It's Kind of a Funny Story (Caution MAY be a spolier alert)

     The book It’s kind of a funny story is a great book written by Ned Vizzini. The book is about a boy named Craig who is mentally depressed and suicidal. Craig is a freshman in high school and he is under a huge amount of stress. Craig used to be on anti-depressants, but then he stopped because he thought he was all better. But he wasn’t. One night, Craig was really serious about killing himself, he even thought of a plan. At three in the morning he was going to go to the Brooklyn bridge and jump off of it, but he started to freak out and instead he called suicide hotline and they told him to go to a hospital.

     I think Craig did the right thing by calling the suicide hotline. I bet it would be really, really hard to just stop in the middle of about to kill yourself and call someone. That is really intense stuff to just stop in the middle of doing. Craig is a smart kid, he knows what hes doing and I think he just had a really bad night and freaked out. I feel so bad for Craig, he is only 14 years old and he is immensely suicidal. The only people that know is his family and that must be a really hard thing to hide.

     Craig got the full treatment he needed at the hospital. They sent him to a mental unit in the hospital that helped him realize that he has his whole life ahead of him and he shouldn’t end it. Craig was suicidal the entire first part of the book, and what I think really triggered him to almost kill himself, are two very important things in his life. First, I think his family and friends really didn’t help him all that much even though they wanted to. They even made him more depressed without meaning too. Also, I think that Craig’s school also made him more suicidal, he had too much pressure on him.

     I think one of the reasons that Craig became more depressed was because of his friends and family. Of course they all love him very much and never meant to make things worse but they did. His family is always asking him how he is doing and they are always wondering if he needs something. This makes him feel like there is something wrong with him, like he is crazy and he should feel bad about himself. That is not going to help him in life. Also I think that his friends don’t realize it, but they don’t help much either. They don’t know that Craig is suicidal and they joke around with him a lot and act like friends should, and they are a little harsh on each other but in a loving way. But what they don’t realize is, that Craig probably doesn’t take it like that. He feels that his friends aren’t really serious about life. Also Craig’s best friend named Aaron is dating the girl he likes and that must be really hard. He has to watch them be in love with each other while he is just sort of there.

     The other thing that I think stressed Craig out is his school. Craig is a freshman and he lives in New York just like me. He has to take a specialized test to get into the high school that he wants to go to. So he starts studying really, really hard and he gets into that school. The only problem is, that it is a really high pressure school that stresses him out a lot and he has a lot of pressure to do well. I can relate to Craig, my school isn’t like that, but I am taking that same exact test and I know how hard it is. And if you get in, the school is really hard and stressful and it can’t help Craig at all. It will just make him more depresse
     It’s kind of a funny story is a really amazing book and since Craig is basically my age, I feel like I can really connect with him. Eventually in the end, everything gets sorted out and he isn’t depressed anymore. In this book I feel like I can really picture everything that happens. I can follow Craig’s life and know whats going on. I feel bad for Craig. How awful must it be to be going through such a rough patch in your life and only be in 9^th grade! I mean that is really intense stuff he is going through. Overall, Craig made the right choice to call that suicide hotline because otherwise, he would have died.

The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers

I am currently reading The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers. It is a great classic book about a girl named Frankie. This book takes place in 1946, Frankie is a 12 year old girl who is very bored with life in general. It is the middle of the summer and she has nothing to do.

Frankie’s brother named Jarvis is getting married. Since Frankie is bored, she feels really excited for the wedding. She has a crush on it almost. Frankie’s family has a cook named Bernice. Bernice is Frankie’s best friend, because she doesn’t really have anyone else.  Bernice and Frankie were playing around one day and Frankie got really mad because Bernice was teasing her about the wedding.

The next thing you know, Frankie has thrown a knife across the room because she is so mad.

I think Frankie just lost control, she must be going through a rough time in her life right now and she must have just lost it. I understand why she went too far, she needed some excitement in her life. She doesn’t feel like she is a part of anything and she is depressed and lonely. If I was her, I would tell someone about what she is feeling and why. It’s not good to hold in a grudge, it will just make you more mad and angry.

On one hand I think I can relate to Frankie and know and understand what she is going through. On the other hand, maybe she is over reacting just a little bit. I think I can relate to Frankie, well not completely but on some level. She is twelve years old, that is not a very fun age to be. Also, she Is really bored it’s the middle of summer and she has nothing to do. I know that I get very annoyed when its summer and I’m bored. She must be even more bored because there were no camps and her friends weren’t around or anything. I think in general Frankie is so bored that it causes her to do irrational things that she knows is wrong. Apparently she broke the law that summer but I don’t know what she did because I’m not that far into the book. I wonder what drives her to do all those crazy things. I mean it is just because she is bored or is it because something else?

