IT'S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY

by Ned Vizzini ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 2006

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)

Pub Date: April 1, 2006

ISBN: 1423141911

Page Count: 448

Publisher: Miramax/Hyperion

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2006

Categories: CHILDREN'S