It's Kind Of A Funny Story (297-444)

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.