Waiting for Fitz

by Spencer Hyde

Overview

Addie loves nothing more than curling up on the couch with her dog, Duck, and watching The Great British Baking Show with her mom. It’s one of the few things that can help her relax when her OCD kicks into overdrive. She counts everything. All the time. She can’t stop. Rituals and rhythms. It’s exhausting.
 
When Fitz was diagnosed with schizophrenia, he named the voices in his head after famous country singers. The adolescent psychiatric ward at Seattle Regional Hospital isn’t exactly the ideal place to meet your soul mate, but when Addie meets Fitz, they immediately connect over their shared love of words, appreciate each other’s quick wit, and wish they could both make more sense of their lives.
 
Fitz is haunted by the voices in his head and often doesn’t know what is real. But he feels if he can convince Addie to help him escape the psych ward and get to San Juan Island, everything will be okay. If not, he risks falling into a downward spiral that may keep him in the hospital indefinitely.
 
Waiting for Fitz is a story about life and love, forgiveness and courage, and learning what is truly worth waiting for.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629725277
Publisher:	Shadow Mountain Publishing
Publication date:	03/05/2019
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,121,026
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Spencer Hyde spent three years during high school at Johns Hopkins for severe OCD. Hyde later worked at a therapeutic boarding school before earning his MFA and his PhD specializing in writing fiction and essays; he wrote Waiting for Fitz while working as a Teaching Fellow in Denton, Texas. Spencer and his wife, Brittany, are the parents of four children.

Editorial Reviews

"A compelling story about life and love, forgiveness and courage, and learning what is truly worth waiting for, "Waiting for Fitz" is an original, entertaining, and skillfully presented novel by an author with a genuinely distinctive storytelling style. Unreservedly recommended." 

Midwest Book Review

"The witty literary sophisticate narrates a poignant, at times tragic, tale of the emotional pain some kids endure, none more so than eventual soul mate Fitz. Savvy readers will be intrigued with Addie’s Holden Caulfield–esque persona and use of absurdist drama to figure out her own life.  All readers will respond to Hyde’s fully authentic characters and compassionate portrayal of kids in pain."

Booklist

2019 Winner Gold for Young Adult Fiction

Foreword Indies Award

"The witty literary sophisticate narrates a poignant, at times tragic, tale of the emotional pain some kids endure, none more so than eventual soul mate Fitz. Savvy readers will be intrigued with Addie’s Holden Caulfield–esque persona and use of absurdist drama to figure out her own life.  All readers will respond to Hyde’s fully authentic characters and compassionate portrayal of kids in pain."

Booklist

03/01/2019

Gr 8 Up—Midway through her senior year, 17-year-old Addie Foster is sent for in-patient psychiatric therapy for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) at Seattle Regional Hospital. Quick-witted and literary-minded, she dreams of being a playwright. Making some unlikely but unique friends from the first day of group therapy, Addie accepts that she needs help, while handsome, mysterious Fitz is desperate to leave after two years of treatment. Grieving and guilt ridden, Fitz, who has schizophrenia, mentions San Juan Island and the name Quentin but does not offer any details to Addie. Innocent romance sparks for the two, their shared passion for literature kindling their companionship. When the truth of Fitz's past is revealed to Addie, she is forced to take a painful look at their relationship and her own future. The ending is hopeful, albeit a touch predictable. Hyde, having spent much of his high school years in in-patient therapy for severe OCD, provides an accurate, honest rendering of teenage mental illness. VERDICT Fans of John Green and Jennifer Niven will enjoy this realistic portrayal of some heavy subject matter.—Laura Jones, Argos Community Schools, IN

School Library Journal

2018-12-09

While seeking treatment for mental illness in a psychiatric ward, a teen contemplates the meaning of life.

When her obsessive-compulsive disorder rituals become severe, 17-year-old Addie Foster must defer her senior year of high school to enter Seattle Regional Hospital's psychiatric ward as an inpatient. Although her first-person account describes how her OCD manifests and some of her treatment plan, the focus is on her relationship with fellow patient Fitz, who suffers auditory hallucinations. An aspiring playwright, Addie becomes consumed with a homework assignment that questions Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Issues with Fitz and the play converge as the two find fun with puns and other wordplay and notice how people are always acting and wearing masks, both on- and offstage. The story escalates when Fitz asks Addie to help him escape the hospital and find closure to a painful secret. In the process of connecting with Fitz, Addie not only begins to understand the waiting in Beckett's play, but also life itself. This complex story of merging metaphors and symbolism is for sophisticated readers who prefer reflection to adventure. Debut novelist Hyde offsets the painful realities of mental illness with gentle surprises and such humor as Fitz's naming his hallucinations after popular country singers. One patient is Mexican-American; the default for all other characters is white.

Thoughtful and thought-provoking. (Fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews