Susanna Kaysen

The author offers a compelling memoir of her two years as a teenager in a psychiatric hospital, sharing vivid portraits of her fellow patients, their keepers, and her experiences during treatment

Girl, Interrupted

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital. Her memoir of the next two years is a "poignant, honest ... triumphantly funny ... and heartbreaking story" (The New York Times Book Review).

The ward for teenage girls in the McLean psychiatric hospital was as renowned for its famous clientele—Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles—as for its progressive methods of treating those who could afford its sanctuary. Kaysen's memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers. It is a brilliant evocation of a "parallel universe" set within the kaleidoscopically shifting landscape of the late sixties.

Girl, Interrupted is a clear-sighted, unflinching document that gives lasting and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness and recovery.

Girl, interrupted

Lotte Tielemans

What is it about meter and cadence and rhythm that makes their makers mad?

Did the hospital specialize in poets and singers, or was it that poets and singers specialized in madness?

This clarity made me able to behave normally, which posed some interesting questions. Was everybody seeing posed this stuff and acting as though they weren't Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act? If some people didn't see these things, what was the matter with them? These questions had me unsettled. 

LIMEKI 

Si yo, que antes era repulsiva, estoy ahora tan lejos de mi yo loco, ¿Cuánto más lejos estarás tú, que nunca fuiste repulsiva, y cuánto más profunda será tu repulsión?

Un observador no puede saber si una persona está callada y quieta porque su vida interior se ha estancado o porque su vida interior está demasiado ocupada de una manera paralizante.

juana de arco si estuviera cronicamente online

“Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever.”

“Suicide is a form of murder - premeditated murder. It isn't something you do the first time you think of doing it. It takes getting used to. And you need the means, the opportunity, the motive. A successful suicide demands good organization and a cool head, both of which are usually incompatible with the suicidal state of mind.”

jana 

Our hospital was famous and had housed many great poets and singers. Did the hospital specialize in poets and singers, or was it that poets and singers specialized in madness?

And this was the main precondition, that anything might be something else. Once I'd accepted that, it followed that I might be mad, or that someone might think me mad. How could I say for certain that I wasn't, if I couldn't say for certain that a curtain wasn't a mountain range?

Suicide is a form of murder—premeditated murder. It isn't something you do the first time you think of doing it. It takes getting used to. And you need the means, the opportunity, the motive. A successful suicide demands good organization and a cool head, both of which are usually incompatible with the suicidal state of mind. 

It's important to cultivate detachment. One way to do this is to practice imagining yourself dead, or in the process of dying. If there's a window, you must imagine your body falling out of the window. If there's a knife, you must imagine the knife piercing your skin. If there's a train coming, you must imagine your torso flattened under its wheels. These exercises are necessary to achieving the proper distance. 

Who had the courage to burn herself? Twenty aspirin, a little slit alongside the veins of the arms, maybe even a bad half hour standing on a roof: We've all had those. And somewhat more dangerous things, like putting a gun in your mouth. But you put it there, you taste it, it's cold and greasy, your finger is on the trigger, and you find that a whole world lies between this moment and the moment you've been planning, when you'll pull the trigger. That world defeats you. You put the gun back in the drawer. You'll have to find another way.

akúa osei bobie 

“what is it about meter and cadence and rhythm that makes their makers mad?”

no cuz i felt this on an astronomical level 

Maya 

I wasn't a danger to society. Was I a danger to myself? The ffty aspirinbut I've explained them. They were meta- phorical. I wanted to get rid of a certain aspect of my char- acter. I was performing a kind of self-abortion with those aspirin. It worked for a while. Then it stopped, but I had no heart to try again.

Stella

“Smile and the world smiles with you, cry and you cry alone”

Amanda Autumn Berrey

Many disorders, judging by the hospital population, were more commonly diagnosed in women.

“The disorder is more commonly diagnosed in women.” Note the construction of that sentence. They did not write, “The disorder is more common in women.” It would still be suspect, but they didn’t even bother trying to cover their tracks

What does borderline personality mean, anyhow? It appears to be a way station between neurosis and psychosis: a fractured but not disassembled psyche. Though to quote my post-Melvin psychiatrist: “It’s what they call people whose lifestyles bother them.”

Mental illness seems to be a communication problem between interpreters one and two.

“She’s not reliable,” said Georgina. “She’d use all that money for junk anyhow,” I said. “I might too,” Torrey pointed out.

An observer can’t tell if a person is silent and still because inner life has stalled or because inner life is transfixingly busy.

“A suburban junkie,” said Lisa. “You were playing, that’s what.”