I understand that Frankie is bored but I also think that she is overacting just a little bit. She is saying that after the wedding of her brother, she wants to run away from home and stay with them. Honestly, I think that’s a little bit extreme if you ask me. Once school starts again, she isn’t going to be as bored. Also she will be older and have more friends. I think that she could at least make an effort to find someone to play with. And if not, she had the cook who could do stuff with her. Even though I understand that she is only twelve, she could at least brainstorm ideas. She also lives near her first cousin John Henry, who she says she doesn’t like playing with but she should just make the best of it.

The member of the wedding is a really fantastic book that is nice and challenging. It has great language and I feel like I am right there next to Frankie. I like how you can follow her life while it is still in third person. I would definitely recommend it.

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

      I am currently reading Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. This book is about a girl named Lia who is anorexic and her struggles through life. Her best friend Cassie has just died and she also had an eating disorder except she was bulimic. Lia is having a very hard time with Cassie's death. She is still anorexic and she is making goals of weights that she wants to be. This is a very sad, and truthful book, but at the same time it's also an amazing book. It keeps you at the edge of your seat all the time. This book is very meaningful. i think that there are many reasons to Lia being anorexic. I think one is her parents being divorced. That probably triggers a lot of emotional pain. I think another reason is her best friend Cassie. Cassie really influenced her in a bad way.

      Lia is eighteen years old. In the beginning of the book, she weighs 100 pounds and by the end her goal is 85, and she almost reaches it too. That is way too skinny and underweight for a girl her age. Lia has been through so much in her life it’s kind of insane. She is anorexic, her parents are divorced, her best friend dumped her, and then her best friend that dumped her died. That is a lot of emotional pain to take in right there especially if you are so young. I think that Lia is a very strong girl but she just got lost somewhere in her life. At the end of the book, the emotional pain takes over Lia and she becomes mentally insane. She even gets sent to a mental institute by her therapist.
      I just feel so bad for Lia. I mean she is going through the roughest time in her life and no one is there to support her or help her. She even almost died twice. Not once but twice. Lia also cuts herself sometimes and once she went too far and too much that she landed in the hospital. The other time is from starving herself, and not drinking water. That is a really scary thing to go through. Of course her parents are going to be upset and worried and mad but they also have to be there for her and that is something that they are not doing so well. I mean they can try just a little more then they are now. 
      I think that Lia’s parents are a big contributor to Lia’s illness. They aren’t even there for her, and when they are, they are just plain mean to her. They are divorced and Lia was living with her mom but then her and her mom were fighting too much she moved out. She went to stay with her dad and his wife and stepdaughter. Lia was happy there at first, but then when she started to get sick again, things kind of got out of hand. Her parents are always fighting and ignoring her. She doesn’t have a good relationship with her mom, so it was never easy. Lia’s mom wanted Lia to move back in with her but Lia didn’t want to. I think that must have been hard for Lia, turning down to live with your own mother? I feel like Lia feels like she has no place to belong. When she doesn’t feel welcomed anywhere, it probably brings up a lot of emotion and contributes to her anorexia. Lia has a very cute relationship with her stepsister, Emma. Lia never wants to hurt Emma but she does because she cuts herself and starves herself and that scares Emma. Of course Lia never wanted Emma to know about all of that but somehow she walked in on Lia cutting herself once and it scared Emma to death! Lia’s stepmom Jennifer loves Lia, but she turns on her when she hurts Emma. She is mad and yells at Lia because she scared Emma so badly. If I was Lia I would be so mad at the world. And Lia is mad at the world, her whole entire family is mad at her and that on top of everything else going on, must have been the thing that cracked Lia. And Lia blames it all on herself.
      The quote “I messed up, I messed up big time”, proves to me that Lia is blaming all of her family yelling at her, on her. Lia’s family needs to understand that it’s not all Lia’s fault. You have to blame it on the illness as well as Lia otherwise it isn't fair.
      I think another contributor to Lia’s anorexia is her friend Cassie who died. Cassie was her best friend forever. But just last year, Cassie dumped her for no good reason. Lia was all by herself, struggling to stay alive all by herself. She was starving herself all by herself. Cassie was bulimic which means you eat a lot of food then you throw it all up. Cassie actually died because she was vomiting too much and it tore her esophagus. That must have been just awful. I mean think about it, so painful. Lia and Cassie had a long relationship with a lot of history. They both had eating disorders so it was kind of like something they had in common. I think that Cassie really influenced Lia in a bad way. She was the one who made Lia anorexic (well sort of. They both did it together but Cassie was the one who kept pushing and influencing her to do it) Cassie was also the one who kept messing with Lia’s mind. Even after she died, Cassie was always there next to Lia whispering to her that she should starve herself, cut herself, be skinnier, be better. Everyone thought that Lia was making up that she saw Cassie as a ghost but she wasn’t. Lia is a wintergirl, it means that you aren’t dead but you aren’t alive. It’s like you are stuck in between the two worlds of living and death. Cassie really got to Lia’s head and told her to do some messed up stuff.
      I don’t think that anyone really liked Cassie, especially Lia’s step mom Jennifer. The quote “Jennifer nibbles at a cookie. ‘I hate to speak ill of the dead, but I’m glad you didn’t hang out with her anymore. Cassie was a mess. She could have taken you down with her too’”. That really shows Jennifer didn’t approve of Lia hanging out with Cassie. I wonder for how long Jennifer had felt like that? Always?
      Overall, Wintergirls is a really great book. I think that it really shows how much of a struggle it is so be someone who goes through so much. It really makes me think about my life, I mean I am lucky, I’m not anorexic and my best friend didn’t die. It makes me really feel a lot more for Lia and what she is going through.

