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It's Kind of a Funny Story Paperback – 3 April 2007
"Intimate, real, funny, ironic...This book offers hope in a package that readers will find enticing.", Booklist
"Insightful and utterly authentic...this is an important book.", The New York Times Book Review
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 soon sees his once-perfect future crumbling away. The stress becomes unbearable and Craig stops eating and sleeping--until, one night, he nearly kills himself.
Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new 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.
Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness. For a novel about depression, it's definitely a funny story.
"Funny... Vizzini supplies personal insights and a clever, self-deprecating tone that make the book an entertaining read." - The Washington Post
- Reading age12 - 17 years
- Print length448 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Grade level7 - 9
- Lexile measure620L
- Dimensions13.97 x 20.96 cm
- PublisherDisney Editions
- Publication date3 April 2007
- ISBN-10078685197X
- ISBN-13978-0786851973
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About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Disney Editions; Reprint edition (3 April 2007)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 448 pages
- ISBN-10 : 078685197X
- ISBN-13 : 978-0786851973
- Reading age : 12 - 17 years
- Dimensions : 13.97 x 20.96 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 148,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author
Ned Vizzini (born Edison Price Vizzini, April 4, 1981 – December 19, 2013) was an American writer. He was the author of four books for young adults including It's Kind of a Funny Story, which NPR named #56 of the "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels" of all time and which is the basis of the film of the same name.
Vizzini suffered from depression, spending time in a psychiatric ward in his early 20s, and authoring several works about the illness. He was found dead in his native Brooklyn, New York after an apparent suicide from a fall, aged 32.
Bio from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Photo by Ned_Vizzini_and_Keir_Gilchrist.jpg: Kindly granted by Ned Vizzini derivative work: RanZag (Ned_Vizzini_and_Keir_Gilchrist.jpg) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.
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This book has been on my TBR list for some time and I bought myself a copy not long ago and finally got around to reading it and what an outstanding read it was. Craig’s depression is very much the fore-thought of the entire novel, written from Craig’s POV but it was extremely eye-opening to read abour how Craig percieves his world. I did feel for him, and didn’t want him to go through what he went through and thoroughly rooted for him to finally find happiness.
The other characters in the hospital were absolute gems and I think, helped Craig towards his road of recovery. They were fantastically written characters; ranging from a transvestite, a nutty college-professor, a Egyptian who never leaves his room and a girl who cut her own face with a pair of scissors. Although obviously quite tragic cases, they definitely bring an element of humour to an otherwise quite dark story.
That’s one of the most prominant things about this novel for me; is the fact that despite the sensitve topic the novel revolves around, it’s actually quite humerous in more ways than one. It was a fairly light-hearted story, with it’s darker scenes of course but not a story to stray from thinking it’s too, in need of a better word, “depressing”. However, it does have a very strong message about how pressure can affect teens and young adults; school, friends, grades, exams, fitting in and although seem like trivial problems, can have a lasting negative effect on an individual.
Despite not having suffered with depression, I do believe this is quite a accurate portrayal of not only your thoughts and feelings but the feelings of those around you who may not fully understand what you’re going though. For example, when Craig’s best friend Aaron says, “I think I might have that depression thing”. I did find some scenes and thoughts that Craig had hit home quite hard for me, because of person experiences. Which I won’t go into here but that’s what it’s all about isn’t it? Being able to connect with a book on different levels and sharing thoughts and feelings with the characters.
What an incredibly powerful, moving and life-affirming read about depression and mental illness. Made all the more so by the authors devastating suicide. It was such a bizarre feeling, reading a book about the very thing that took over his mind in the end. Rest in peace, Ned and thank you for writing such an amazing book that probably has and will inspire and help generations to come.
Anyway. I read this in three days or so. Loved it! Gotta say, it was pretty great!
I like how Craig is super awkward, but also really charming and smart.
The story is very believable, like the reviews say, but they also say it's funny, so I sorta imagined there being lots of laugh-out-loud jokes, but there wasn't really any. It was much more the generel characters awkwardness and random comments, that I found funny. But I rarely laughed out loud.
Anyway, I don't judge a book by humor. If I feel like I learn something, or is inspired by a novel, then I really like it, and I will deffinitely be reading this again.
I watched the movie after reading the book. And I kinda wish I'd seen the movie first, cuz there's such a huge difference between the two, and I couldn't help thinking "That's completely wrong" and they took out so many good lines! So if I'd seen the movie first, I wouldn't have been so distracted, and would probably have loved it.
It's not that the movie isn't good, it is, but the book is sooo much better!
I loved the ending (no spoilers), because it was so true to what's real in the world of mental illness. Which is a world I'm very familiar with..
I'd like to read more from Ned. He's got my attention now! Awesome novel!
Even though me and the main character had our differences (being that he was a hormonal young teenage boy) the writing makes you laugh and relate with him. He is not overly morbid although terribly depressed and has the self-deprecating humor that makes you fully able to see the worth in living.
I also think for anybody who is confused as to how they feel it's so useful in helping arrange thoughts and cope with diagnosis. It would also take away confusion for family and friends who struggle to understand somebody with depression and how they are feeling, this book makes it very clear that it is a disease, and a disease that can be coped with. They say you reach a point where you decide to sink or swim, and at that very moment I read this book. Much like the main character i'm now successfully swimming! So many thanks to Vizzini.
The book had a bit of a slow start for me and I felt certain situations could have been more entertaining, but it did it's purpose and I thought the ending was nice. The book is so much better than the film also.
I'm interested in reading stories based on the subject of people having mental difficulty, and if anyone else is interested in the same thing, I would consider that you read 'The Locked Ward'. It is the same situation of being in an mental ward, only it's from a member of staffs perspective instead of this story based on a patients point of view.