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Girl, Interrupted
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 on 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 documnet that gives lasting and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness and recovery.
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 documnet that gives lasting and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness and recovery.
169 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1993
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About the author
Susanna Kaysen
9books1,937followersSusanna Kaysen is an American author best known for her memoir Girl, Interrupted, based on her experiences at McLean Hospital. Born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts, she is the daughter of economist Carl Kaysen. Her other works include Asa, As I Knew Him, Far Afield, The Camera My Mother Gave Me, and Cambridge. Kaysen has also lived in the Faroe Islands and often draws on personal experiences in her writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 12,565 reviews
February 6, 2008
have you ever spent any time in a psychiatric hospital? yeah, well, i don't recommend it. i was a patient for a total of 2 and a half days, and it was one of the best and worst experiences of my life. i liked this book because i was able to relate to some of her feelings. when i went in, it was because i was on the verge of something, and thank god i caught myself in time. my first morning there, i remember thinking, "i have to get out of here, because i may not be crazy now, but these people will make me crazy." i'm so glad to have been proved wrong. while this may sound terrible, i listened to the other people's problems, and realized that my mild depression (or whatever it was) was nothing in comparison to what these poor people were going through in their lives. susana keysen may have had some problems, but overall, she was one of the sanest people there. she was able to get to know some "interesting" people, and in seeing them, she could compare her own problems to theirs.
sorry to use my own story to describe someone else's book, but that's what made it such a good read for me. a good book should have the ability to transfer you to that time or place, and my experiences made it so much easier for this book.
sorry to use my own story to describe someone else's book, but that's what made it such a good read for me. a good book should have the ability to transfer you to that time or place, and my experiences made it so much easier for this book.
March 15, 2012
“Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?�
Good question, isn't it? You may start asking yourself this after reading this book.
I only spent a few months taking care of patients in psychiatric hospitals, but it made me really appreciate the nuances of Kaysen's story. It is the viewpoint of someone who had to experience questioning her sanity - the one thing most of us take for granted.
This book does not have a defined plot or a linear narrative - it is just a story of an unhappy young woman trying to find her place in a world that excludes her, and it is an enlightening and interesting read. I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in medicine or psychology.
I only spent a few months taking care of patients in psychiatric hospitals, but it made me really appreciate the nuances of Kaysen's story. It is the viewpoint of someone who had to experience questioning her sanity - the one thing most of us take for granted.
"Every window in Alcatraz has a view of San Francisco."What some don't know about personality disorders is that they will not "just go away". You can learn how to cope with them, but you will not be "cured". The scary thing about them is that you can look at them as bits of your "regular" personality, just significantly amplified. Some of borderline personality disorder symptoms include implusivity, uncertaintly about one's identity, rapid changes in interests and values, thinking in black-or-white terms, unstable or turbulent emotions, chaotic relationships, fear of being abandoned, and feelings of emptiness and boredom. I am sure all of us have experienced some of these at one time or another. The scary question then becomes - what separates "normal" from "crazy"? Where are we on that spectrum? Is that what scares us about "going crazy"? The same question seems to be troubling Kaysen.
“Was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren't? Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?�Doctors and nurses alike tend to be wary of patients with personality disorders, and borderline personality disorder in particular gets a bad rap. It can be quite draining treating someone with BPD, that's true, but we don't always think about what the world must seem like through their eyes. And that's where Girl, Interrupted brings this often overlooked perspective.
This book does not have a defined plot or a linear narrative - it is just a story of an unhappy young woman trying to find her place in a world that excludes her, and it is an enlightening and interesting read. I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in medicine or psychology.
January 12, 2024
I can always tell I really, truly liked a book, really felt it and enjoyed it, when one of two things occurs:
1) I spontaneously tear up at the ending.
2) I immediately need to own a hardcover copy but hardcovers are hard to find so I do the unthinkable: Check eBay.
I did both of these things as soon as I finished.
This is a really good book.
Bottom line: One I will certainly come back to both physically and mentally!!!
---------------
tbr review
why do i read anything except memoirs
1) I spontaneously tear up at the ending.
2) I immediately need to own a hardcover copy but hardcovers are hard to find so I do the unthinkable: Check eBay.
I did both of these things as soon as I finished.
This is a really good book.
Bottom line: One I will certainly come back to both physically and mentally!!!
