It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is about a 15 year old boy named Craig that has clinical depression. The book follows him through when it first developed to when he is finally starting to feel a little better about his life. In the story he gets into a very prestigious high school after studying for months. After he gets into the school his depression begins as he starts to compare himself to everyone. In his mind he is not smart enough and is jealous of his best friend’s girlfriend. This leads to him wanting to kill himself and eventually he gets placed in an adult psychiatric wing at his local hospital for 5 days.
This book is very clever and is an accurate depiction of depression. Many people look down upon this disease as a cop out from life. Craig experiences this in the book. He realizes that his life is not a bad one, but still cannot help but sink into depression. He talks about his feelings many times. It gives a good look into mental health issues which is good because many people do not understand them. Mental health issues are one of those things in life that many people just scoff over. They call people crazy without realizing that it is a legitimate disease and problem for many people in the world. Many people out there believe that people can control their depression when this is not the case. I think this book is a good read for anyone to learn more about these issues.
I think this book would be appropriate for high school and up. It does have some sex and drug use in it starting at young ages. Those are really the only inappropriate parts throughout the book, however. Overall I think the book gives a good message, but could also have some hidden curriculum. The fact that he let a girl be part of the reason he got better was a little annoying because it’s not the most positive message to send to students. I almost wish she was not included in his healing process. I want students to be empowered to be strong within themselves, not because they are in a relationships.
This book is very clever and is an accurate depiction of depression. Many people look down upon this disease as a cop out from life. Craig experiences this in the book. He realizes that his life is not a bad one, but still cannot help but sink into depression. He talks about his feelings many times. It gives a good look into mental health issues which is good because many people do not understand them. Mental health issues are one of those things in life that many people just scoff over. They call people crazy without realizing that it is a legitimate disease and problem for many people in the world. Many people out there believe that people can control their depression when this is not the case. I think this book is a good read for anyone to learn more about these issues.
I think this book would be appropriate for high school and up. It does have some sex and drug use in it starting at young ages. Those are really the only inappropriate parts throughout the book, however. Overall I think the book gives a good message, but could also have some hidden curriculum. The fact that he let a girl be part of the reason he got better was a little annoying because it’s not the most positive message to send to students. I almost wish she was not included in his healing process. I want students to be empowered to be strong within themselves, not because they are in a relationships.