Currently on the top of my reading list is a colorful non-fiction novel, Teen Angst? Naaah… by Ned Vizzini. The author calls it his “Quasi-Autobiography.” Having read his top-seller, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, I was interested to find out the depiction of the main character in It’s Kind of a Funny Story was based from himself, Ned Vizzini. In Teen Angst? Naaah…, Vizzini talks about himself from a first-person point of view, which reads as a collection of essays he has written throughout his preteen to late teenage years. Throughout the introductions and first several chapters of the novel, Vizzini has been, as expected, indefinitely humorous.
Vizzini dives into the novel by first explaining to the readers why and how he started writing this humorous collection of encounters within his young life. It all began with his backpack. Ned Vizzini lived in New York City; as students did not attend schools which were closest to the student, Ned, along with many other students, went to a school specialized for Math and Science in middle school. His school was so, rather large, there were several escalators within its grounds. He set his backpack against his legs while riding down the escalator, causing it to tumble down the flight and into the hind legs of a girl (imaginarily talking on her imaginary cell phone), who decided to make Ned’s life miserable by yelling at him. During the subway ride home, Ned pulled out a scrap piece of paper and scribbled rants about this girl. This is what the introduction of his first non-fiction novel became.
When the Nintendo came out, Ned explains (throughout about fifteen pages) how the Nintendo truly did save his childhood. As a compulsive worker, Ned dedicated himself to one single thing during his childhood and would be satisfied with occupying himself with that single thing for months at a time. Whether it was Nintendo or the Specialized Science High School Admissions Test (SSHSAT), Ned was constantly involved in one specific thing at a time. Later in my reading, the SSHSAT bluntly showed Ned’s problem. Spending hours every day studying, making note cards and using them all throughout the day, asking his parents to buy him every text book which could help him, Ned Vizzini had a problem with over-commitment. He never saw the line between hard working and working yourself too hard.
Although the encounters Ned goes through are relatively humorous, the melancholy outlook is a twist. Even though I am laughing with Ned for all the bad things that had gone wrong in his life, I feel sorry for him on a level I do not think he does. It is a stretch, but I think the author sees his life as humorous and simply cannot see the utter unfairness I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment