books. Part of me wondered if the editor told him to try and been more John Green? Every character had to have a quirk, which feels very Green and a bit of a shame.

I will take it to my teens at the library for their views but, although a good book, it isn't Mosquitoland or Kids of Appetite.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Noah has a handful of strange fascinations:
1. The author Mila Henry
2. A youtube video titled "The Fading Girl"
3. A photo he found dropped by a local artist that visited his school
4. OMG, (Old Man Goiter), an elderly gentleman he sees walking every day

Noah knows that there are a lot of things in his life he should be more honest about. He has great friends, a great family, and a possibly great future as an athlete. Something is still holding him back, causing him to lie about a back injury, push his younger sister aside, and wear the same outfit each and every day (don't worry, he has multiple pairs of each item). After being coaxed out to a party with his best friends (twin brother and sister, Alan and Val), he gets completely smashed and leaves the party with a quirky home schooled teen, Circuit. When Noah wakes up the next day the life he knew has changed, well, most of it.

There are a few things that some how remained the same; his strange fascinations. In an attempt to get a grasp on his new reality, Noah goes on a quest to really figure out the meaning behind his strange fascinations.
In doing so, Noah starts to discover more about himself in the process, but what happened to the life he used to live? How is that these seemingly insignificant things in his life did not change, but so many other things all of a sudden are so different?

I love David Arnold. Mosquitoland is one of my favorite books. I have to say that while reading this book there were definitely moments where I had to ask myself...WHAT IS GOING ON?! It really wasn't until about 2/3 of the way in to the book that I realized what had really happened and the puzzle pieces clicked in to place. Noah is a complicated character, living a life that I think many teens will be able to relate to. The struggle and fear that comes with graduating high school and an uncertain future and dealing with changing relationships with friends to name a few. I can see this book not appealing to all readers though, it is a little strange, but for me, Arnold definitely delivered another awesome, intense, and interesting read. Recommended for libraries where realistic and light fantasy fiction are popular.

I tried several times, but this book didn't download in a readable format for me. I am still very interested to read the story, so I think I'll have to buy the book now!

After leaving a party drunk, Noah feels hypnotized and begins to detect changes in life as he knows it. He becomes obsessed with these changes and begins to investigate. Four people remain unchanged: a local musician, a man with a goiter, a deceased author and a woman on YouTube who has taken pictures of herself every day for 40 years. As he ponders these “fascinations,” he makes connections that explain the alterations in his life.

The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik is almost beyond description! Quirky, trippy, existential, ... 16 year old Bowie fan Noah Oakman takes the reader on an intense journey of his day to day life, which seems to be strangely rewritten. David Arnold has created an awesome story, particularly for teen boys who love to think.

Absolutely LOVED this book - fascinating premise, really human characters, and great writing style. A new favourite

A weird, wonderful read! Hang in there as Noah navigates his world post-hypnotism. As a reader, you are drawn into the mystery and are just as confused as Noah as to what the heck is happening. Keep reading. The payoff is worth it!

I loved the relationships between Noah, Alan, and Val, "a delicate triangle" of life-long friends who find themselves trying to navigate the end of high school and what comes next without losing what they have together. The novel imparts truths about high school, growing up, doing what we need to do, and leaving the comforts of the known for the unknown.

The writing is fresh, smart, and funny. I would recommend this book to readers who like a contemporary read that's a bit "out of the ordinary." Fans of John Green, Jeff Zetner, and Andrew Smith will appreciate the story and the style.

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was by the author of Mosquitoland. I really enjoyed his style and storytelling. This was a quick read because I couldn't stop reading it. I highly recommend it.

I’ve never read a David Arnold book and this was my first. I liked the premise: a teen boy about to start his senior year and is recovering from a fake back injury to get out of lofty swim team expectations. What if he suddenly looks around and sees things are slightly off. A friend who adored DC, is suddenly into Marvel, etc.
The actual writing was good. I felt the author’s passion for writing this and execution was good, there were many twists and turns in the 3 months after school started. Coincidences. Did I understand it all, honestly no. It mostly came together and wrapped it up in the last 30 pages.

This was a fun read. I didn't realize it was YA until a bit into it. I think the kids will like it more than i did, but it was cute..

My favorite yet of David Arnold's books, this book is a crooked mind twist of an adventure of a teen boy, with great characters.

