From the Bookshelf of Diversity in All Forms!…

It's Kind of a Funny Story

Ned Vizzini

Start date: November 1, 2017

Finish date: November 30, 2017

Discussion: Monthly Group Reads

Why we're reading this: The diversity topic/theme we will be reading in November is Mental Health.

It's Kind of a Funny Story by …more
[close] The diversity topic/theme we will be reading in November is Mental Health.

It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

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What Members Thought

Feb 27, 2012 Richard Derus added it

In respectful acknowledgment of Vizzini's suicide on 19 December 2013, I have cleared my rating of his book and removed my review.

There is no more tragic occurrence in a family's life than the suicide of one of its members. My most heartfelt sympathy to Vizzini's wife and young son. ...more

954 likes · Like · see review

Oct 25, 2017 Candace rated it liked it

Craig Gilner is an ambitious teen wanting to get into the best school, go to the best college, and get the best job. When he gets accepted into the Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, Craig believes he is headed on the right track. Soon, however, the pressure becomes too much. The class work, extracurricular activities, friends, girls, email, and pot smoking become more than he can bear.

One night Craig decides to take his own life. Before he does he reach out to the Suicide Hotl ...more

68 likes · Like · see review

Nov 19, 2017 Lisa rated it liked it

This YA book treated a serious subject in a semi humorous way. Craig Gilner living in Brooklyn studies without stop so that he can ace a test to get into a selective enrollment high school. After he starts school, the trouble starts. He eventually checks himself into the hospital nearest to his home for a psychiatric evaluation where he remains for five days. I found that in Ned Vizzini's attempts at finding comic relief, he tended to find too much humor in the descriptions of the other patients ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Oct 06, 2010 Chris Blocker rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I'm thirty-one years old, and I have just read what I believe is my first YA novel.

It's Kind of a Funny Story was an easy read. Like 444 pages in 4 days easy. It was entertaining and provided some insight into how one teen viewed being institutionalized. I liked it, but it's not the kind of book I'd like to find myself reading often.

There was so much potential lost here. Wonderful idea. Great characters. Vivid setting. And yet, nothing gelled in the way I have come to expect from great books. It ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 11, 2014 Melissa Rochelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2014, library, young-adult

There's a lot of pressure on teens to be the best at everything...pretty, smart, thin, athletic. In this novel, Craig puts a lot of pressure on himself, so much so that he ends up admitting himself to his neighborhood psychiatric facility. Once there we meet an interesting cast of characters that all are there to heal themselves but also end up helping Craig. The ending felt inauthentic, after only five days Craig feels the Shift. But part of what brought on his recent suicidal thoughts would ha ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 28, 2014 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, i-own, borrowed, disability, ya, 2014

I was pretty sure this was going to depress me, and be perfectly annoying, but made a promise to someone I know that I would read it. I was pleasantly surprised by how it drew me in, and even made me laugh a bit. It builds - take the time to get into it. The ending may have been a bit too pat, but then it might have just been perfect.

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 20, 2011 Megan P ☆ rated it liked it

Shelves: addressing-important-issues, own

the first time i read this, i was suffering from pretty bad depression. i kind of expected this book to give me validation and comfort and the answers to the questions of the universe. i'm still dealing with those problems now, but i came to this book again with no demands or un-meet-able expectations and enjoyed it a lot more. a funny and insightful book. and hey, it does have a few answers. ...more

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