It's Kind of a Funny Story

It's that time of the month again! That's right, it's time for another book to praise critique! For the month of March, I have decided to do something I thought I would never do, re-read a novel. I once thought that once I've finished a book, I've conquered it, and re-reading something you already know would be tedious. But I realized I was wrong when I decided to read It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. The only thing that made me pick this title up once again was because I'd forgotten what the story was about, but I knew that I really loved it. And to start off this review I'll give the summary of the story (free of spoilers, of course).

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Ned Vizzini's It's Kind of a Funny Story

Summary

It's Kind of a Funny Story is set in New York City where 15-year-old Craig Gilner gets into Executive Pre-Professional High School, one of the most prestigious schools in the city. Craig is elated as a year of constant studying for the entrance exams rewards him enrollment into the school which he believes will be the key to his success. To him, success is getting a good job, house and family, which he can only achieve by getting a good education, which he'll get the best of from this particular school. After finding that the work he has to do for school is too much for him to handle, he spirals into depression, eventually getting himself admitted into a psychiatric hospital. During his stay, he meets different kinds of people who have their own stories, discovers old talents he had forgotten about, and battles depression by finding things in life that are worth living for. 

Writing Style

The story is narrated in the first-person perspective of Craig, which, I find, is very effective in this type of book. I find that the first-person narrative works well since there are many things that goes on in the mind of a person who suffers depression, and I found the sometimes odd and quirky things he thought of interesting. An example of this is when Craig describes his relationship with food being an important one, one that's even more important that his relationship with his parents, which shows Craig's tendency to ramble and be literal. 

Craig, being a 15-year-old in our modern society, tends to use a lot of slang words as does his friends. The themes of this book also center around how teenagers deal with things such as sex, relationships, drugs, and fitting in. In the beginning of the book these themes are evident, but come up less later one, namely when Craig gets admitted into the hospital and is isolated from his friends. I found this to be enjoyable since a lot of the things that's discussed in the book is something I could relate to, but if it's not your cup of tea then don't fret, these themes become trivial on the later half of the book. 

Just in case it wasn't already obvious, this book deals with depression, a topic which is not really something that's funny. The story, in some moments, is just that, hence the title "It's Kind of a Funny Story." The funny aspects of the book only exist because of Craig. His sometimes humorous outlook on his life makes this book not depressing at all, in fact, I would consider this story light-hearted since Vizzini makes you see the funny things in Craig's sad life. 

Overall, I liked the way that the story was narrated, it was mostly insightful, funny, and something I could relate to. I also liked how Craig tended to ramble on about trivial things that popped into his mind simply because I found them interesting. 

Effectiveness (is the book engaging?)

For someone like me who can relate to most of the themes that are discussed in the story, such as depression, psychology, finding meaning in life, I found the book to be engaging. I also found the beginning of the book to be something I could read since the themes were something that I could relate to, typical teenage things (I don't do drugs, nor am I sexually active, but knowledge about them is enough). 

As someone who has never suffered from clinical depression, or known someone who has, I can't really determine whether the book is believable or not. I looked online for different perspectives and I found that most would say that the book is not very believable. SPOILER: In the story, Craig finds a girlfriend in the hospital, and beats his battle with depression, all in under a week. Most people would agree that finding and developing a relationship with a person your age in a psychiatric hospital is VERY unlikely, also according to people who have beaten depression, it's a battle won after months, or even years. Despite the unlikelihood of Craig finding a girlfriend in the hospital, I enjoyed the story (in fact, it's what reeled me into the book, the notion of romance in the story).

Craig and Noelle (Portrayed by Keir Gilchrist and Emma Roberts, respectively)

Personal Biases

This book deals a lot regarding depression, and as student studying Psychology, it's something that I found to be interesting. Something that stuck to me when reading this story was the fact that Craig saw suicide as a reason to keep on living. Whenever he got stressed out and felt that he wasn't in control of his life, he found refuge in the thought that suicide was something that he could do, something which he had control over, which is makes for some interesting irony. 

As I've stated before, I like romantic stories, which is why I picked this book up in the first place. Going into the book, I didn't really expect much besides the part of the book where Craig meets Noelle and have an unconventional relationship. But in the end I ended up finding Craig's struggle with depression and his interactions with the other residents more engaging than the romance aspect of the story. To be honest, I feel that the romance between Craig and Noelle was a little contrived given its unlikeliness, and found that it was a little cliche. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it just felt a little bit, for a lack of a better word, 'meh.' I, nonetheless, enjoyed it a little. 

