Name: Girl, interrupted
Rating: 3.833810888252149 (349 reviews)
ISBN: 0786225955

Susanna Kaysen

Girl, interrupted

Girl, Interrupted

This book was funnier than I expected it to be. I’ve read it right after reading the bell jar and the continued insights of an asylum brought me an odd comfort. 

Brittnee Coffmen

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.

Mia Hamilton

stefano

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.

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.

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

“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.

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

Girl, interrupted

Reviews

Highlights