It's Kind of a Funny Story

by Ned Vizzini Narrated by Robert Fass

Overview

Ambitious New York City teenager Craig Gilner is determined to succeed at life-which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself.

Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.

Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness.

Editorial Reviews

bn.com

Ned Vizzini, the talented young author of Be More Chill (the first YA novel selected as a Today show book club pick), crafts another superb study of angst-ridden adolescence in this story of teen depression. Craig Gilner is a gifted 15-year-old boy who works hard to get into a fiercely competitive high school, then crumbles under the intense academic pressure. Blindsided by his inability to excel and terrified by thoughts of suicide, Craig checks into a psychiatric hospital where he finally gets the help he needs. Vizzini, who himself spent a brief time in psychiatric "stir," invests his novel with great emotional honesty. A graceful, skillful, and witty handling of a sensitive issue, this is an important book we heartily recommend for older teens.

Kirkus Reviews

Craig Gilner, a high-school student in New York City, can't deal with his grades, keep food in his stomach or prevent himself from feeling disconnected from his friends and family. Finally, the urge to kill himself eats into his psyche, and he calls a suicide hotline that quickly recommends that he contact a nearby psychiatric hospital. Craig follows orders, checks himself in and thus begins a humorously poignant journey to recovery, love and self-worth. Vizzini's witty, self-deprecating sense of humor keeps this winding yet entertaining novel about recovery and understanding afloat. Though told in all sincerity-an afterward states Vizzini himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital in 2004-too often Vizzini idles too deeply in Craig's meandering psyche, especially in his intense reflections on minor characters. While these thoughts are truthful, it does not make them interesting. What results is a slow start to an easy, occasionally long-winded novel about a troubled boy's rise from depression to recognition and acceptance for who he is. For the readers who stick with him until the end, the results will resonate with them just as loudly as Craig's newfound credo: to live for real. (Fiction. YA)

Booklist (starred review)

Craig’s voice—intimate, real, funny, ironic, [is] one kids will come closer to hear. Many readers will be familiar with the drugs, the sexual experimentation, the language, and, yes, the depression—or they’ll know someone who is. This book offers hope in a package that readers will find enticing, and that’s the gift it offers.”

Booklist Starred Review

This book offers hope in a package that [listeners] will find enticing, and that's the gift it offers.

From the Publisher

"This book offers hope in a package that [listeners] will find enticing, and that's the gift it offers." ---Booklist Starred Review

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170816385
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	09/03/2012
Edition description:	Unabridged

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