Ned Vizzini's Influences

During his early 20's, Vizzini had been admitted in Brooklyn's Methodist Hospital psychiatric ward due to his battle with depression. This is what gave him inspiration for writing this book. Vizzini had written other books as well, and they share similar themes such as depression, and adolescence. His first book Teen Angst? Naaah. was a memoir about his teenage years, which then led him to publish his first novel Be More Chill, which is another story centered around a teenager. He published It's Kind of a Funny Story in 2006, which was his second novel. It's evident that Vizzini likes to write about adolescence and depression and anxiety, which are things he experienced first hand. As it turns out, Vizzini had been battling depression for a while, and unfortunately lost. He was reported dead on December 19, 2013 after committing suicide. 

Real World Connections

In a way, this book exhibits Vizzini's personal experience with depression and it raises the issue of the stigma behind clinical depression, and other mental disorders. When Craig is admitted into the psychiatric ward, he objects to the idea feeling that he shouldn't stay for any longer than a day, and that his friends should not know about it since he's embarrassed or having to say that he ended up mental hospital, something which, to him, has certain implications. In the end the issue is addressed and resolved in that Craig finds that the implications of his shrink, medication, and admission into the psychiatric ward doesn't really matter to him. In the end, how can he care about what other people think if they don't know what it's like?

Rating: 4/5

I really enjoyed this book. It had been about 2-3 years since I first read this, and I still love it, in fact re-reading it has instilled a deeper appreciation for the story in me. I have found things that I didn't fully understand before and thought of how I had missed them. At first I really enjoyed the romance aspect of the book, mostly because I hadn't questioned it at the time. This time around, I've come to appreciation the depression aspect of it, which is partly due to my desire to learn about psychology and the human mind. In the end, this is merely my opinion, others may find this book to be completely unbelievable much to the detriment of the story, but if you'd like to read a fiction in the perspective of an adolescent suffering clinical depression, then this one is for you.

Wuthering Heights

To usher in the month of February and the start of second semester, I have chosen to read a classic - Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. I've heard many things regarding this particular title, mixed opinions from different individuals; some people loved it for the way in which the characters developed and interacted with one another, while some disliked it for the story's ever tragic nature. I have enjoyed the book quite so, and there are specific aspects of it which I love and others which I hate, but it's difficult to summarize it all without getting down to every component of the book. And that is how I shall cast criticism towards Wuthering Heights. But before I get started, a short summary of the book is in order.

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Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights

Summary

Wuthering Heights is set in Yorkshire, England during the mid 18th century to the early 19th century. The story is revolves around two households; the Lintons who live in Thrushcross Grange, and the Earnshaws who live in Wuthering Heights, and centers around the life of Heathcliff, a gypsy orphan who is taken in by the Earnshaw family. Heathcliff, being a foreign outsider, is given cold treatment by most of his new family members. This does not last as he eventually gets most of them to develop better dispositions toward him, especially young Catherine Earnshaw who dislikes him at first, but then develops affection for Heathcliff, who reciprocates her feelings.This is the cause of conflict between Heathcliff and the people who don't approve of their love, and the main driving force for Heathcliff's actions, who would do anything to be with Catherine, and defy those who try to stop him.

Writing Style

Emily Brontë wrote Wuthering Heights in the mid 19th century, which reflects her style of writing. She uses dated words uncommon to our modern vocabulary such as tarry, vex, countenance, and aversion. Despite this, I was able to infer the meaning of most of the words I didn't recognize by the context of their use. I'd say that the vocabulary she used does not cause hindrance to make readers turn away, but rather engages them to read for it's quite interesting to get perspective on how people spoke back then. 

One aspect that people might find confusing regarding her writing style is the way in which the characters narrate the story. The story starts off in the first-person perspective of Mr. Lockwood, a tenant at Thrushcross Grange, and then later switches to Ellen Dean's, a servant's, first-person perspective. Ellen recounts the story of the two households to Lockwood, which goes back about 50 years from Lockwood's arrival at the Grange. The majority of the story is narrated by Ellen, a fact that can be easily overlooked by some readers, and cause confusion as to which story is being told presently. I have found this to be something which can make the chronology of the story seem distorted, but it didn't cause too much confusion for me to dislike this method of narration. It's important to note that the reader's opinions of the characters might become a little biased since most of the information we get about them comes from Ellen, who has her own personal biases and convictions.

