Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Hannah Just Read: It's Kind of a Funny Story

As per the recommendation of one of our fabulous pages here at the library, I recently finished reading It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. The book is about Craig Gilner, who due to the huge pressures of his super fancy New York City high school, becomes clinically depressed. After a particular bad during which he plots to jump off of the Brooklyn Bridge, Craig checks himself into the hospital and is committed to the adult psychiatric ward.
As the book started I didn't know if I'd like it. The plot starts out pretty non-linearly--things jumped around a lot, but as I got more and more into the story I really started to appreciate Vizzini's humorous take on such a serious subject. There were parts in the book where I was thinking to myself, "should I be laughing at this, because it feels wrong, but it is also really really funny."
There were definitely some cringe-worthy moments, too, like when Craig calls the girl he likes and then she shows up at the hospital to visit. Ughh.
So I would very much recommend this book pretty much for anyone, even your parents, because I think Vizzini does a good job of showing what being fifteen is like, I mean, if you're clinically depressed and in a psychiatric hospital and you're really funny.

Oh! Also, I almost forgot, the book was made into a movie this year starring Emma Roberts and Zach Galifianakis. Here's the trailer:

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