---------------
tbr review
why do i read anything except memoirs
August 6, 2022
I have an urge to wrongly self diagnose myself with BPD
May 23, 2022
“I told her once I wasn’t good at anything. She told me survival is a talent�
Girl Interrupted is a memoir centred around the 18 months that the Author, Susanna Kaysen spent in a psychiatric hospital during the 1960s when she was 18 years old. Susanna was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder by a therapist and was whisked off to McLean hospital in Massachusetts (other former patients include: James Taylor, Ray Charles and Sylvia Plath). Susanna introduces us to a variety of characters who she encountered and became friends with during her time at the hospital.
Perhaps the most haunting and disturbing aspect of this memoir is the depiction of how mental health was handled in the sixties. Attitudes towards mental health still have a long way to go but thank goodness we've made some improvements towards understanding and treating mental health.
Susanna’s writing style is frank and insightful. She breaks down and analyses her own diagnosis, illness and behaviour through a series of vignettes which makes for an interesting read. At times, I wanted a little more, I can't put my finger on what it was... but this was an incredibly written memoir, published at a time when mental health was not a widely discussed topic.
Very insightful. The film adaptation is just brilliant. Highly Recommend.
“Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy�
Girl Interrupted is a memoir centred around the 18 months that the Author, Susanna Kaysen spent in a psychiatric hospital during the 1960s when she was 18 years old. Susanna was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder by a therapist and was whisked off to McLean hospital in Massachusetts (other former patients include: James Taylor, Ray Charles and Sylvia Plath). Susanna introduces us to a variety of characters who she encountered and became friends with during her time at the hospital.
Perhaps the most haunting and disturbing aspect of this memoir is the depiction of how mental health was handled in the sixties. Attitudes towards mental health still have a long way to go but thank goodness we've made some improvements towards understanding and treating mental health.
Susanna’s writing style is frank and insightful. She breaks down and analyses her own diagnosis, illness and behaviour through a series of vignettes which makes for an interesting read. At times, I wanted a little more, I can't put my finger on what it was... but this was an incredibly written memoir, published at a time when mental health was not a widely discussed topic.
Very insightful. The film adaptation is just brilliant. Highly Recommend.
“Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy�
February 17, 2016
I’m sort of at a loss for how to describe this book and the emotions it provoked within me. I guess the best word I could use is “unsettled�, but probably not for the reason you would imagine.
This quote might shed some light on what I mean:
“The less likely (a) terrible thing is to happen, the less frightening it is to look at or imagine. A person who doesn’t talk to herself or stare into nothingness is therefore more alarming than a person who does. Someone who acts “normal� raises the uncomfortable question, What’s keeping me out of the loony bin?�
Precisely. This story is told not from the perspective of someone who sees creatures lurking in the shadows, or is convinced that she is the girlfriend of a Martian, or is blinded by homicidal rage, but by a young woman fully self-aware of her own shortcomings.
It made me ask myself, which is the worse fate? Descending blindly into madness, or being fully aware of your own dilemma and finding yourself helpless to prevent it?
I think the reason that so many people find this tale so haunting is that while reading it, one can’t help but compare themselves to the narrator. I certainly did. And that’s the very reason this book left me feeling so unnerved.
I was strikingly similar to this MC at the age of her institutionalization. What if I had been unlucky enough to be diagnosed by a therapist like hers? He spent all of fifteen minutes with her and came to the conclusion that she needed to be committed.
After reading about the interaction, I can’t help but wonder…WHY? And more disturbingly…why not ME?
I dare you to read this and not ask yourself the same questions.
This review can also be found at .
February 25, 2022
liking this book is peak hot but also very much mentally-ill girl energy
February 10, 2015
Find all of my reviews at:
“People ask, how did you get in there? What they really want to know is if they are likely to end up in there as well. I can’t answer the real question. All I can tell them is, it’s easy.�
Boy was it ever easy for Susanna Kaysen to end up in a psychiatric hospital. Now, Susanna was not “normal� per se. She randomly obsessed about things as bizarre as whether or not she actually had bones in her body since she couldn’t see them and was battling depression that at one point led her to down 50 aspirin. She most definitely needed some help . . . But in the 1960s the form of help provided to young girls like Susanna was a long-term stay in the local looney bin where the Thorazine flowed like water and electric shock therapy was a sure-fire cure for crazy.
Although compact and a very fast read, Girl Interrupted is a haunting story that I won’t soon forget and will easily go down as one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. Not only is the story fascinating (and a bit horrifying), but Ms. Kaysen’s writing is some of the most truthful I’ve seen . . .
