Kind of Funny

Several days ago, a commenter asked if I was going to see the movie "It's Kind of a Funny Story."  Which is kind of a funny story itself.  Well, not really, but if you did not know already, the movie is based on a YA novel by Ned Vizzini about his experience with hospitalization for depression.  To answer the other question you are now asking: no, I have not read the book, either.  When I was in the process of writing Get Well Soon (my own story of hospitalization), I sent a portion of the book out to two different publishers at two different times before the book was complete.  One publisher (and I kid you not that I don't remember who the people were; I am horrid with names and feel like it makes me look snobby, when really I think it's one of the few glitches in my brain.  I believe both were publishers that I was introduced to at an ALA conference.) told me that they wanted to see Get Well Soon as a straight novel, not as a novel in letters.  That didn't happen.  The other publisher, someone at Hyperion, said that they already had a mental hospital book on an upcoming list, and I should read it.  Voila-- It's Kind of a Funny Story ended up in my mailbox.

I did start the book.  But I didn't get very far.  You see, I sort of have a revulsion to books about people who check themselves into mental hospitals.  Girl, Interrupted annoys me so much in its self-pity, look at me, poor sad rich girl vibe.  I haven't read it in years, so maybe it's not that bad.  Perhaps when I did read it, I was in an angry phase about my own being THROWN into a hospital.  Get Well Soon is very much about Anna's, my, lack of control in life, so it's very hard for me to read about someone young but of age deciding to hit the mental hospital trail.  And that's what Funny Story is about.  A few pages in, I decided it wasn't my scene and I was going to get all worked up, so I stopped. 

Sonya Sones and I had a conversation about this, about whether or not we like reading other stories about hospitalization (she, of course, being the brilliant author of Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy).  Sonya said she did not like reading other stories about this subject, and she has very strong opinions about the way people trivialize and misunderstand mental illness.  In fact, while writing The Sequel, I often get scared that I'm going to piss off or disappoint Sonya.  I wouldn't want to do that.

But I still haven't answered the question!  Will I see the movie?  I don't know.  Matt is a fan of Zach Galifianakis, since he's on "Bored to Death."  But not that big a fan.  And something about that kid's face in the commercials screams the Mac guy, who I can't stand.  I'm going to say that I probably will not see the film and will definitely not see it in the theater.  If I am on an airplane and they show it, then, sure, I'll watch.  But do they even show films on airplanes anymore?  Not on my flights.  Anyway, has anyone seen the movie?  Do you think Sonya would approve?  Would I?