 
    

Am I Blue?

     "Am I Blue?"  is a short story about a boy named Vincent. He is a confused teenager who is trying to figure out if he is gay or not. Vincent is being bulled by Butch Carrigan. One day, Vincent got beat up so bad he fell into a puddle, fortunately, he gets a very nice, helpful fairy godfather named Melvin. Melvin helps Vincent during a very rough time.
     I feel bad for Vincent. Who wants to be going through that? I know a bunch of people do but it must be so hard, confusing, and very frustrating. Especially if you don't even know. It's like you are trying to find yourself but you can't.This story is very interesting and meaningful, and I think there are many important events that happen. I think one big thing that happened in this story, and what happens in most other stories, is character change.
     Of course Vincent is confused and lost and must be upset, I mean who wouldn't be? He is trying to figure things out and he keeps getting beaten up for being gay. Who goes through that and is still always happy 24/7? I also think Vincent is scared. It's not his fault though, it's the people that beat him up fault. Vincent changes a lot in this story. I think he starts out confused and he is always worrying what others will think about him. He gets mad very easily and doesn't want to be near anyone who is gay. But by the end of the story, he has changed a lot. He is no longer self conscious and he is independent, and doesn't care about what others think. He basically accepts who he is. Vincent definitely didn't do that alone, he had help from his fairy godfather, Melvin.
     In the beginning of the book Vincent is still searching for himself. I think he is ashamed that he might be gay. He doesn't want to accept who he is, either that or he doesn't even care anymore, he just wants it to be all over with. He cares way too much what others think and he gets embarrassed a lot. Melvin helped Vincent out but i think Vincent didn't really appreciate Melvin a lot at first. He was embarrassed to be seen with Melvin. Since Vincent gets beaten up so much he didn't want to be beaten up more for being seen with someone who is gay.
     The quote: "A guy who moved like Melvin did wasn't going to do anything to improve the situation" proves Vincent doesn't accept the way Melvin walks. He even told Melvin that he shouldn't walk like that. Even though Vincent was churlish towards Melvin, Melvin didn't even act like he cared, it's behavior like that, that really inspired Vincent.
     When Melvin said "Honey, i gave my whole life to be able to walk like this. Don't you dare try to stop me now" it really showed that Melvin didn't care. He is going to do what he wants to. That really bothered Vincent at first but towards the end of the story, it really just ended up helping him. Vincent is going through a really rough time in his life. And even though he changes a lot throughout the story, it is still not fair the way that he is treated by others. I think one of the ways that he dealt with being hurt is acting out towards melvin, someone he barley even knows. He yelled at Melvin for being different. I guess he had to take out his anger on someone and who better then his fairy godfather? I feel bad for Vincent and i am really glad that he finally accepts himself.
     At the end of the story, Vincent really changes. He really opens his eyes and figures out who he is. Vincent told Melvin that he wanted Melvin to turn the whole country blue for one day. At that point i think that Vincent has really thought more about himself, and he finally realized it doesn't matter what he is, he will be proud either way. The night before, Vincent had asked Melvin to give him gaydar. When he did, i think it really opened him up and showed him that he isn't alone, he isn't the only one trying to figure out if they are gay or not.
     By the end of the story, Vincent has completely changed.
     "And my third wish? I've decided to save it for when i really need it-maybe when i meet the girl of my dreams. Or prince charming. Whichever." That quote to me, really showed the reader that a lot. It showed the reader that Vincent was going to be Vincent and no one was going to stop him.