• Ned Vizzini, author of It's Kind of a Funny Story, kills himself at 32
    32 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Ned Vizzini, a precocious and highly praised writer of popular young-adult novels that often dealt with themes of teenage anxiety and depression — and still made readers laugh — died on Thursday in Brooklyn. He was 32. Enlarge This Image Julien Jourdes for The New York Times Ned Vizzini in 2004. He took his own life, according to his father, James. The New York City chief medical examiner’s office said he suffered blunt impact injuries. The writer’s brother, Daniel, told reporters that Mr. Vizzini had jumped off the roof of the building where their parents live. Mr. Vizzini wrote openly about his struggles with depression and spoke about it with student groups. One of his most celebrated novels, “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” published in 2006, is based on the five days he spent in the psychiatric ward of a Brooklyn hospital in 2004. That was the same year he published his well-received first novel, “Be More Chill,” about an insecure high school student who becomes more confident after ingesting a pill-sized supercomputer. The success of “Be More Chill” brought him a contract to write two more books, but his initial excitement faded as he began to struggle with the writing and fell into despair. Medication for depression helped, but only when he took it. He stopped eating and sleeping and began considering suicide. Late one night he walked from his parents’ home to the New York Methodist Hospital emergency room. “With my life stripped of everything but the absolute essentials,” he said in an interview on the hospital’s website, “I got my appetite back, and through individual and group counseling, medication management, therapeutic activities on the unit, sincere care from the people who worked there, and some very eye-opening conversations with my fellow patients, I made it.” The novel he had been struggling to write became “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” about a high school student whose demanding parents and high-pressure academic pursuits help propel him into a psychiatric hospital. “This is an important book, not only because it will help teenagers recognize unhealthy expectations and know there are alternative choices, but also because it could enlighten adults who are making their kids crazy,” Tanya Lee Stone wrote in The New York Times Book Review. “Of course, these grown-ups may not know who they are — so if you do, be sure to give them this book.” Ms. Stone and other critics suggested that Craig Gilner, the book’s lead character, gets better unrealistically quickly. Mr. Vizzini addressed this issue on his website: “My response is that Craig didn’t get better as in ‘his depression is cured.’ He got better as in ‘he’s not going to consider suicide again.’ He sorted out some (and only some) things in his life ... like I did.” Born Edison Price Vizzini on April 4, 1981, in Manhattan, Mr. Vizzini legally changed his first name to his nickname, Ned. After his family moved to Brooklyn, he attended the highly competitive Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. While there, he began reading the weekly newspaper New York Press. At 15, he began writing for the paper about teenage issues. Two years later his first article in The Times was published, an essay in The Times Magazine: “Teen Angst? Nah!,” which sought to put teenagers at ease about sex, drinking and other matters. “The media present adolescence as hell on earth, chock full of evil cliques (the cliques in grade school are worse), domineering parents and wrenching decisions that will determine the rest of your life,” he wrote. “Nah. Adolescence is a time to sit back, make some friends — and maybe discover what you’re good at. Don’t believe the hype.” Two years later, while he was a student at Hunter College, he published a collection of his work, “Teen Angst? Naaah ...” In 2012 he published another novel, “The Other Normals.” This year he published the first in a planned trilogy of fantasy books for young adults, “House of Secrets,” written with the movie director Chris Columbus. He also wrote for the television shows “Teen Wolf,” “Last Resort” and “Believe,” and for The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times and other publications. In addition to his father and brother, Mr. Vizzini’s survivors include his wife, Sabra Embury; his son, Felix; his mother, Emma; and his sister, Eleanora. In recent years Mr. Vizzini and his family had lived in Los Angeles. In 2010, “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” was made into a film starring Zach Galifianakis and Emma Roberts, with Keir Gilchrist as Craig. The Times critic A. O. Scott was complimentary but said the film lacked “the sometimes awkward, occasionally self-conscious but unmistakably authentic energy that characterizes Mr. Vizzini’s prose and also, more important, the zest and irreverence with which he approaches difficult themes.”[/QUOTE] [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/21/books/ned-vizzini-author-of-teenage-novels-dies-at-32.html[/url]
Fair winds, troubled man.
That's so terrible to hear, I hope his family are taken care of. Such a shame when a life is cut short.
I'd tell you why he really did it, but it's kind of a funny story...
Depression is fucking terrible. It's so painful to see that some of us just wither and die practically for no particular reason or cause.
[QUOTE=Aj;43270784]I'd tell you why he really did it, but it's kind of a funny story...[/QUOTE] You know that book is based on his actual life and struggles with depression right? [editline]22nd December 2013[/editline] As someone with actual depression myself this news is pretty shaking, seeing someone I look up to having caved to their feelings, and fuck you for making puns.
the book was pretty amazing and i have few other of his books but I never got around finishing them. rip dude
Both the book and movie had a huge impact on me, I feel extremely shaken up hearing he ended up killing himself after all. At least he was 32, that gives me some comfort for some reason. Hopefully no one has any rash decisions after hearing about this.
[QUOTE=Aj;43270784]I'd tell you why he really did it, but it's kind of a funny story...[/QUOTE] how the fuck does this guy not get banned, but any other pun on any other thread does? or when posting a fucking macro gets you banned? bullshit.
[QUOTE=goldenbuttocks;43279336]how the fuck does this guy not get banned, but any other pun on any other thread does? or when posting a fucking macro gets you banned? bullshit.[/QUOTE] because the pun was hilarious
I just cant feel sorry for successful people who kill themselves. There are people far worse off than you, grow up.