The only thing I really disliked about Brontë's writing style is the way in which she expressed a character named Joseph's thick Yorkshire accent. Whenever Joseph has dialogue Brontë spelt the words in a manner which, if read aloud, would sound as how Joseph might say it. This, sided with the fact that Joseph has bad grammar, has made it excruciatingly difficult to understand anything he ever says, although his input is nearly trivial, which, I suppose, mitigates the nearly incomprehensible manner in which Brontë wrote Joseph's dialogue.

One of many things I really liked about her writing is that she often uses imagery to depict the overall mood of a particular scene. The story displays a lot of pathetic fallacy throughout its duration, one example is a scene where Catherine is torn between Heathcliff and another character named Edgar, and from a cold night emerges a violent storm. I found that the way Brontë described scenes was sufficiently vivid, which I really liked since I do not enjoy reading long-winded descriptions of imagery and setting. I found her depiction of scenery in perfect balance between vividness and conciseness.

Is the book engaging?

Yes. To me the book was quite riveting. I've heard other people's responses regarding the book and some of them thought that it was boring, while others really loved it, as I have. The book's realism is debatable; while one could say that Heathcliff's acts of vengeance are justifiable, another might say that love alone cannot possibly cause the lack of empathy and cruelty evident in Heathcliff's actions. 

When I read how Heathcliff carries out his vengeance I started to believe that the story does not seem real, since I had seen some humanity in Heathcliff in the beginning, something which is absent in his actions, and refused to believe that he completely turns into an irredeemable monster. After the conclusion of the story, however, I started to see why such humanity in him was practically nonexistent before and found myself amazed at how Brontë can suspend Heathcliff's character between an anti-hero and an outright villain. 

Personal Biases

I have an affinity for romantic stories which is probably why I hold this book in such a high regard. It's a romance story which does not end in a manner I expected, and I really loved it in that aspect. I think it's unlikely for people who have an aversion towards romance or drama to find appreciation for this title since the story is nothing without either. Therefore it is critical that one consider whether romance, drama, tragedy, and love are things which they can enjoy since the story of Wuthering Heights revolve around these aspects. 

Emily Brontë's Influences

Brontë grew up living in the moorlands of Yorkshire, England, where the story of Wuthering Heights is set. The moors are often mentioned in the story, and is associated with good things such as when Catherine and Heathcliff play on the moors with childlike innocence when they are still young. It is believed that Brontë was shy and reclusive and that she loved the tranquility and solemnity that the moors had to offer, and is reflected by the way she often mentions the moors with regard to positive things in the book. 

An aspect that critics are puzzled and amazed by is the fact that Brontë grew up never having experienced anything close to the things that the characters in her book portray. She grew up in the quiet moors where she was isolated and hardly knew anybody outside of her family, which begs the question of how or where she got the inspiration and the idea to write the dramatic story of Wuthering Heights. People speculate that her idea for the story culminated by reading books she had access to as a child and later developed further as she grew older. Others also say that the story itself is not of romance, and that it is merely a story of tragedy.

The moors in which Brontë grew up is closely tied to the setting of Wuthering Heights

Real World Connections

The story suggests that love can drive one to extreme heights as Heathcliff is when he is torn away from Catherine. This theme that Heathcliff's love for Catherine warrants his wrath towards the characters that surround him is present throughout the book. Catherine genuinely loves Heathcliff but is blind to the fact that her actions merely cause him grief, which makes it a little unbelievable she evokes strong feelings from him. These two facts show how love can cause detriment when left unchecked and uncontrolled, an issue which the story raises. Loving blindly will only lead to nothing but misery, the story addresses this issue by having Heathcliff's blind love towards Catherine end in tragedy, concluding that love can only be relished if it is kept in check. 

Rating: 5/5

There's a reason for why this book became a classic. I tried to avoid giving spoilers but it is quite hard to explain my evaluations without giving details which could spoil important events. I really enjoyed the story given that it strayed from romance clichés and that the ending concluded in a manner that gave resolution and redemption to the characters who mattered to me. I would recommend this to mature readers as the writing style can be cumbersome to most people, and the story is not to be taken at face value since there are a lot of subtle details which can be easily overlooked and even cause confusion. If you're a fan of drama and romance, then this classic is one you must read.