When she’d been with us a month or so, Lisa Cody got a diagnosis. She was a sociopath too. She was happy, because she wanted to be like Lisa in all things. Lisa was not so happy, because she had been the only sociopath among us. “We are very rare,” she told me once, “and mostly we are men.” After Lisa Cody got her diagnosis, the Lisas started making more trouble. “Acting out,” the nurses said. We knew what it was. The real Lisa was proving that Lisa Cody wasn’t a sociopath.

This clarity made me able to behave normally, which posed some interesting questions. Was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren’t? Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?

Actually, it was only part of myself I wanted to kill: the part that wanted to kill herself

Mia Hamilton

absolutely wonderful read. it was very eye-opening to read someone else's experience with BPD and how it was treated decades ago. i related to a lot of it, unfortunately, but it helped me feel seen. susanna is a lovely, witty woman that didn't let her BPD stop her from eventually figuring herself out.

kaii

After hearing about this book for years, I was quite scared to even read it. But nonetheless, I enjoyed it. It was face paced and didn't take but 3 hours to read (give or take). This story is one I think everyone should read at least once in their life. A glimpse into mental illness as well as being a women. What it's like to be in a mental ward. This book, while short, has it all.

trix

i actually finished it on monday but forgot to say

maggie sweeney

i actually finished it on monday but forgot to say

south a good book and easy read

stefano

As a woman who has grown with a mental illness and it's still in treatment, I have a deep connection with this book. 

Anna 

Knížku jsem přečetla dohromady asi během dvou a půl hodiny, má 140 stránek, a jsem ráda, že se mi dostala do rukou, protože nahlédnout za oponu léčebny je prostě něco neskutečného. Ještě když se děj odehrává v šedesátých letech. A ještě když je podle skutečné události samotné autorky.
Knížka je pojatá spíše jako vyprávění, máme tady hodně skoků v čase, které vám nikdo nevysvětlí (teď mě napadlo, že to je asi záměr autorky, protože sama popisovala, že ve svých myšlenkách skákala v čase) a občas knížka zní jako Wikipedie. Posledních cca 15 stránek jsem rychle projížděla pohledem, protože jsem tomu, co v knížce bylo napsáno, vůbec nerozuměla. Bylo to občas až moc odborné.
✩
3,5*/5*
Jsem ráda, že jsem si knížku přečetla, ale za mě byl lepší stejnojmenný film, jelikož tam jsem se aspoň trochu vyznávala v tom, co se děje.

Jada

Luke Harkness

Read my full review on my website.

Girl, Interrupted covers an interesting topic on mental health. It tells a story of a time when mental health was dealt with vastly differently to today’s far more mature and sensitive methods. However, some of the topics discussed and views taken could still be considered today. Despite the interesting ideas and the more interesting characters Kaysen met throughout her life, it’s not a memoir that’s going to stay with me for very long as I just didn’t find it that fascinating.

read this book after watching the movie. I would say that the movie was executed very well but have lots of differences and I love how the title was explained in the book.

ps: i just know that this was based on author's memoir huhu.. 

nine

read this book after watching the movie. I would say that the movie was executed very well but have lots of differences and I love how the title was explained in the book.

ps: i just know that this was based on author's memoir huhu.. 

Isabella 

this book delves into mental health and the mental health system of the time period. it was so sincere, and raw. susanna is a captivating narrator; reading her story and her internal thoughts felt like i was talking to someone i personally know. the parts where we see her files made the experience more raw. i loved it.

It was a quick and simple read, and given that it's also a memoir by Susanna Kaysen during her time in a mental institution, I found it to be quite intriguing.  I understood the message of this book, however, the author highlights the other characters’ experiences more than her. I'm not sure if that was deliberate, but while reading this, I kind of expected to find out more about how does a young girl’s mind work as well as her own progress while being treated in the hospital. I think this book was very surface-level when it comes to tackling mental health issues and it is quite disappointing.

In spite of that, I think this book raises mind-provoking questions in which at the time might still be considered taboo. I like how this book portrays how difficult it is for a teenage girl to comprehend her own mental illness as well as how it sheds light on how other people’s perceptions and actions affect our own behavior and how we see ourselves.

It was a quick and simple read, and given that it's also a memoir by Susanna Kaysen during her time in a mental institution, I found it to be quite intriguing.  I understood the message of this book, however, the author highlights the other characters’ experiences more than her. I'm not sure if that was deliberate, but while reading this, I kind of expected to find out more about how does a young girl’s mind work as well as her own progress while being treated in the hospital. I think this book was very surface-level when it comes to tackling mental health issues and it is quite disappointing.

