It's Not a Funny Story..

To me, it's kind of a funny story has two worlds. The world where Craig's best friend Aaron is and his crush, Nia is and all the stress and depression is. And then there is the world where Craig is accepted and where he feels accomplished at the hospital. To me, the psychiatric hospital world is fake. I would love to be able to escape the pressures of life for a couple of days but I don't think I would have new profound enjoyment for life, if I was in Craig's position. I feel like at the hospital everyone knows you have a lot of problems so the nurses treat you nicely and the patients there can relate to you because they've been there. But, just as life seems perfect, you get back to the real world. Where Nia, the girl Craig likes is dating his best friend. Where everyone doesn't care if you want to kill yourself because it's not there problem like it was the nurses. If I was in Craig's shoes, I think it would be extremely easy to fall back into the cycle of being depressed. His solution was to switch schools but what happens when no one wants to buy your art and you feel low again? What happens when you don't want to be friends with pothead Aaron and self centered Nia? After you are so used to people who have just as many problems as you do and are willing to listen and care and relate to you. In my opinion, it would be difficult to bring these two worlds together like it seemed they would at the end of the book. Does anyone disagree and think that it is possible? Maybe if I went through everything Craig did I would feel the same way but looking in from the outside, it seems like it would be difficult. I'm not trying to say there is not hope either, the lack of school pressure will definitely help him but, do you think Craig could ever fully recover and feel okay all the time? It is kind of like what Craig thinks about when he is "talking" to the man in his head, " I wanted the comfort of preschool, not the ambiance. You gotta take the good with the bad." Suggesting that Craig wants simple and fun like going to art school and being an artist but not being treated like the way the nurses treat him with careful words like he is a child. Which makes sense, that Craig doesn't mind the bad just not too much of it, to the point where he would rather be dead. On the bright side, I found this book to be very enjoyable and insightful. Sometimes I feel depression and suicide can be a touchy subject. I found it refreshing to have a story told about something that is usually avoided. It opened up my eyes to what a lot of people go through and how they deal with it. If I had to rate this book I think I would rate it a 8 out of 10. I loved being able to learn about how Craig got to this point in his life and why. It was really beautifully crafted how everything tied together with the brain maps, which I also thought was a really cool art idea. However, I would really like to know the ending to Craig and Noelle. Throughout the 5 days they were together they always talked about hanging out  and dating when they left the hospital but, the book never elaborated. I would like to know how a lot of the patients turned out. At the end of the book, when Craig is drawing brain maps, he asks for peoples numbers to stay in touch. Throughout the book you start to feel sympathy for most of the characters and I'd really like to know any of their futures too. Most of them claimed that they would screw up again or like wait Jimmy and Bobby when Craig asked for their numbers, " ... when you try to call me or Johnny up and find out that we've OD'ed, or been shot, or come back here even worse, or just disappeared..You just remember us okay?" I just would have been really interested in learning everyone's ending. I know that Ned Vizzini, the author, did spend time in a hospital like this. I don't know if all the people and stories are true however, he did suffer with depression an unfortunately committed suicide at the age of 32. If I were to give It's Kind of a Funny Story an award, it would be and insight award. Ned wrote several books that provides a deeper and personal level to the subject of depression. His books have probably helped many that deal with stuff just like Craig. If you had to give an award to your book, what award would you give and why?

I chose this picture to represent this blog because if you are familiar with the movie Fat Albert they step out of the cartoon world and live in the real world for a while. Fat Albert and his friends love the real world and don't want to go back to being cartoons. To me, this represents what Craig was feeling when he was emitted into the hospital. Craig hated his life and was at the point of committing suicide. However, once emitted into the hospital, he realized how much he missed the real world and how many simple takes he could do daily. For Fat Albert and his friends, it is the opposite, they love it in the real world but they are fading away because that's not were the belong. So, they are forced to go back to their real lives. Just like Craig realizes that being in the hospital may be nice but he can't waste his life fading away in it when he should be living his life the right way, in the real world. Just like he says on page 444, " So now live for real, Craig. Live. Live. Live.Live. Live."