“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.�
“I think many people kill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won’t.�
“It was only part of myself I wanted to kill: the part that wanted to kill herself.�
“‘Today, you seem puzzled about something.� Of course I was sad and puzzled, I was eighteen, it was spring, and I was behind bars.�
Highly recommended.
“People ask, how did you get in there? What they really want to know is if they are likely to end up in there as well. I can’t answer the real question. All I can tell them is, it’s easy.�
Boy was it ever easy for Susanna Kaysen to end up in a psychiatric hospital. Now, Susanna was not “normal� per se. She randomly obsessed about things as bizarre as whether or not she actually had bones in her body since she couldn’t see them and was battling depression that at one point led her to down 50 aspirin. She most definitely needed some help . . . But in the 1960s the form of help provided to young girls like Susanna was a long-term stay in the local looney bin where the Thorazine flowed like water and electric shock therapy was a sure-fire cure for crazy.
Although compact and a very fast read, Girl Interrupted is a haunting story that I won’t soon forget and will easily go down as one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. Not only is the story fascinating (and a bit horrifying), but Ms. Kaysen’s writing is some of the most truthful I’ve seen . . .
“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.�
“I think many people kill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won’t.�
“It was only part of myself I wanted to kill: the part that wanted to kill herself.�
“‘Today, you seem puzzled about something.� Of course I was sad and puzzled, I was eighteen, it was spring, and I was behind bars.�
Highly recommended.
August 19, 2016
Everything is made of language. In the morning you hear those damned birdies tweedlydee tweedlydoo to each other or some damned cats meowing but that’s not language. It may be communication but it has no grammar and it can only describe the here and now (the hear and know). The birdies are tweebing about the cats, “look there’s a kitty cat watch out� and the cats are meowing about the birdies (“I see a lot of edible things in trees�) and it doesn’t get much more interesting than that. They will never write a novel. Whereas humans are the opposite, they almost never talk about the here and now. It’s always “I’m sure this wasn’t as expensive as last time we were here� or “you have to get your suit cleaned for next week�. Human language is a really dangerous device, it’s explosive, because not only can you talk about things that aren’t in the here and now, you can with very little effort talk about things that couldn’t possibly exist ever. The owl and the pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat. They took some honey and plenty of money wrapped up in a five pound note. Well, it’s just nonsense, because you wouldn’t wrap up honey in a five pound note, it would gunge up the five pound note, no retailer would accept it, and anyway, an owl and a pussycat would never be able to hire a boat. They wouldn’t have a clue about navigation � how could they use oars? Is this a motorised boat? Was it a tidal estuary? Anyway, I’m getting distracted � by language. And this proves my point. Language means that hardly anything we say is true. I wish I was dead. My mother’s going to kill me. The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain. I am no longer in control of my own brain, something else is. All commonly used phrases, a million of them, none of them literally true. Well, we hope not. We hope there are very few mothers who will kill their children, actually kill them, if they’re an hour late. The metaphorical aspect of language, which is its limitless joy and psychedelic legerdemain that we all are in love with, or why would we be readers, leads us humanish beings into some unhappy dark places. All that beating of heads against walls about the Trinity in Christianity for instance. It’s a metaphor � three aspects of God � not three Gods � it’s a poetic way of expressing an ineffable reality (if you’re a Christian) - but the metaphor escaped and took on a life of its own and became a source of much befuddlement. Susanna Kaysen artfully informs us how the madness gets in. It’s when you can’t tell what is language describing something that is from language describing something that might be or could be or never could be. She gives an example � that bureau in the corner looks like a tiger (simile). No � that bureau in the corner IS a tiger! This whole book is about whether we are brains or minds. Brains are very very very very very very very complex machines. But minds are something else. Drugs can fix brains like oil can fix an engine. But drugs can’t fix minds.
The only power they had was to dope us up. Thorazine, Stelazine, Mellaril, Librium, Valium : the therapists� friends. Once we were on it, it was hard to get off. A bit like heroin, except it was the staff who got addicted to our taking it.
This is a gigantic debate and may, of course, be another metaphor that has taken on an undeserved life of its own. (Is there a ghost in the machine? Well, I don’t believe in ghosts. But if a thing walks like a ghost and quacks like a ghost, then maybe.)
