SUMMARY
It's Craig's third day in the hospital and he's thinking that he should be in school instead of at a hospital trying to get better. He checks his messages and response back to Aaron and his girl problems, Mr. Reynolds and all his work and Jenna a girl that wants to hang out because he has problems. Then he tries to get Muqtada out of bed and discovers the only thing he really enjoys is Egyptian music. Then he gets a call from Mr. Alfred Janowitz, his principal, but when he realizes who he's talking to hangs up and this sends his mind worrying about all his tentacles in the outside world. Dr. Minerva comes to talk with him and she made him confront his fear that he would be expelled from school. When he did so, he found out the school was actually calling him to tell him they understand what he is going through and they completely support him. Even though he got this closure, he began worrying about his emails saying he was going to have to sit in front of the computer for hours responding to everyone of them. They talk more about his tentacles and anchors and then she says she'll see him Wednesday before he gets released on Thursday. The card tournament that night did not go as Armelio planned. Bobby got a house, Ebony was keeping buttons in her shirt and Humble was taken to geriatrics because of his melt down brought on by the professor.
On Wednesday Humble still wasn't back and there was a musical activity with Neil the guitarist. He begins strumming "I shot the sheriff" by Bob Marley and all the patients with an instrument add to the melody. Then everybody starts dancing and Neil asks Craig if he would be interested in coming back as a volunteer once he gets out. He's never thought about it but it sounds appealing. Nia comes by to visit and they end up going to Craig's room to make out. Muqtada comes in to break it up and when Smitty comes to see what all the commotion. Buqtada covered for Craig and Nia left in disgust. Later, when he had his second date with Noelle, she had seen the whole event and was really hurt. But he reassured his feelings for her and made things better between them.
Thursday would be his last full day in the hospital. His dad brought Blade II for the patients to watch, Aaron brought Egyptian music for Muqtada to listen to, and he planned all this so he could have alone time with Noelle in his room. But before he would do all this, he wanted to draw his brain maps for anybody that wanted one as a final goodbye to everyone. Humble and Armelio got one and gave him their number to keep in touch, Ebony and Jimmy got one but they didn't have numbers for Craig to contact them later on and when Jimmy and Bobby came they did not want to give him a number because they did not want to disappoint him later on in life. Dr. Minerva came by and they talked about his love for art which made him realize that he wanted to pursue art and transfer schools but he had to break this to his parents. They were completely understanding but they wouldn't be able to transfer him until the end of the year.
Finally it's the day he is allowed to leave. His parents come bright and early and he says his last goodbye to Noelle. She's getting out in the afternoon, so he'll most likely call her that night. He tells his parents he wants to walk home alone. As he walks he feels his brain shift and he knew it was the shift he was waiting and hoping for. It doesn't cure him but it makes life manageable.
QUOTE
"Take these verbs and enjoy them. They're yours, Craig. You deserve them because you chose them. You could have left them all behind but you chose to stay here. So now live for real, Craig. Live. Live. Live. Live. Live, (Vizzini, 444).
REACTION
I enjoyed this book because it showed the transformation of a teenager from not having any problems, to being at the lowest of lows with his depression to ending the novel being able to, hopefully, manage his depression. Even though not all teens deal with depression, this book would be able to connect with a lot of teens because it not only deals with his illness but the stresses of school. And this quote sums up all he went through for me because he chose not to kill himself but to seek help and he deserves every moment from this point in life, on.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
It's Kind of a Funny Story (125-294)
SUMMARY
Craig was eating dinner, or trying to, with his family but he ended up trowing it up as usual. Afterwards, he was really tired of his depression having control of his life so he decided he was going to kill himself. Before he went through with it, he wanted to make sure he told his younger sister, Sarah, and his parents that he loves them and he wanted to call Nia to tell her how he felt and to see if she had any of the same feelings. By 10 pm, he said his goodnights and decided to sleep in his mom's room because he felt that's the least he owed her since he wanted to kill himself. When he was all settled in bed, he called Nia and she basically told him the opposite of what he wanted to hear so he got almost no closure from her. He couldn't sleep so he stayed up all night and when he went to try and throw himself off of the Brooklyn Bridge, he didn't but instead called a suicide hotline that told him to go to the emergency room if he felt like he was going to hurt himself, so he went.
