It's Kind of a Funny Story

At the age of fifteen, Craig Gilner is already on the fast-track to a successful and lucrative business career. Throughout his eighth grade year, Craig studies obsessively in order to ace the entrance exam for Executive Pre-professional, New York's most prestigious high school. With an exam score of 800 out of 800, Craig is welcomed into the school with open arms, however, he soon comes to realize that he is severely unprepared for the challenges that Executive Pre-professional will offer. Craig quickly finds himself not only spending most of his time "chilling" rather than doing his homework, but also unable to eat, sleep, and function properly. As Craig's depression worsens, he begins to see a number of psychiatrists, and take medicine for his condition. When Craig finds himself on the brink of suicide he quickly checks himself in to the last place he ever assumed he would visit, a mental hospital. Six North, however, gives Craig a chance to rediscover himself, away from the "tentacles" of life.

This is one of those rare occurrences where I saw the movie before I read the book and I have to admit that while I truly enjoyed the motion picture, the book far surpasses the movie in both detail and depth. One element of that I truly enjoyed about this novel, was the narrative voice of Craig Gilner. As a teen myself, Craig was an easily relatable character. I was able to understand his somewhat trivial problems such as getting the "highest" score on the math test, socializing with the "right" people, and attending the "best" school. Craig, however, was much more than just a relatable dynamic character, for he also became an extremely interesting narrator. Throughout the novel his voice was slightly sarcastic, yet had a humorous edge to it. I felt that his voice kept the story interesting even at points where I would normally catch myself losing interest.

The few flaws I discovered regarding It's Kind of a Funny Story, revolve around the plot structure. Although interesting, I found the book to be somewhat anticlimactic. There were definite sections of heightened intensity, however, the novel lacked a turning point, which failed to send the falling action spiraling towards a culmination. Vizzini may have chosen to give the novel an anticlimactic feel in order to represent Craig's anticipation of a "shift", which never comes, however, I personally believe that a climax or acme of some sort would have improved the novel. I also felt that the book should have possessed a stronger hook near the beginning of the novel. I did not feel compelled to read or absolutely enthralled by the events of the book until around page two-hundred. Had the book been more attention grabbing from the beginning, I think the story as a whole would have obtained a better flow.

Despite these few discrepancies, I thoroughly enjoyed Vizzini's writing style. Throughout the novel, I came to notice that the word choice very much reflected the slang teenagers use in the modern era. In many instances, "she said" was replaced with "she was like," while "socializing with a friend" was referred to as "chilling". I thought it was very interesting that Vizzini incorporated these elements into his novel, for these simple words gave Craig's voice an actuality and authenticity that a real teenager would have. Although the novel revolved around some tough subjects, I thought Vizzini's portrayal of a mental hospital was accurate as well as interesting, and overall I would recommend it as "kind of a funny story".