[QUOTE=kirito-kun;43283261]I just cant feel sorry for successful people who kill themselves. There are people far worse off than you, grow up.[/QUOTE] Impressively uninformed post by someone who clearly has no idea what depression can be like.
[QUOTE=kirito-kun;43283261]I just cant feel sorry for successful people who kill themselves. There are people far worse off than you, grow up.[/QUOTE] Oh, you have an anime avatar and anime name. Ok, let's disregard this and let's pay attention to people who know what the fuck they are talking about when they're talking about depression. Author, or just a normal citizen, depression hits you hard. It;s not about his fame, it's about the depression he suffered from. You probably have no idea what people with depression feel like or what they go through. Grow up, you ignorant fuck, or get out.
[QUOTE=kirito-kun;43283261]I just cant feel sorry for successful people who kill themselves. There are people far worse off than you, grow up.[/QUOTE] I can't feel sorry of people who die of cancer. They should just get better or something, dummies. - what you sound like.
[QUOTE=kirito-kun;43283261]I just cant feel sorry for successful people who kill themselves. There are people far worse off than you, grow up.[/QUOTE] What am I even reading?
[QUOTE=Alec W;43271005]You know that book is based on his actual life and struggles with depression right? [editline]22nd December 2013[/editline] As someone with actual depression myself this news is pretty shaking, seeing someone I look up to having caved to their feelings, and fuck you for making puns.[/QUOTE] It was actually a good pun. Quit being a little bitch about it.
[QUOTE=Chernobyl426;43283880]It was actually a good pun. Quit being a little bitch about it.[/QUOTE] Yeah man it's sooo funny that someone you looked up to for help with your mental illness killed themselves because of their mental illness you depressed people should just snap out of it and stop being so depressed. It's not like it's a [I]real[/I] illness anyway.
[QUOTE=OvB;43283939]Yeah man it's sooo funny that someone you looked up to for help with your mental illness killed themselves because of their mental illness you depressed people should just snap out of it and stop being so depressed. It's noy like it's a [I]real[/I] illness anyway.[/QUOTE] I'm not saying it isn't a bad thing that the man died. I'm saying that it was a funny pun. Now you're turning it into saying stuff I didn't say.
You're telling someone who is clearly shaken by the loss of someone that was helping with their illness to "stop being a little bitch." Why do you have to be such a gigantic asshole?
[QUOTE=OvB;43284046]You're telling someone who is clearly shaken by the loss of someone that was helping with their illness to "stop being a little bitch." Why do you have to be such a gigantic asshole?[/QUOTE] Finding something funny is involuntary. Just leave it.
[QUOTE=OvB;43284046]You're telling someone who is clearly shaken by the loss of someone that was helping with their illness to "stop being a little bitch." Why do you have to be such a gigantic asshole?[/QUOTE] Are you meant to be the clearly shaken one? How would anyone be able to tell if you are "clearly shaken"? You are just posting like an ass trying to make something out of nothing. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Shitposting" - UberMensch))[/highlight]
[QUOTE=Daemon;43284063]Finding something funny is involuntary. Just leave it.[/QUOTE] Telling someone who didn't find it funny that they are being a 'Little bitch' on the other hand is entirely voluntary
[QUOTE=kirito-kun;43283261]I just cant feel sorry for successful people who kill themselves. There are people far worse off than you, grow up.[/QUOTE] hey did you know that you're a prime contributor to why people kill themselves? this whole denying them help and telling them to grow up attitude makes the problem worse, you're not helping anyone or being a good person by being like that.
[QUOTE=kirito-kun;43283261]I just cant feel sorry for successful people who kill themselves. There are people far worse off than you, grow up.[/QUOTE] Yeah come back when you have any idea what you're talking about, thanks.
[QUOTE=xxncxx;43284182]hey did you know that you're a prime contributor to why people kill themselves? this whole denying them help and telling them to grow up attitude makes the problem worse, you're not helping anyone or being a good person by being like that.[/QUOTE] Why are people who want to kill themselves instantly in need of help? Some people just don't want to live anymore and that's fine with me. But all the bitching and moaning about how hard their life is and how bad it must be being a middle class white male... really it's pathetic.
[QUOTE=kirito-kun;43284246]Why are people who want to kill themselves instantly in need of help? Some people just don't want to live anymore and that's fine with me. But all the bitching and moaning about how hard their life is and how bad it must be being a middle class white male... really it's pathetic.[/QUOTE] Social standing has nothing to do with depression. It does not discriminate between wealth.
[QUOTE=kirito-kun;43284246]Why are people who want to kill themselves instantly in need of help? Some people just don't want to live anymore and that's fine with me. But all the bitching and moaning about how hard their life is and how bad it must be being a middle class white male... really it's pathetic.[/QUOTE] Because only middle class white males suffer from depression, right?
Anime teached me to be strong and cool, so depressed people should just watch anime instead of being depressed
[QUOTE=OvB;43284046]You're telling someone who is clearly shaken by the loss of someone that was helping with their illness to "stop being a little bitch." Why do you have to be such a gigantic asshole?[/QUOTE] Because "and fuck you for making puns" isn't being a gigantic asshole? Just because you're upset about something doesn't mean it isn't funny to other people. That's why I said quit being a little bitch.
[QUOTE=kirito-kun;43284246]Why are people who want to kill themselves instantly in need of help? Some people just don't want to live anymore and that's fine with me. But all the bitching and moaning about how hard their life is and how bad it must be being a middle class white male... really it's pathetic.[/QUOTE] Oh my god you have no idea what depression is, and it is shown clearly by this post, please stop acting like you know what you are talking about because you're only making yourself look more and more like an ignorant asshole.
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