"You should be on Coney Island bird-dogging chicks"

Granted that line doesn't appear in the novel "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini, but it does appear in the trailer for the film. I found the trailer first a couple of weeks ago and quickly became intrigued with the story of a severely depressed and suicidal 15-year-old boy who commits himself to a mental institution. The movie comes out September 24 and features the likes of Zach Galifianakis, Jeremy Davies, Keir Gilchrist and Emma Roberts.

I bought the book on Sunday and devoured it on my bus ride home from Toronto. I regret not having heard of it sooner, although that's beyond my control. It reminds me so much of myself at that age. Sad, lonely and horribly horribly awkward which just heightened my adolescent insecurities. And although I don't feel that way about myself now, I can recognize the emotions and feelings of isolation from the rest of the world. It didn't help that I was very introverted and quiet. In my own head all the time. In that way, I think this book could be very helpful to teenagers. Any teenagers. It talks about mental illness in a light-hearted way, while taking the characters and emotions seriously. There are no sudden epiphanies or dramatic monologues about life. It's just very normal.

The story is actually based on the experiences of the author Ned Vizzini, when he committed himself to a mental ward at the age of 23 for five days. It's a young adult novel, so it's a quick read, and the movie looks quite good, but different in that it's clearly been fleshed out a bit with jokes and back stories for the other patients.

I'm not writing this to say "go read this now", unless the mood were to strike you, I just like to raise awareness of these things. In my opinion, I found the novel insightful and only wished I'd read it sooner. Also, I'm seriously stoked for the movie.

With love and bookmarks

-Cathryn