Vizzini, N. (2006). It's kind of a funny story. New York: Miramax Books/Hyperion Books For Children.
Craig Gilner makes getting into the exclusive Executive
Pre-Professional High School his life’s work, but once he is accepted and
actually begins high school, he finds coping with the pressures of life and
school increasingly difficult.
Medication and counseling don’t seem to be helping, and eventually
Craig’s desire to commit suicide lands him in the psychiatric ward of a
hospital where he encounters others struggling with their own problems and
begins to deal with the anxiety and depression from which he is suffering.
Craig is a
likeable and authentic character and narrator.
Readers will identify with his frankness and openness as he describes
the events leading up to his hospitalization.
The subject matter is handled with sensitivity but also warmth and
humor. Even teens who have not struggled
with depression will understand and empathize with the scenarios and
angst-ridden situations that are a teenage rite of passage.
The novel is loosely based on the
author’s experiences with depression and its treatment, which does add
believability to the story overall.
However, aspects of Craig’s stay in the psychiatric hospital may come
across as somewhat contrived with Craig’s romantic entanglements as well as
poker games having as much to do with his recovery as the work of the
doctors. Early in the novel, Craig
states that he is looking for a mental shift that will take away his anxiety
and allow him to resume more normal habits, and in the end, his recovery may
seem to some readers to have been a bit too easy. Despite these potential
criticisms, the honesty and wit of the novel will likely charm many teen
readers especially those who can find themselves identifying with Craig
emotional journey.