First he went to the emergency room and from there they put him in a holding room with his own security guard and everything. From the holding room, the hospital needed a parent to sign papers and to discuss with Craig whether he wanted to be admitted. He said yes so he went up to six north.
He entered the adult psychiatric on saturday and everybody kept telling him it was a good day because all the good doctors are on the floor on saturday. He met a lot of people his first day there. Smitty and Monica are care takers. Bobby, Johnny, Humble and Armelio are some friends Craig made, Muqtada is his rommate and Noelle is a girl he likes. While here, he was able to make some calls, to Nia and his shrink and even received a call, from Aaron. When he spoke to Aaron and Nia he was able to cut ties and when he told his parents about this, they were proud, they felt that his old friends had a part in his downfall. He was able to eat food here but was put to sleep with the aid of medication; he feels like a shift is happening but it's not "the" shift.
The second day he was in the ward he was looking foward to a date with Noelle rather than looking foward to the thought that if he wanted to he could kill himself. In the morning he met with Monica to talk about how his frist day went. She informed him that maybe it wasn't a good thing for him to begin making friends here but besides her concern, he became closer with Bobby and is trying to take it steps further with Noelle. He attened the daily activity, art, and he went back to drawing maps. That night he slept with no meds.
QUOTE
"I'm going to be here until I'm cured?" "Life is not cured, Mr. Gilner." Dr. Mahmound leans in. "Life is managed." (Vizzini, 239).
REACTION
Craig wants to be cured completely but there is really no person that is absolutely perfect and worry free because it is natural to worry about things in life. Going into the ward was probably the best thing that he did and really brave because normally a clinically depressed person would give up and end everything.
Craig was eating dinner, or trying to, with his family but he ended up trowing it up as usual. Afterwards, he was really tired of his depression having control of his life so he decided he was going to kill himself. Before he went through with it, he wanted to make sure he told his younger sister, Sarah, and his parents that he loves them and he wanted to call Nia to tell her how he felt and to see if she had any of the same feelings. By 10 pm, he said his goodnights and decided to sleep in his mom's room because he felt that's the least he owed her since he wanted to kill himself. When he was all settled in bed, he called Nia and she basically told him the opposite of what he wanted to hear so he got almost no closure from her. He couldn't sleep so he stayed up all night and when he went to try and throw himself off of the Brooklyn Bridge, he didn't but instead called a suicide hotline that told him to go to the emergency room if he felt like he was going to hurt himself, so he went.
First he went to the emergency room and from there they put him in a holding room with his own security guard and everything. From the holding room, the hospital needed a parent to sign papers and to discuss with Craig whether he wanted to be admitted. He said yes so he went up to six north.
He entered the adult psychiatric on saturday and everybody kept telling him it was a good day because all the good doctors are on the floor on saturday. He met a lot of people his first day there. Smitty and Monica are care takers. Bobby, Johnny, Humble and Armelio are some friends Craig made, Muqtada is his rommate and Noelle is a girl he likes. While here, he was able to make some calls, to Nia and his shrink and even received a call, from Aaron. When he spoke to Aaron and Nia he was able to cut ties and when he told his parents about this, they were proud, they felt that his old friends had a part in his downfall. He was able to eat food here but was put to sleep with the aid of medication; he feels like a shift is happening but it's not "the" shift.
The second day he was in the ward he was looking foward to a date with Noelle rather than looking foward to the thought that if he wanted to he could kill himself. In the morning he met with Monica to talk about how his frist day went. She informed him that maybe it wasn't a good thing for him to begin making friends here but besides her concern, he became closer with Bobby and is trying to take it steps further with Noelle. He attened the daily activity, art, and he went back to drawing maps. That night he slept with no meds.
QUOTE
"I'm going to be here until I'm cured?" "Life is not cured, Mr. Gilner." Dr. Mahmound leans in. "Life is managed." (Vizzini, 239).
REACTION
Craig wants to be cured completely but there is really no person that is absolutely perfect and worry free because it is natural to worry about things in life. Going into the ward was probably the best thing that he did and really brave because normally a clinically depressed person would give up and end everything.
