It's Kind of a Funny Story Kindle Edition

An almost insulting story about mental health with stereotypical "insane" characters and a boy who goes from planning suicide to being practically cured in just one five-day stay at a mental hospital, while being quite the Mary Sue at the same time. The little blurb at the end regarding the authors "five day stay at a mental facility" only made it worse. Mental illness does not work like this in the real world.

This book was amazing. It started out a bit like a normal kids life. It told the story of Craig and how he coped with life dealing with his parents, school sister, and his friends. But the surprise was the journey of him silently struggling with his depression and anxiety. It also showed the darker side to someone secretly suffering from these mental illnesses. It really opens the readers eyes to what it really is like to be inside of a person eyes and life who suffers from this. It also gives the insight of how it is to go through treatement when you turn to help from a hospital when you want to kill yourself.I enjoyed this book because I myself suffered for many years with depression. I hid it from everyone even if they knew about it I tried to hide it and how I truly hurt. Reading that an author could depict that into a book to kind of show light on how it is to deal with this. And the options that there is to get help but also know that no matter what in the end there can be help for you. This is a must read for anyone no matter who you are! Whether you are dealing with these issues or know someone who is. Or are just wanting to read a good book! This is perfect!

If you’re looking for an insightful, objective review of this book I would encourage you to look elsewhere. I can’t review this book like a normal one because it’s too personal. But let’s rewind a bit.Here are the basics: Craig is depressed. He’s a hardworking high school student in New York who has increasing trouble coping with daily life. He’s surrounded by friends who are focused on getting high and hooking up and finds himself increasingly marginalized by his internal struggles. This culminates in a suicidal crisis which lands him in a psychiatric hospital for five days. Over the course of his stay, he makes connections with his fellow patients and learns to accept his situation while moving ahead toward a meaningful life.The story is pretty straightforward and the writing is casual yet sensitive. Vizzini writes in the voice of his 15 year old protagonist, though this can be a bit inconsistent at times. Occasionally, aspects of the story seem a bit idealized and simplified. Additionally, the conclusion is rapid and feels tentative as we don’t learn anything of life after the hospital for Craig. This could feel a bit irresponsible or unrealistic as it’s very rare for any sort of mental illness to be corrected and sorted out fully over the course of one week. Depression typically doesn’t work like that.Despite its shortcomings, this book was incredibly meaningful and helpful to me. Like Ned Vizzini and his fictional Craig, I too have had a short stay in a psychiatric hospital. It happened out of the blue. A manic episode with a sprinkling of psychosis (in my right mind I generally don’t think I can communicate telepathically with people--or dogs). After ranting and raving for hours, my parents finally took me to the hospital where I proceeded to shout about how out of control I was and how I might hurt myself if I didn’t get help immediately. I was sedated and transferred to a psychiatric facility. I am so grateful for the support of my family and the genuine, expert care I received. This was another aspect of the book that felt a little unrealistic. Craig received a few individual counseling sessions and one group arts and crafts class. In my experience there were near constant, varied groups and repeated meetings with mental health professionals. Surely care varies from facility to facility. This book highlighted the relationships Craig formed with the other patients--some of them extremely ill-advised. While this has emotional appeal, it may not be the best message for those suffering with serious mental illness. Many people who are unwell enough to end up in a psychiatric hospital can’t quite pull themselves up by the bootstraps like Craig does.It has been a few months since I was released back into the wild. I’m better medicated now. Better therapized. Stable. But I’m still processing my experience. It’s pretty disorienting to go from normal life to institutionalization. It’s more disorienting to go back to “normal” life with a lot of uncertainty and questions and fears. I’ve had tons of ongoing support but processing the trauma is an ongoing experience and can be quite isolating. This book helped in its own way and paved the way for extremely helpful conversations with family, friends, and mental health professionals. At the end of the day, I feel this book has a net positive effect in the movement to destigmatize mental illness. I’d encourage anyone who might be suffering to learn from Craigs example. He struggled alone for a long time seeking help from medication and therapy while not allowing his family and friends to know about the true depths of his internal struggles. The message of the book, while perhaps over-simplified, is clear. There is power in vulnerability and redemption in honesty. It’s so difficult to reach out when in the throes of depression, anxiety, or other mental illness, but it’s so important. Help is available and support can truly help even if life feels hopeless.B+

WOW. WOW. I read this book maybe three years ago, and to this day I proudly STILL call this my favorite book. This book reveals the life of teenagers in competitive schools with mental illnesses. Students in real life go through so much anxiety, and depression, and Ned Vizzini, who went to one of the most competitive high schools out there, Stuyvesant, has probably the best experience with this topic. Students smoke weed. Students want to die. This isn't something that he decided to write because he thought it would attract buyers. He wrote it because this is actually what goes on. Readers are exposed to real life issues that actually goes on nowadays. Despite the age of the book, it's still completely accurate. In the end, the book showed you that life was so amazing, just so sad that the author didn't take this lesson for himself. He killed himself, and he's greatly missed. He for sure would've been one of the greatest authors. He would've written best sellers, his career would've flourished. His work is so unique and so realistic, something many authors don't have.

Absolutely LOVE this book. Probably one of my all time favorites. It's honest and funny and tear-worthy all at the same time. It's absolutely perfect for adults and teens and is completely captivating I finished it in about 2 days and have read it over and over since. This book was fantastic. Anyone dealing with any kind of mental illness needs to read this. Heck, anyone who knows anyone or knew someone who had a mental illness or saw someone with one on TV or in a movie or even just walked past someone who looked glum, needs to read this.The novel follows 15-year-old Craig: he is depressed and suicidal. He attends a prestigious school which he spent months and months studying and working towards however, since the day of his welcome letter, he's never been happy. The school is just stress and grades, he's struggling to keep his head above water and admits himself into the mental health ward. The synopsis sounds cringey, teenagery maybe even predictable but it's not. The title sums it up perfectly: 'It's Kind of a Funny Story' because it is. Never have I wanted to laugh at a character's cynical humour while wanting to cry over the bleakness of his life. I was emotionally invested and, more so, emotionally torn.This book just did it for me and led me to read all his other books as well, they're so good. Definitely recommend reading this NOW

It’s Kind of a Funny Story is about fifteen year-old Craig who suffers from depression and after having suicidal thoughts, calls a suicide helpline and gets admitted into a psychiatric hospital. In there, he meets a whole range of patients, suffering from different mental conditions. He tries to make the most of his time but more importantly, he tries to get better and turn his life around.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.

It was interesting to read about a mental hospital/psych ward, that isn't written about in a negative light. Craig actually finds help, and clarification during his time there, he puts his life and his problems into perspective, and comes out with rational answers for the problems he has been battling. It's so refreshing to read a YA novel about mental health, with a positive outcome!To read more, go to: http://www.kirstiekinsblogs.co.uk/2015/07/its-kind-of-funny-story-ned-vizzini.html

First of all, I gotta get this off my chest.. Ned Vizzini wrote this in less than 4 freakin' weeks! I'm so frustrated! I can't even finish a novel in a year!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!

This was a gift. The recipient was very pleased with it and it arrived promptly but having not read it myself can not comment on the content

The description of a mental ward was very accurate, the characters were well described. But I enjoyed the film much more, the drama and especially the subtle dry comedy was very well done.The book is just dull, the first half is unnecessary and ignored in the film, also the book is completely aimed at teens (understandably), where's anyone can enjoy the film. (42).