It's Kind of a Funny Story in What's the Name of That Book???

Aug 23, 2010 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: age-ya, psychological, 2011

The title of this book aptly describes the story therein. It IS kind of a funny story. Not laugh out loud funny, but quirky and cute, which are two adjectives I never would have thought of to describe a story about a kid who checks himself into a psychiatric ward for depression.

Craig's been stressing out ever since he made it into Executive Pre-Professional, an elite high school for the business-minded. To deal with the stress, he mostly hangs out with his friend Aaron and smokes pot. Slowly his The title of this book aptly describes the story therein. It IS kind of a funny story. Not laugh out loud funny, but quirky and cute, which are two adjectives I never would have thought of to describe a story about a kid who checks himself into a psychiatric ward for depression.

Craig's been stressing out ever since he made it into Executive Pre-Professional, an elite high school for the business-minded. To deal with the stress, he mostly hangs out with his friend Aaron and smokes pot. Slowly his worries (which he calls "Tentacles") get the best of him, and he begins seeing a therapist and starts taking Zoloft. One night, after many nights of not being able to sleep and not being able to eat without throwing up, Craig contemplates suicide and calls the Suicide Hotline for help. They tell him to go down to the emergency, so he does, and checks into 6 North, the adult psych ward (the teen ward is under construction). At the hospital, Craig meets a whole crew of fun characters and a girl named Noelle, who help him over the course of his week-long stay to get his life back on track.

This summary really doesn't describe the fun of reading this book. Craig describes his life with just enough quirky details to make it amusing. I love stories about psych wards and this was no exception. That being said, this wasn't the kind of psych ward story where the nurses are abusing the patients, or the patients are all angst-ridden and cutting themselves. They're just like, yeah, I cut my face up, so now I'm here. The patients aren't known by their diagnoses, either. There's no "schizophrenic patient," no "bipolar patient." They are people and they have good times and bad times. Craig essentially realizes that the more permanent fixtures of 6 North have much worse problems than he will ever have, and he learns that he needs to make some major changes in his life to make himself happy. I'm excited to see the movie adaptation of this book... I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

There is quite a lot of language, drug use, and some sexual situations in this book. Older high school students should be okay with it (I'd say 15 and up). Fans of The Perks of Being a Wallflower will probably enjoy this as well.

8/15/11 - A Note About the Movie
The movie didn't hold as much charm for me as the book. I would give the movie 3 stars. The movie focused a bit too much on the Zack Galifinakis character, when in the book time was spent on all the different patients equally. Half the book is spent on Craig's situation before checking into the hospital, only a few minutes of the movie deals with this. I was also sad to find that they had filmed the scene where Craig calls the Suicide Hotline but cut it out of the final film. ...more

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Jan 11, 2014 Melissa Rochelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library, young-adult, read-2014

There's a lot of pressure on teens to be the best at everything...pretty, smart, thin, athletic. In this novel, Craig puts a lot of pressure on himself, so much so that he ends up admitting himself to his neighborhood psychiatric facility. Once there we meet an interesting cast of characters that all are there to heal themselves but also end up helping Craig. The ending felt inauthentic, after only five days Craig feels the Shift. But part of what brought on his recent suicidal thoughts would ha ...more

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Oct 22, 2016 Ruth Soz rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

It was sad to read this knowing the author committed suicide. But it is a very authentic step into the mind of a depressed teenager, and the story flows along. At times heartbreaking and other times comedic, I loved hearing the story of Craig through his own voice.

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