Friday, January 21, 2011
It's Kind of a Funny Story (3-122)
SUMMARY:
The main Character Craig Gilner is a teen aged boy with a best friend Aaron, a secret crush Nia and a battle with depression. During his last year of middle school he spent it studying every second to get into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School to path out his way to his future perfect life. But the night he found out he got into the school, his life was beginning to go downhill night Aaron had a "gathering" that turned into a party. He offered Craig marijuana and drinks were offered too (he took both), and by the end of the night he was completely out of it. Aaron walked him to the Brooklyn Bridge and there he got out on the ledge and thought that if a person wanted to commit suicide, this is the perfect spot.
Now he's at the school and the work seems to be something he was not prepared for. He was suppose to do reading and look at current events over the summer and he did not do either. He started to call his problems tentacles and the things that he does to keep his mind busy anchors. He had many tentacles but not enough anchors. He tried to sleep but his mind kept thinking of the tentacles in his life. He tried to eat but a man at the back of his throat kept tugging on a string that would close the entry of his stomach, as he described it, so he couldn't eat. It got so bad that one time while out with his parents he ran to the bathroom to throw up all the food he forced himself to eat. He told this to his parents and they supplied him with all the love, encouragement and shrinks he needed.
After visiting a couple of offices, they put him on Zoloft to ease his depression. One morning after hanging out with Aaron and Nia, Nia asked how he was, and he divulged that he was depressed and the doctors have him taking medicine to help with it. Then he heard something he did not expect, Nia is too; but she's taking Prozac. She told him to call her if she was ever feeling too down and this gave him enough happiness to last for a while because he thought that maybe there's hope for a better him.
QUOTE
"I was better. Okay, maybe I wasn't better but I was okay -- it was a weird feeling, a lack of weight in my head. I had caught up in my classes. I had found Dr. Minerva -- the sixth one that Dr. Barney and I tried -- and found her quiet, no-nonsense attitude amendable to my issues. I was getting 93's but what the hell, someone had to get them," (Vizzini, 122).
REACTION
It seems like Craig is making himself stress out and that is causing his depression. He was concerned with being perfect, because that's what he was use to, but at this new competitive school he was making grades in the high 90s, which is not bad at all. However, it seems like maybe he can have control of his emotions. It seems like it is more of a situation of mind over matter for him. I'm almost certain he is going to break his depression.
The main Character Craig Gilner is a teen aged boy with a best friend Aaron, a secret crush Nia and a battle with depression. During his last year of middle school he spent it studying every second to get into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School to path out his way to his future perfect life. But the night he found out he got into the school, his life was beginning to go downhill night Aaron had a "gathering" that turned into a party. He offered Craig marijuana and drinks were offered too (he took both), and by the end of the night he was completely out of it. Aaron walked him to the Brooklyn Bridge and there he got out on the ledge and thought that if a person wanted to commit suicide, this is the perfect spot.
Now he's at the school and the work seems to be something he was not prepared for. He was suppose to do reading and look at current events over the summer and he did not do either. He started to call his problems tentacles and the things that he does to keep his mind busy anchors. He had many tentacles but not enough anchors. He tried to sleep but his mind kept thinking of the tentacles in his life. He tried to eat but a man at the back of his throat kept tugging on a string that would close the entry of his stomach, as he described it, so he couldn't eat. It got so bad that one time while out with his parents he ran to the bathroom to throw up all the food he forced himself to eat. He told this to his parents and they supplied him with all the love, encouragement and shrinks he needed.
After visiting a couple of offices, they put him on Zoloft to ease his depression. One morning after hanging out with Aaron and Nia, Nia asked how he was, and he divulged that he was depressed and the doctors have him taking medicine to help with it. Then he heard something he did not expect, Nia is too; but she's taking Prozac. She told him to call her if she was ever feeling too down and this gave him enough happiness to last for a while because he thought that maybe there's hope for a better him.
QUOTE
"I was better. Okay, maybe I wasn't better but I was okay -- it was a weird feeling, a lack of weight in my head. I had caught up in my classes. I had found Dr. Minerva -- the sixth one that Dr. Barney and I tried -- and found her quiet, no-nonsense attitude amendable to my issues. I was getting 93's but what the hell, someone had to get them," (Vizzini, 122).
REACTION
It seems like Craig is making himself stress out and that is causing his depression. He was concerned with being perfect, because that's what he was use to, but at this new competitive school he was making grades in the high 90s, which is not bad at all. However, it seems like maybe he can have control of his emotions. It seems like it is more of a situation of mind over matter for him. I'm almost certain he is going to break his depression.
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