It’s Kind Of A Funny Story By Ned Vizzini

Summary It’s Kind Of A Funny Story is about a young boy named Craig Gilner. He lives in New York and just got into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School with his best friend, Aaron. He’s one of the smartest in his middle school, but once he gets to high school he realizes he needs to work a lot harder. The stress of his new school becomes too much for Craig and he quickly realizes that the stress is making him clinically depressed. He stops eating and sleeping, and comes really close to killing himself. Craig checks himself into the hospital, not knowing that he would be sent to a mental institution. He meets a lot of new people in this hospital that he considers better friends then who he used to hang out with. Craig even meets a new girl that he really likes, even though she’s “crazy”, just like him. He thinks that he’ll be in there for a few days, when they tell him that he’ll be in there for at least a week. Craig makes the best of the time that he has there, and he reconsiders his life at home. At one point, he finally realizes that he has to make a lot more changes, but it’s not impossible to be happy.

Ned Vizzini Edison “Ned” Prince Vizzini was born on April 4 th, 1981, is an American author who writes fiction for teenagers. Vizzini grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He began writing articles for the New York Press as a young adult. An essay by Vizzini was published by The New York Times Magazine and helped with his first book, Teen Angst? Naaah…. A lot of this novel comes from Vizzini’s personal life of his years at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. Recently, Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story, was made into a movie and has brought the author much attention. This story is based on depression Vizzini personally dealt with in 2004 – like his main character Craig, Vizzini was hospitalized. In interviews, Vizzini has stated some of the characters from It’s Kind of a Funny Story are similar to the people he was introduced to in the ward. Vizzini’s fiction is deeply rooted on real-life situations which makes it relatable. Although the content of his books contain references to drugs, alcohol and sexual activity, he has built an audience off relaying an honest perspective of youth. Vizzini currently lives in the Los Angeles area where he continues to write.

Main Characters  Craig Gilner  Craig is an 8 th grader who just got into the best high school in New York. As he starts the school year, the work causes his body to react by becoming depressed and is put into a mental hospital.  Aaron  Aaron is Craig’s “best friend” who gets into the same high school as Craig. He drinks and smokes, and tries to get Craig to do the same. He’s not very supportive when he finds out that Craig is sent away.  Nia  Nia is Aaron’s girlfriend that Craig has a crush on, who also claims she’s depressed.  Dr. Mahmoud  Craig’s therapist that he talks to every week while in the mental ward.  Muqtada  Craig’s roommate who rarely left his room until Craig joined him.  Armelio  The president of the mental ward.  Noelle  A girl around Craig’s age that he meets in the mental ward who he has a crush on.

Internal Conflict Man Vs. Self Craig Gilner has a voice inside of his head that talks to him when he needs to make a decision. It’s almost like a drill sergeant that yells at him and tells him the “right” thing to do when in reality, it just gets him into trouble and sent to a psych ward. Craig was thinking about how much he was thinking, and the voice inside his head said, “That’s why you need to join the Army, soldier!” Another internal conflict is with Craig when he is stressed from school with all of the work that he has to do. The stress that he has from school causes him to not want to eat, and whenever he does the “man” inside his body pulls on a rope and he doesn’t hold down what he eats.

Foreshadowing There’s a chapter in the novel where Craig discusses his family life when he was younger. He talks about how his family lived in a “crappy” apartment in Manhattan. The only thing that Craig enjoyed doing when he was younger was drawing made up maps. He tried to trace the map of Manhattan but he couldn’t do it. His mom suggested that he should draw imaginary places and make up his own city. This is the only thing that made him happy at the time and he determined that when he got older he would be a mapmaker. This is foreshadowing to a point in the story when Craig is in the hospital during “craft time”. They’re instructed to draw something when Craig has a block. People suggest things for him to draw and someone said to draw something from his childhood. He begins to draw maps and everyone ends up loving them.

Symbolism The maps presented in foreshadowing can also be a great example of symbolism. When Craig draws maps, it brings him back to a happy place. When he is told to draw the maps at the hospital, he draws them to get away. The maps are a symbol of a happy time in Craig’s life.

Recommendation I would recommend this book to any high school student, or even adults. This story is based on a real life situation, which makes it interesting to read about. The author wrote it right after coming out of a mental hospital, and all the events are based on real happenings. Once I picked up the book, I never wanted to put it down. It was easy to follow along because it was in a teenagers point of view, and it was easily relatable. Anyone could probably relate to this book at some point whether it’s because they’re depressed or because they know someone that is, and it could actually help you out in the long run. It was also recently made into a movie, which I have yet to see but I want to, because it was such a good read.