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Ned Vizzini
Ned Vizzini was a writer whose young adult novels, like 21 Proms, often explored the awkwardness and humor of growing up. His work is known for its relatable characters and sharp dialogue.
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Synopsis
Craig Gilner is a bright, ambitious fifteen-year-old who fought his way into one of New York City's most competitive high schools — and then found the pressure crushing him. Consumed by anxiety, unable to eat or sleep, and increasingly overwhelmed by thoughts of suicide, Craig makes a late-night call to a helpline and checks himself into a psychiatric hospital.
What he expects to be a quick fix becomes a strange, unexpectedly clarifying week on an adult psych ward, where the teen wing is closed and Craig lands among a cast of older patients with their own struggles and hard-won wisdom. He befriends a fellow teenage patient named Noelle, reconnects with a long-buried love of drawing, and slowly begins to untangle what he actually wants from his life, as opposed to what he thinks he's supposed to want.
Drawn from Ned Vizzini's own brief hospitalization for depression, It's Kind of a Funny Story is a frank, warm, and often very funny YA novel about mental illness, ambition, and the small first steps of recovery. Honest about how heavy depression can be, it is also hopeful about the possibility of getting better.
Genres
Characters
Craig GilnerProtagonist
A pressured teenage boy who checks himself into a psychiatric hospital.
NoelleSupporting
A fellow teenage patient Craig grows close to on the ward.
Bobby (It's Kind of a Funny Story)Supporting
A fellow patient recovering from drug addiction who befriends Craig and shows him the ropes on the ward.
Dr. Minerva (It's Kind of a Funny Story)Supporting
Craig's psychiatrist at the hospital, who helps him understand his depression and later recommends an art-focused school.
MuqtadaSupporting
Craig's aloof Egyptian roommate on the ward, who rarely leaves his bed but bonds with Craig over shared interests.
Frequently asked questions
Is It's Kind of a Funny Story based on a true story?
It's fiction, but it draws directly on author Ned Vizzini's own life. Vizzini wrote the novel shortly after he was briefly hospitalized for depression in November 2004, and he based Craig's stay on a psychiatric ward on his own experience.
Was It's Kind of a Funny Story made into a movie?
Yes. A 2010 film adaptation, written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, stars Keir Gilchrist as Craig, Emma Roberts as Noelle, and Zach Galifianakis as Bobby.