Language leads this memoir astray. Susanna’s account of her 18 month stay in the loony bin (her jocular term, don’t look at me like that) is so wry, “cool, elegant and unexpectedly funny� (Sunday Times), “triumphantly funny� (NYT), “darkly comic� (Newsweek), so mordant, so witty, that it without meaning to verges on presenting hospitalization for mental illness as a hip alternative to college. The tag line on the back of my copy is : “Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy�. Hmmph, I should say not. Like it’s some kind of choice. Like you’re aligning mentally ill people with hipsters, beatniks, drop-outs, Left Bank artistic sufferers, hey, Van Gogh, Sylvia Plath � all those cool types. That’s the blurb writer getting carried away. Like all of us. Carried away by the onrushing ever tumbling surge of human language which is the ruin and the salvation of us all.
The only power they had was to dope us up. Thorazine, Stelazine, Mellaril, Librium, Valium : the therapists� friends. Once we were on it, it was hard to get off. A bit like heroin, except it was the staff who got addicted to our taking it.
This is a gigantic debate and may, of course, be another metaphor that has taken on an undeserved life of its own. (Is there a ghost in the machine? Well, I don’t believe in ghosts. But if a thing walks like a ghost and quacks like a ghost, then maybe.)
Language leads this memoir astray. Susanna’s account of her 18 month stay in the loony bin (her jocular term, don’t look at me like that) is so wry, “cool, elegant and unexpectedly funny� (Sunday Times), “triumphantly funny� (NYT), “darkly comic� (Newsweek), so mordant, so witty, that it without meaning to verges on presenting hospitalization for mental illness as a hip alternative to college. The tag line on the back of my copy is : “Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy�. Hmmph, I should say not. Like it’s some kind of choice. Like you’re aligning mentally ill people with hipsters, beatniks, drop-outs, Left Bank artistic sufferers, hey, Van Gogh, Sylvia Plath � all those cool types. That’s the blurb writer getting carried away. Like all of us. Carried away by the onrushing ever tumbling surge of human language which is the ruin and the salvation of us all.
March 2, 2025
A savagely reminiscent skewed morality tale for experienced folks like me! Been there, done that. ŷ ROCKS!
The turning point of Susanna's memoirs is when she realises that the pain of self-immolation will not release you from all your pain and get you back to the happy/sad self you once were. Peace is a burnt offering now.
That self has been forever scorched. Alia acta est!
No, you can't go home again. Deal with it, she learns. So we all do - but the longest distance from the line of scrimmage to the goalpost is in that final yard when we go Straight up the Middle!
Excelsior or die.
When I was a mere lad of nineteen my politically immersed Mom advised me to "Never Fight City Hall!" ( city hall meaning my Dad, my Boss or God.)
You can't put yourself first.
After doing just that for nearly 60 years, I found she was painfully right.
Peace is the Prize of Hope. And doing things our Own Way is just too Hopeless.
So at 75, Heaven is the Prize of my staight-up-the-middle medicated Hope!
The turning point of Susanna's memoirs is when she realises that the pain of self-immolation will not release you from all your pain and get you back to the happy/sad self you once were. Peace is a burnt offering now.
That self has been forever scorched. Alia acta est!
No, you can't go home again. Deal with it, she learns. So we all do - but the longest distance from the line of scrimmage to the goalpost is in that final yard when we go Straight up the Middle!
Excelsior or die.
When I was a mere lad of nineteen my politically immersed Mom advised me to "Never Fight City Hall!" ( city hall meaning my Dad, my Boss or God.)
You can't put yourself first.
After doing just that for nearly 60 years, I found she was painfully right.
Peace is the Prize of Hope. And doing things our Own Way is just too Hopeless.
So at 75, Heaven is the Prize of my staight-up-the-middle medicated Hope!
February 17, 2024
DEL TUTTO CREDIBILE EPPURE IRREALE
Susanna = Winona Ryder
L’ospedale era su una collina fuori città, proprio come gli ospedali nei film sui matti. Il nostro era famoso e aveva ospitato molti grandi poeti e cantanti. Era l’ospedale specializzato in poeti e cantanti, o erano poeti e cantanti specializzati in pazzia?
Lisa = Angelina Jolie
Nel 1967, quando inizia questa storia, il McLean Hospital, specializzato in psichiatria, aveva già avuto tra i suoi ospiti e pazienti Ray Charles, James Taylor, Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell: i primi due per l’appunto cantanti, i secondi due poeti.
Altri pazienti famosi furono il matematico John Nash (quello raccontato nel film A Beautiful Mind con Russell Crowe), Anne Sexton, DFW.
Susanna Kaysen ci entrò che non aveva ancora diciannove anni credendo di restarci solo due settimane, e finì invece con l’uscire quando di anni ne aveva venti. (diciannove mesi di ricovero).
