Fiction that reads like a memoir

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	• It's Kind of a Funny Story Ned Vizzini Miramax, 2007 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 31 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

What Are Your Tentacles?

If anyone compares Ned Vizzini to Ken Kesey, don't listen to them. He's different because I said so. And because he is. In so many good ways.

His third book, IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY, takes its readers on an honest (and, in the end, refreshing) plunge into Craig Gilner's teenage depression and resurfaces in world that, five days later, feels real for the first time. He looks like your everyday modern kid until he sneaks out in the middle of the night and admits himself into a mental hospital. Why would he do that? If you asked him, he'd tell you it's because of all the Tentacles. Too many Tentacles and not enough Anchors. The stresses of life are wrapping him so tightly that he's not sure he can handle it. Even if he wants to.

The thing about Tentacles (Yes, it's spelled correctly) is he'd cut them off if he could, but if he did, he'd end up a failure. That's how life is right? He studies his brains out to ace the entrance exam and get into Executive Pre-Professional High School, so he's obligated or something to the best student he can, right? It seems so simple. Study hard. Read 3 newspapers a day. Respond to email. Answer phone calls. Sound normal. Look normal. Basically, do what everyone wants, when they want, and he'll make it in life. They'll see him as a success.

The problem is that Craig wants to end it all. As much as he loves that beating heart of his and his family and his friends and chilling with Aaron and hoping for something more with Nia, he wants to die. It's the only way he can think to stop the Cycling in his brain. He keeps waiting for The Shift to happen, but it feels eight continents away--In other words, Impossible. Vizzini captivates his readers with wild parties, Argenon (mental) Hospital, crazy roommates, Egyptian music, Brain Maps, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the third best sex scene of the year according to the Henry Miller Award panel, in a way that's as witty as it is wistful, and as humorous as it is human. Readers will love to follow Craig as he learns that cutting off the right Tentacles may be the only way to go from Broken, to Healing, to Normal, to Real, and finally, to Alive.

Reviewed by Jonathan Stephens

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very good book

I belive this book was very good.It had a lot of drama in it which made the book more intresting. When i first started reading it, the first chapter was a little boring but it got better and better and the story went on. i just couldnt put it down. i recomend this book to kids and teenagers who can relate to the character Craig, with some sort of depression. If you want a good laugh, then this is a book for you.

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A powerful novel with a bit of everything

Way back when I was in college, in the days before MySpace or Facebook or even LiveJournal, I read ANGELA'S ASHES by Frank McCourt. It also happened to be a favorite of my advisor's. When he saw me reading it, he said, "You know, it's funny about that book. You want to laugh at it, but at the same time you feel guilty for laughing because there's so much sadness."

I had to agree with him. While reading ANGELA'S ASHES, I never knew whether to laugh at McCourt's humor or cry because so much of his life was bleak. And until now, when I read IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY by Ned Vizzini, I have not felt so emotionally split over a book. That's a good thing, trust me.

IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY is kind of a funny story. It's about 15-year-old Brooklynite Craig Gilner, who attends a prestigious college prep school that will set him on his way to the right college, the right law school, and the right job on Wall Street --- assuming he can bring up his 93 average. Studying for his school's entrance exam occupied Craig for months, and he was proud of his perfect score. Now, though, the school is a huge source of stress for him. He feels scattered and depressed, and even though he really likes the doctors who are helping him with his depression, he can't seem to make what he refers to as The Shift, a move back to normal life. When he calls a suicide hotline, they suggest that he go to the emergency room. From there, Craig spends five days on Six North, the adult psychiatric floor of his local hospital.

Six North turns out to be exactly what Craig needs. Away from the stress of high school, parties and friends, he is given the chance to decompress, focus on getting better, and find out what he wants to do to achieve happiness. In this sheltered environment, supported by his doctors and his family, Craig returns to one of his first interests --- art --- and makes not only the quirkiest but the most real friends of his life, who help him on his way to healing.

Even though there are a lot of serious issues here, you can't help but laugh. The people Craig encounters on Six North aren't anything like his friends from school. Craig tries to maintain normal ties with his pals while on Six North, but they don't quite work out. His voice is very honest, and he's not afraid to share the details of a high-stress high school life, including sex, drugs and Egyptian popular music. Read it and weep. Or laugh. Maybe both.

--- Reviewed by Carlie Webber

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Courtesy of Teens Read Too

Ned Vizzini has a distinct advantage over other authors who write about teen depression, attempted suicide, and the ins and outs of psychiatry--as a teen he was clinically depressed and even spent time in a psychiatric hospital. That experience has allowed Mr. Vizzini to bring to life the kinds of situations that were once largely absent in teen fiction; that of the fact that not all teens are happy, spontaneous, happy-go-lucky youths.

