One day I was in a bookstore nearby and I saw this book and I just had a feeling that I need to buy it, now. I trusted it and bought the book and it could not have come at a better timing. Good job, instinct, hah! 
 Craig Gilner, a teenager living in Manhattan, gets diagnosed with severe clinical depression after joining the high school he has been dreaming of going to. The pressure of being not as smart as everyone else and not being able to keep up becomes unbearable until one day he decides to kill himself. But he checks himself into a mental hospital instead. 
 I started reading this about a month ago and I fell for it from the first page and this never really happened before so I wanted to keep reading it that day until it's finished but I thought I would better take my time with it cuz I would have just read it again if I had done that. It was scary to me how much I could relate to Craig's life and everything going on with him in the first part of the book, the "before" period. I guess we all at some point look for the shift. I am going through something similar currently and Vizzini did so accurately describe a lot of the things going on in my life right now which is why I found this book at times very comforting. Vizzini suffered from depression himself spending some time in a psychiatric ward in his early 20s, which makes you understand how he could so vividly and honestly portray such complex and intricate emotions and feelings. 
 I absolutely love Craig's family and how supportive and loving they were to him. Aaron is not the type of friend you have at a time like this, seriously! Nia is basically the bitch who always manages to make you feel shit about yourself. Noelle, regardless of the dumb stupid thing she did, is adorable and just lovely; I always have this one character I love the most and it's Noelle in here, so. The people of the hospital, you are awesome and beautiful, I would seriously go to a mental hospital if I could meet people like you. 
 Thank you, Ned Vizzini. It is very sad that someone like you has chosen to give up on life. May your soul rest in peace. 
 Will probably edit this after watching the movie and when I get to read it again. 
 Some favorite quotes: 
 People are screwed up in this world. I'd rather be with someone screwed up and open about it than somebody perfect and ready to explode. 
 Things to do today: 
 1) Breathe in. 
 2) Breathe out. 
 Sometimes I just think depression's one way of coping with the world. Like, some people get drunk, some people do drugs, some people get depressed. Because there's so much stuff out there that you have to do something to deal with it. 
 You want to play video games twenty-four hours a day? 
 Or watch. I just want to not be me. Whether it's sleeping or playing video games or riding my bike or studying. Giving my brain up. That's what's important. 
 Some days I woke up and got out of bed and brushed my teeth like any normal human being; some days I woke up and lay in bed and looked at the ceiling and wondered what the hell the point was of getting out of bed and brushing my teeth like any normal human being.