I know Alec might seem like some big booty-hole but hear me out....
Alec seems to suffer from paranoia ,which is a symptom of mental illness. I've never read a parenting book but Im pretty sure they might not discuss mental illness in them alot bc their is so many mental illnesses and their is a big stigma around mental health. Maybe that's why the parenting books never help Alec and his Parents. Because he over here suffering from a whole mental illness and his parents are not tending to it.
His paranoia could also explain why he has never had much friends. He probably doesn't trust anyone enough to friend them up. He probably has built up a lot of frustration for not being like a "normal kid" caused by the side effects of mental illness. Its not like anybody wants to have no friends but his mental illness might have stagnated him from making them, and his unaware of this bc he is just a kid . When he sees his sister being a normal kid and happy with a whole lot of friends being loved by their parents+ his paranoia he probably subconsciously let his frustration out on her. Like he genuinely believed she was evil. Like he thought his sister was just so good at being deceitful. Could yall imagine thinking that someone in your house is lying to you 24/7 trying to ruin your life and they are just waiting for the right moment to strike! Some people might think he was being a booty-hole but Alec genuinely thought Hazel was plotting against him!
At the end Alec realizes that his sister isn't an evil villain and his distrust and treating of her had no "real reasoning". This boy genuinely had no idea why he thought of his sister like that. Then when he is ready to apologize he doesn't make an excuse for himself and he genuinely feels bad for what he has done.... chile .....yall now what happens next......
So many mentally ill people struggle from symptoms that generally aren't themselves and they can't help it.
So pls I beg of yall dont cap on Alec too hard
He was probably a kid who didn't know how to cope with his mental illness
That or paranoia is also a side effect of doing drugs but nothing in the book really points to that
I would also like to say that I'm not a mental health professional in any way. I struggle from it tho so 😗. I be speaking from experience. Oh I would also like to say I dont struggle from paranoia like Alec does in the book.
I also am not gonna say a specific mental illness because I'm not his therapist. Also their are alot of mental issues that can lead to the symptom of paranoia.
Oh also if yall struggle from paranoia and wanna say some pls do bc well I don't have it like Alec so what I'm saying could be totally wrong.
Also I didn't read the book but I saw a dawko video instead 😳 I've been meaning to go to the library but yall know...covid