I was absolutely LOVING this and then a thing happened which made me like it less. This is going to be a spoiler review full of spoilers because it is impossible to write about this without discussing the twist 4/5ths of the way in.

Okay, first of all, not spoilers. Noah is a teenage boy with friends (boy and girl twins, the boy is his best friend, is super gay and totally awesome, the girl is his second best friend who he almost started a relationship with but it upset their delicate triangle balance so that idea was dropped immediately so they're all just best friends and it's great and I love them), he has a younger sister and great parents and a completely nice decent suburban life. In a lot of ways, he reminded me of Simon Spier from Becky Albertelli's <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19547856-simon-vs-the-homo-sapiens-agenda?ac=1&from_search=true">"Simon Vs. The Home Sapiens Agenda"</a>.

Noah is approaching the end of high school and panicking about going to college. He doesn't like his path (swimming scholarship) because he doesn't like swimming. He doesn't want to separate from his friends but he also is feeling confined by them to a role he's had since he was 10 and they first became friends. He's basically your average 17 year old with a life crisis. And then SOMETHING HAPPENS and the world changes almost imperceptibly except to Noah who is pinpointing the tiny differences between what his world used to be like and his world now. Like his best friend used to be DC all the way and is now Marvel. His second best friend used to be an online trendsetting Instagrammer with movies and is now with music. His mom has a face scar she didn't have before. But some things haven't changed, his 4 strange fascinations and his sister, primarily.

The writing is amazing. The characters. The character driven plot. The character development of Noah and the relational development with his friends/family. The language used! The phrasings! The situational parsing. There are so many absolute perfect gems of scenes or dialogue or internal monologue. And I LOVED IT.

And then, SPOILERS!!! <spoiler>It turns out that all the changes are because Noah has been in a forced sleep mode with a mind-altering cap thing on and it's science and a semi insane crazy other teenage boy he had met at a party and NOTHING of the last 3 months/four-fifths of the book has been real or actually happened and it's a huge let down and it feels that way in the writing as well. So much of the glittery verve goes out of the writing at this point and maybe it's just coming back to reality and dealing with it and bad things have happened in the couple hours Noah has been a rat in a maze and now he/the reader has to deal with the fall out of those and it's really real but man oh man, it still feels like a different book for that last fifth and not in a good way.</spoiler>

So basically, I love it and give it huge recommendation but also with that slight spoiler caveat that the last fifth is not QUITE as engagingly written as the first 4/5ths. But it's still great! And something I will fully read again, unlike David Arnold's other book where a terrible thing happens to a cat and I can never ever read it again. (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22466429-kids-of-appetite?ac=1&from_search=true">"Kids of Appetite"</a>)

This book is INCREDIBLE. Noah shows us how everyone is connected and discovers the difference between lonely and alone in this amazing coming of age. Arnold does a great job blending real pop culture with his own creations (and the complimentary website for Mila Henry is a must: https://milahenryauthor.com/). This is a beautiful exploration of philosophy and the human condition, and one of my favorite books of all time.

I've read all of David Arnold's books, but this is my favorite. The characters are interesting, likable, and realistic. I cared about each one and their story. I really wanted to see how it ended and that each character would be ok heading into the future.

I can manage a manic pixie dream girl/boy. I can't handle an entire book of them. Unique and quirky doesn't have to be the dominant trait of any character, let alone the whole cast. I can see where teens would really like this, though, hence the two stars instead of one. Dnf'ed at page 75.

An absolutely new spin on the struggles of launching yourself into adulthood. Noah Oakman isn’t sure he wants to follow the straight-to-college-on-a-swimming-scholarship path laid out for him and can’t imagine life without his tight threesome friendship. His default thoughts are about strange things like a man with a goiter he sees every day. A YouTube video of a woman who photographed herself every day for almost 40 years. And so on. So what? Read on for a funny, poignant, meaningful journey with Noah as he discovers the meaning of his obsessions and, ultimately, of the choices ahead.

I found myself reacting to David Arnold's writing much like Noah found the bottom of the Rosa-Haas pool: I f-ing love it here. Arnold's writing puffs up the good feels with humor, the adorable side of teen angst, and plenty of Gilmore Girl references, then flips the world upside down with gut-wrenching insights on how hard it is to be a human. I can easily see my students getting lost in No's version of the world.