For Craig Gilner, gaining acceptance into the elite Executive Pre-Professional High School in Manhattan is not the end of his problems, but only the beginning. All the studying, the cramming, the all-nighters he pulled to get high marks in his old high school and ace his entrance exam now seem mediocre, at best, at his new school. Craig realizes quite early on that he's not brilliant, he's not at the top of his class--he is, in fact, average. For a guy who worked as hard as Craig did, with such obsessive determination, this is a blow not just to his ego, but to his very soul.

Craig soon finds himself unable to eat, unable to sleep, unable to find joy in just about everything. As he realizes he's clinically depressed, he tells his shrink--excuse me, psychiatrist--that his only joy in life comes from peeing. Yes, peeing. You go in, you get it done, you accomplish what you set out to do, and you're finished. It's pretty sad that going to the bathroom seems to be the highlight of his day (he even manages to stretch each trip out to about five minutes), but it's also the truth.

Dr. Minerva, for $120/hour, is attempting to help Craig figure out exactly why he's depressed and how to overcome it. But Craig no longer thrives on a life of complexity; for him, life is a nightmare. And as his depression leads to thoughts of suicide, he's not even surprised to find that there's an 800 number he can call. And after taking the plunge and calling 1-800-SUICIDE Craig hikes over to the local emergency room at the hospital, where he meets Dr. Mahmoud (who is not a terrorist).

From there, Craig is checked into a psychiatric hospital, and he meets a motley crew of patients who, amazingly enough, become better friends to him than the ones he had before he went in ever were. For Craig, being in the hospital might just save not only his life, but his sanity and his will to keep on keeping on.

IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY is a great read. Filled with issues that plague a large number of teens today, the author has managed to take sensitive topics and deal with them in a humorous way that never seems disrespectful. A very enjoyable, thought-provoking read.

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Fiction that reads like a memoir - a must read

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is a young adult novel that reads like a memoir, except that it's funnier than most memoirs. It's the story of Craig Gilner, a teen who puts all of his energy into getting into a competitive New York City high school, only to find that the pressure of the school is too much for him. Craig gets severely depressed. He smokes too much pot, and can't get out of bed in the morning. He can't keep any food down, he has insomnia, and he experiences anxiety over keeping up with things at school. Eventually, after a near suicide attempt, Craig checks himself into the hospital, and is admitted to the adult psychiatric ward (the teen ward being shut down for renovations). The rest of the book chronicles his time in the psych ward, the people that he meets, and his own mental progress.

There are so many things to like about this book. Craig's voice is authentic and compelling. He's clearly in deep mental trouble, and yet is matter-of-fact about it, too. He never loses his sense of humor or his compassion for other people. The other psych ward patients are quirky and well-drawn. Clearly the author has spent some time with mental health patients (this is confirmed in a footnote of the book). Craig's family is less well-drawn, but I like how supportive they are of him.

Vizzini is dead-on in his portrayal of depression and anxiety. Sometimes he's so dead-on that it almost resonates too close to home. Craig lying in bed, thinking of nothing, because he can't face getting up and dealing with the day-to-day things that he has to deal with, for example. Or Craig worried about getting out of the hospital because of all the email that he'll have piling up. He'll feel compelled to go through it in order, and he thinks: "then as I'm answering them more will come in, and they'll sit on top of the stack and mock me, dare me to answer them before digging down, telling me that I need them, as opposed to the one or two e-mails that are actually about something I care about." I have to admit that I feel that way all the time, like the incessant email monster is out to get me.

The book gets a number of important points across, without being at all heavy-handed about it. For example:

- Everyone has problems of one sort or another, but help is available.
- Depression is caused by a chemical imbalance, and can be treated.
- The decision NOT to commit suicide is something that you'll be glad about later.
- You have to find your own way, with the career and talents and friends that are right for you.

I personally could have done without Craig having not one but two different girls throw themselves at him, in a physical way. But I suspect that the teen make viewpoint on this is pretty accurate. (e.g. "I know that's not a good reason, but I can't help it; if a girl likes me I tend to like her back.")

Overall, I found the book compelling, funny, matter-of-fact, and realistic. I think that it could help any reader to have more empathy for people with depression or other mental illnesses. And for readers experiencing such problems themselves, It's Kind of a Funny Story could be life-saving, or at least life-changing. And it's highly amusing along the way. I strongly recommend this book.

This book review was originally published on my blog, Jen Robinson's Book Page, on May 29th, 2006.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7

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