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Summary
Summary
Like many ambitious New York City teenagers, Craig Gilner sees entry into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School as the ticket to his future. Determined to succeed at life--which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job--Craig studies night and day to ace the entrance exam, and does. That's when things start to get crazy.
"Intimate, real, funny, ironic...This book offers hope in a package that readers will find enticing.", Booklist
"Insightful and utterly authentic...this is an important book.", The New York Times Book Review
At his new school, Craig realizes that he isn't brilliant compared to the other kids; he's just average, and maybe not even that. He soon sees his once-perfect future crumbling away. The stress becomes unbearable and Craig stops eating and sleeping--until, one night, he nearly kills himself.
Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, isolated from the crushing pressures of school and friends, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.
Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness. For a novel about depression, it's definitely a funny story.
"Funny... Vizzini supplies personal insights and a clever, self-deprecating tone that make the book an entertaining read." - The Washington Post
Author Notes
Ned Vizzin was born in New York City on April 4, 1981. He began writing professionally as a teenager. He wrote essays and articles for the New York Press, the New York Times, and other publications. His first book, Teen Angst? Naaah...: A Quasi Autobiography, was published in 2000. His other books include Be More Chill, House of Secrets co-written with film director Chris Columbus, and It's Kind of a Funny Story, which was adapted as a feature film in 2010 starring Zack Galifianakis. His television writing credits include MTV's Teen Wolf, and the NBC drama Believe. He committed suicide on December 19, 2013 at the age of 32.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
It's so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself" is the attention-grabbing first line of Vizzini's (Be More Chill) highly readable and ultimately upbeat novel. Though Craig was elated when he passed the entry exam for Manhattan's highly competitive Executive Pre-Professional High School, during his first year there he grows increasingly overwhelmed. Matters aren't helped by his new habit of smoking pot and then tormenting himself by hanging out with his best friend, Aaron, and Aaron's girlfriend, Nia, on whom Craig has a longstanding crush. Unable to eat and seriously considering suicide, Craig checks himself into a psychiatric hospital. There, Craig finds his true calling as a visual artist, begins a promising romantic relationship with another patient, helps yet another patient get a place in an adult home, and arranges a thoughtful treat for his reclusive Egyptian roommate-all in a mere five days, a timeframe that readers struggling with their own issues may find somewhat daunting. Still, few would begrudge Craig his exhilarating recovery. The author clearly has not lost his knack for conveying the textures of teenage life. Ages 13-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
(High School) Vizzini's first YA novel, Be More Chill (rev. 9/04), was a comic description of a teen's struggle with peer pressure; this second novel portrays a fifteen-year-old's struggle with depression. Despite the serious topic, Vizzini again manages to be quite funny: narrator Craig may have lost his footing, but he hasn't lost his sense of humor. This novel also turns out to be about the pressures students face -- by the end of his stay in a psychiatric hospital, Craig realizes that the stress of trying to be successful and perfect is what has pushed him over the edge. It's refreshing to have a protagonist who is clinically depressed yet loved by his family and untouched by huge trauma; but therein lies Craig's biggest roadblock -- without an obvious scarring experience on which to blame his emotional state, guilt exacerbates his depression. While the setup that lands Craig on an adult rather than a teen ward seems artificial, the presence of older (sometimes crazier, sometimes wiser) characters is worth it, and the bulk of this novel (which is based in part on Vizzini's own experience) remains believable. Craig's overwhelmingly positive hospital experience will hearten readers moved by his honest description of his inner despair. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Gr. 9-12. When Craig Gilner gets into Manhattan's exclusive Executive Pre-Professional High School, it's the culmination of a year of intense focus and grinding hard work. Now he has to actually attend the school with other equally high-performing students. Oops. And so the unraveling begins, with a depressed Craig spending more time smoking dope and throwing up than studying. Although medication helps his depression, he decides to stop taking it. Soon after, he makes another decision: to commit suicide. A call to a suicide hotline gets him into a psychiatric hospital, where he is finally able to face his demons. Readers must suspend their disbelief big time for this to work. Because the teen psych ward is undergoing renovations, Craig is put in with adults, which provides the narrative with an eccentric cast of characters rather than just similarly screwed-up teens. And in his five days in the hospital, Craig manages to cure his eating disorder, find a girlfriend, realize he wants to be an artist, and solve many of his co-residents' problems, including locating Egyptian music for his roommate, who won't get out of bed. What could he do if he wasn't depressed! But what's terrific about the book is Craig's voice--intimate, real, funny, ironic, and one kids will come closer to hear. Many readers will be familiar with the drugs, the sexual experimentation, the language, and, yes, the depression--or they'll know someone who is. This book offers hope in a package that readers will find enticing, and that's the gift it offers. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2006 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-When Craig Gilner is accepted into New York City's elite Executive Pre-Professional High School, he believes his life is starting on the right path. After school begins, Craig finds that his life is spiraling out of control from the pressures, and he begins to contemplate suicide. Rather than actually jump off of the Brooklyn Bridge, Craig checks himself into the local hospital. In the five days he spends in psychiatric care, Craig connects with some of the other patients and learns who his true friends are, how to re-center himself, and that the only expectations he truly needs to meet are his own. With a cast of interesting characters and a very forthright teen perspective, Vizzini has penned a poignant and sometimes humorous tale (Miramax, 2006) about navigating adolescence. Narrator Robert Fass matches Craig's desolate moods and factual nature very well. Due to some upfront discussion of recreational drug use and sexual activities, this title is most suitable for more mature teens.-Jessica Miller, West Springfield Public Library, MA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Craig Gilner, a high-school student in New York City, can't deal with his grades, keep food in his stomach or prevent himself from feeling disconnected from his friends and family. Finally, the urge to kill himself eats into his psyche, and he calls a suicide hotline that quickly recommends that he contact a nearby psychiatric hospital. Craig follows orders, checks himself in and thus begins a humorously poignant journey to recovery, love and self-worth. Vizzini's witty, self-deprecating sense of humor keeps this winding yet entertaining novel about recovery and understanding afloat. Though told in all sincerity--an afterward states Vizzini himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital in 2004--too often Vizzini idles too deeply in Craig's meandering psyche, especially in his intense reflections on minor characters. While these thoughts are truthful, it does not make them interesting. What results is a slow start to an easy, occasionally long-winded novel about a troubled boy's rise from depression to recognition and acceptance for who he is. For the readers who stick with him until the end, the results will resonate with them just as loudly as Craig's newfound credo: to live for real. (Fiction. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
