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From the book jacket...
"Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into

At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn’t brilliant compared to the other kids; he’s just average, and maybe not even that. He starts earning mediocre grades and sees his once perfect future crumbling away. The stress becomes unbearable and Craig stops eating and sleeping – until, one night, he nearly kill himself.
Craig’s suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new roommate is an Egyptian schoolteacher who refuses to get out of bed. His neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, isolated from the crushing pressures of school and friends, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety."