It's Kind of a Funny Story
Ratings149
Average rating3.9
This book helped me put a lot of things in perspective for me during a rather difficult time personally. I read it on a whim and was not despointed in the slightness. I will always recommend reading it to anyone who wants to understand how it feels to struggle with deep chronic depression.
I've read quite a few coming-of-age novels, and this one starts off in pretty much the same way. Lonely teenager is stressed and nothing seems to be going right. The difference here, and it's a fairly big one, is that the main character is suffering from depression.
The depiction of an adult psychiatric hospital isn't very realistic, but it didn't matter to me. There's an authenticity to the book that made its flaws seem much less important. It's funny, maybe a little sappy, but it's also warm and honest. It's a little too happy for the subject matter, but the characters and their feelings seem real.
RIP Ned Vizzini.
I DNFed this one just because the author's style or writing felt immature and it was hard for me to ignore. I'll probably give it another chance one day.
This is a difficult book to review. While I enjoyed it, I also felt sad while reading it, and I can't ignore the fact that this is inspired by the author's own experiences and that he lost to depression. It makes me feel incredibly sad.
It's Kind of a Funny Story is not a funny story—although there is some funny to it—it is an experience in itself, about how Craig, the main character, tries to cope with depression, to have a Shift, as he calls it. Don't expect a thrilling adventurous story, because that's not what you're going to get. This was rather slow paced, but it did keep me turning page after page.
Depression is a very serious illness and I appreciate how this book showed that it can affect anyone regardless of age or social background. It also dips into themes like drugs and sex from the perspective of a fifteen year old boy that I think is accurate and relatable. Actually, all of it is from the perspective of a fifteen year old boy.
I enjoyed reading the book, but it still makes me sad. I don't think that's a bad emotion, it's just a natural reaction to the story and its background.
Despite the heavy themes, It's Kind of a Funny Story has a hopeful note to it; things can get better, things are manageable, and can be tackled one by one.
Would I recommend reading this book? Yeah, I think I would. A lot of the readers, particularly those who deal(t) with depression, seem to have enjoyed reading it too (be warned there is mention of suicide), and for the ones who don't deal with it, it's a good book to familiarize ourselves with the topic, so yes, give it a go.
I found many funny points in the book. His journey was a fun little adventure, and you could get attach to some of the characters. It was also a great story in a male's perspective. The movie was really good to.
Empieza muy bien pero ya para el final se vuelve muy predecible y el cierre el bastante flojo. Las similitudes con la película son pocas, hay algunas referencias pero está lejos de ser una “película basada en el libro”.
An honest and creative look into spiraling depression and the road to recovery–described in such an authentic, simplified way, despite the fact that putting those feelings into words can seem impossible. The first half was wonderful. The second half, while still managing moments of brilliance, lacked some of the heart of the first half. Scenes of blatant transphobia and sexism soured what was otherwise a really great book.
It is Boy, Interrupted. I loved it. The only reason I cannot give five stars is because I found the ending to be a little too unrealistic-the romance (can we call it that?) with Noelle felt really untrue. Craig is a great character, I really liked him. He is very logical, even while depressed. I have already recommended this title to several of my adult friends. I think the book would have a bigger audience with twenty and thirty year olds, but my library had this in YA (so did B and N-where I first saw the book).
Kind of personal since the author himself committed suicide later. Perhaps it's why the story sounds personal, I think it rates higher than 13 Reasons Why.