Response on Its Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini

In the book It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini, the protagonist Craig is a depressed high school student. He has gotten into one of the top schools, but he soon finds that the pressure of all his schoolwork and his daily life are causing him to stop eating, and is more than overwhelmed. I feel very empathetic towards Craig. I’m not trying to compare myself to what he is going through in any way, but I do know how it feels to come home some days, late from after school activities and laden down with assignments and tasks. It feels like no godly power in the world could make me finish everything by tomorrow. And then you remember how you still have dance class. I don’t think it is right that anyone should be going through that without any help and pushed past his or her endurance level to the point of depression.  During the book, I’ve noticed that Craig is struggling with himself over what the right thing to do is.

I am not very far into the book, yet I am impressed with how Vizzini can pack so much back story and emotion into the first couple of pages. I already felt as if I could connect with Craig at some points in the early pages. For example, take the first sentence of the book. It is very powerful and brings a lot to mind when you read it, especially as it is the first thing you know about this book. When you open this book, maybe with high expectations, maybe with none, perhaps you are ready to be amazed, or you just wanted an entertaining read and know nothing about this book or author. In any case, you open the front cover and read: “It’s so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself.” It’s a strong choice by the author for many reasons. It immediately makes the reader compelled to turn the page, or feel shocked and slightly pushed away. I am impressed by this choice and I couldn’t wait to move on in this book to see what other surprises were waiting in the writing.

When he speaks with doctor Minerva, his shrink, it’s interesting that he even talks with her, because a lot of people may be forced to go and see a psychiatrist but it seems like Craig opens up to her quite quickly, sharing his life and how he feels about the world. I genuinely believe that Craig knows what is best for him, but there is a struggle between him wanting to get help and take his medicine, and to just hang out with his “friend” Aaron, not focus on work, and let his depression take over.  In some flashbacks during the story, it shows Craig when he just got assigned his medicine, and everything seems so much better. But then his biggest mistake was to stop taking the medicine. He thought that he would be fine without it, and even though he has the best intentions in his mind set, Craig just couldn’t function without the medication.

Everyone has internal struggles all the time. Maybe it is deciding what food to get for lunch. You know you should eat the healthy packed lunch you brought with you, but that pizza just looks so good! Or maybe it is a bit deeper than that. Whatever the conflict is, we know that Craig isn’t the only one struggling with himself. I just hope that everyone can have the courage to ask or help themselves like Craig manages to do later on.