NoJoMo 15 *EDIT*

 Okay guys, I need your help.

I read a book years ago and it was one of the best stories I’ve ever read. And I have NO IDEA what the book was called or who the author is. All I can remember is the majority of the plotline and a couple of the character’s names. If anyone has read this book or knows of a good way to find it without typing the whole plot into google, please let me know!

So, the book had a yellow and green cover, I think it was a bit vintage faded pop art style, but I can’t be sure.

It was about a boy in high school (I think his name was Stephen) whose older brother had run away to Istanbul to be a hippy. Stephen goes on a French exchange and on the ferry he meets a girl (possible called Astrid) who’s all like "Wow! You look just like your brother, oh yeah I totally met him coincidentally on his way to Istanbul." 

Stephen decides to run off with Astrid instead of going to wherever in France his exchange is. He travels across the country and various things happen, he finally gets to Istanbul, but for some reason it’s shit. Maybe his brother has already gone… I think there’s some confusing weed incident too.

Anyway, eventually Stephen ends up in India and gets dysentary and goes a bit loopy trying to be a hardcore hippy. I think he meets a man in a cave and takes up that way of life for himself. He eventually throws his passport in the river Ganges and feels ‘free’. Possibly his brother finds him, but somehow he eventually goes home and goes a bit chubby.

So, it turns out he went a bit loopy because some teacher had been molesting him but he’d buried it deep inside his feelings or something and needed to find his brother, hence the massive trip across Europe. OH! His brother is called Robert, I think.

If anyone knows what this book is, I would be SO GRATEFUL! I’ve been wracking my brains for years and I have no idea how to find it based on my shitty description. Maybe someone from "THE INTERNET" will have better luck…?

XxX

edit: Ha! No way! Within 2 minutes of me posting this, someone had typed the RIGHT things into Google rather than just my ramblings and came up with Patrick Cooper’s "I is Someone Else". THANK YOU seastar! I have been searching for this for literally years. x

edit 2: FUCK! On a completely unrelated note, just got a text from Mat. He took a train to Holland to get a little bit of weed and 30 seconds before he got on the train home, a bloody police dog sniffed him out and it was all confiscated. ULTRA LAME! I suppose it’ll teach us not to be so illegal but still. FUCK!!!!