Issac and Ivy, sibling so alike but yet so different. Ivy was a very big trouble maker, sneaking out, going to parties, smoking weed, etc. She finally came to the realization that this isn’t the life she wants. Her and her parents got her to go see a doctor for her irrational behavior, and she got put on Adderall. She went from acting out to picking dust up off the floor. She has perfect grades, never late, and always organized. Ivy has slowly begun to realize that maybe Adderall isn’t all that good. Yes it helps her focus, but she has headaches, she’s a clean freak. They have a grandma who lived with them as well. She had painkillers to help with her joint pain that she only took every so often. Then there’s Issac, the newest addict. He plays football, and is addicted to pain killers. It all started when he hurt his foot. Ever since then, he’s been hooked on pain killers (Oxycodone). Issac goes out of his way to get his hands on any pills he can. Going as far as stealing pills from the medicine cart in a hospital. He’s now ordering random pills offline, from a pharmacy over seas.
It makes me wonder, are pills that easy to get ahold of? A simple website and bitcoin is all it takes to get whatever pills you want from a so called “pharmacy” overseas? This book talks a lot about addiction and struggle, no one is aware that Issac is addicted to pills; Why? Is it not noticeable that he slugs around every day, is confused, and simply just not himself? It really goes to show that you never know what someone is going through. Shusterman also gives the perspective from the drugs, and that’s very different. You don’t see many books like that. All these drugs care about is how deep they can get the user to dig. They lay it out like its a love story of some sort, not an addiction or problem. Issac didn’t care that he took all of his grandma’s pills, or that he wasted all of the medication at the hospital. Only thing on his mind was what he got and how many he got. That alone is disgusting.