I read this book when I was 15, and I never forgot it. It's a story of a 14 year old boy, living a cruel existance in a mental hospital and trying to make sense of the insanity of his life and others around him, and the inhumanity he suffers at the hands of those whom a child should be able to trust most.We understand his thinking, we are angry for him, and we want to reach into his nightmare of a life and pull him out. There are no happy endings here, he does not walk off into a fake sunset...but the book is written with an honesty and beauty that is not easily forgotten. I am 45 and have recently acquired a copy and it's just as gripping and touching now as it was then. (whoever gave this book only one star missed the point entirely...)