In spite of that, I think this book raises mind-provoking questions in which at the time might still be considered taboo. I like how this book portrays how difficult it is for a teenage girl to comprehend her own mental illness as well as how it sheds light on how other people’s perceptions and actions affect our own behavior and how we see ourselves.

definitely an important story/perspective to share. i personally don't think i took much of anything away from it though

petrina

mads

“Was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren’t? Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?”

This quote haunts me in a way that it makes me questioning the line between sanity and insanity.

I enjoyed this memoir as it explores mental illnesses in the 60s through the vivid experience of the author who was institutionalized during her late teen years. Her writing is raw and honest and enlightening. 

dinda

“Was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren’t? Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?”

This quote haunts me in a way that it makes me questioning the line between sanity and insanity.

I enjoyed this memoir as it explores mental illnesses in the 60s through the vivid experience of the author who was institutionalized during her late teen years. Her writing is raw and honest and enlightening. 

jess

this hits so close to home i'm actually tearing up

In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital. She spent most of the next two years in the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital as renowned for its famous clientele—Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles—as for its progressive methods of treating those who could afford its sanctuary. Kaysen's memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers. It is a brilliant evocation of a "parallel universe" set within the kaleidoscopically shifting landscape of the late sixties. Girl, Interrupted is a clear-sighted, unflinching document that gives lasting and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness and recovery.

Laura Mauler

I couldn't put it down, read it straight through in one night. Absolutely fantastic.

Katherine 

I am such a sucker for ANYTHING about mental institutions. Probably because it's my destiny to end up inside one. Regardless, one of the great things about this book is its format-- the chapters act as small stories within themselves, piecing together to form a full story. It makes the book seem like a shorter read.

I found this book in a free box on a stoop two blocks from my apartment and picked it up because I knew nothing about it other than that the title sounded familiar (I also picked up a book about mini aquariums and a puzzle). I finished it the day I started, it’s one of those books. It’s satisfying to read something in which the author has found and fine-tuned their own voice and is equal parts funny, honest, and relatable. I felt close to my teen-self again but her flaws felt endearing and her mental health struggles understandable. I appreciate Kaysen for that.

“An observer can’t tell if a person is silent and still because inner life has stalled or because inner life is transfixingly busy.”

Rebecca Lum

I found this book in a free box on a stoop two blocks from my apartment and picked it up because I knew nothing about it other than that the title sounded familiar (I also picked up a book about mini aquariums and a puzzle). I finished it the day I started, it’s one of those books. It’s satisfying to read something in which the author has found and fine-tuned their own voice and is equal parts funny, honest, and relatable. I felt close to my teen-self again but her flaws felt endearing and her mental health struggles understandable. I appreciate Kaysen for that.

“An observer can’t tell if a person is silent and still because inner life has stalled or because inner life is transfixingly busy.”

cool to see inside a mental institution from the perspective of a young girl grappling with her grip on reality, read after seeing the movie and I think it would’ve been better to read then watch

cedar winslow

I wasn't a danger to society. Was I a danger to myself?

Never thought I could love a book THIS much. I will never get tired of rereading it.

nindy

I wasn't a danger to society. Was I a danger to myself?

Never thought I could love a book THIS much. I will never get tired of rereading it.

tiff

I liked this book. I could relate to the diagnosis of "Borderline Personality Disorder" because I HAVE Borderline Personality Disorder. I related to the diagnosis in this book, rather than with Susanna Kaysen. I felt that she had a valid reason to contrast and compare her situation with the diagnosis of her therapist. I don't condemn her for that. I know of my own struggle and I was COMPLETELY all those things. I was diagnosed when I was 17 (a point to be made about when the diagnosis is given, usually, in the late teens.) Susanna Kaysen really SHOULD have questioned the diagnosis, though more is known about it in the world of psychology today and even when the book was written. She had the right to question it because her struggle didn't seem as severe as mine and the fact that it isn't necessarily a chemical imbalance means that there are environmental factors that sort of trigger this kind of thing. I know what triggered mine and her life didn't seem as bad as mine did, or, for that matter, any of the Borderline's I knew. 
The movie was filmed in the Harrisburg State Hospital- I got there two weeks after it stopped filming. I was sent because I was in the throes of the illness. Susanna never seemed that bad off to be sent to a state hospital for two years, about as long as I stayed.
Just as she said, crazy people line the walls of those places and her depiction is fantastic. But what I didn't like is how fast it moves; little background on her parents (a lot of times the disorder will be triggered by the emotional distance, physical abuse, sexual abuse, or vicious threats done by one or the other parent or both). I wanted to see more into her life before the hospital stay. I'm Borderline, have been for 13 years and I would have liked the book more if she gave me some history, as I know every Borderline has a history, whether they deny ever being one or not.

Girl, Interrupted

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