Valerie = Whoopi Goldberg
Aveva già tentato il suicidio, ma in modo particolarmente maldestro: ingerito 50 aspirine e avvisato per telefono il ragazzo dell’epoca. Ovviamente si salvò, finì tutto in una lavanda gastrica, e in un ricordo, forse perfino bello, perché Susanna dice che dopo non ha più avute tendenze suicide.
Quello che c’era e che maggiormente la portò al ricovero nell’ospedale psichiatrico di cui sopra, fu il dolore, il disagio di vivere. Anche lei, pur se perfettamente consapevole, aveva visioni che le deformavano la realtà intorno: facce di gomma, superfici che si trasformavano in reticolati geometrici e via andare.
Eppure la famiglia era più che ‘buona�, più che certificata e agiata: per esempio, suo padre Carl Kaysen era un economista che insegnava al MIT, ed era primo consigliere del presidente John F. Kennedy.
Dr Wick = Vanessa Redgrave
Ma Susanna era donna, e allora le cose si complicavano: se faceva fatica a entrare nella casellina destinata a lei � fidanzamento, matrimonio, figlio, casa, cucina, lavatrici ecc � si poteva dire che era matta, o isterica. D’altra parte alla sua epoca il target delle case farmaceutiche per quanto riguardava i farmaci psicotropi era proprio l’altra metà del cielo. E quindi, scava scava - ma anche volendo rimanere in superficie � qui si parla di Eva, e Medea, Circe, Medusa, tutte finite dentro lo specchio come Alice.
Melvin/Dr Potts = Jeffrey Tambor
Pubblicato venticinque anni dopo (1993) in apparente forma di diario, alterna brevi capitoli pressoché autoconclusivi, episodi, sketch, a documenti ospedalieri ufficiali, diagnosi, referti ecc. Ogni cosa è raccontata con abbondante ricorso all’ironia, anche i momenti più neri: infatti, questo gruppo di pazienti psicotiche, più o meno coetanee di Susanna, rumorose lamentose rabbiose - il silenzio è il grande assente nel reparto, è quello di cui Susanna sente maggiormente la mancanza, più ancora della libertà - , sprigionano tutte simpatia tenerezza e calore umano.
Ma la parte del libro che ho trovato più bella è l’ultimo quarto quando Susanna “guarisce�, esce, affronta il futuro, incontra un paio di compagne di reparto, ragiona sulla sua malattia, o pazzia, o disturbo, o disagio, o dolore, che dir si voglia: qui la Kaysen, senza abbandonare l’ironia, sa colpirmi dritto al cuore, in fondo fino all’osso.
Toby = Jared Leto (salta agli occhi la barba posticcia)
Il titolo del romanzo è preso da un quadro di Vermeer esposto al Frick che Susanna vede prima di essere ricoverata, e rivede anni dopo essere stata dimessa: Ragazza interrotta mentre suona. Un quadro che Vermeer immerge nella sua tipica luce, del tutto credibile, eppure irreale.
Il film ha lo stesso titolo, ed è del 1999. Più che tratto o basato, è liberamente ispirato al romanzo. Chiaro che una cosa è leggere di manicomio, stanze di isolamento, camicie di forza, elettroshock, altra cosa è vederli. Tuttavia è proprio una scelta drammaturgica quella di adottare un tono drammatico, e meno ironico, inventarsi un percorso con inizio e fine invece che a zig zag come il romanzo, che così facendo evita la parabola edificante. In sintesi un approccio più banale e meno critico. Nonostante la regia di James Mangold, che ce ne ha regalati diversi molto belli, il film non mantiene l’originalità e la potenza di sguardo del romanzo.
Polly = Elisabeth Moss
Georgina = Clea DuVall
Daisy = Brittany Murphy
Susanna = Winona Ryder
L’ospedale era su una collina fuori città, proprio come gli ospedali nei film sui matti. Il nostro era famoso e aveva ospitato molti grandi poeti e cantanti. Era l’ospedale specializzato in poeti e cantanti, o erano poeti e cantanti specializzati in pazzia?
Lisa = Angelina Jolie
Nel 1967, quando inizia questa storia, il McLean Hospital, specializzato in psichiatria, aveva già avuto tra i suoi ospiti e pazienti Ray Charles, James Taylor, Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell: i primi due per l’appunto cantanti, i secondi due poeti.
Altri pazienti famosi furono il matematico John Nash (quello raccontato nel film A Beautiful Mind con Russell Crowe), Anne Sexton, DFW.
Susanna Kaysen ci entrò che non aveva ancora diciannove anni credendo di restarci solo due settimane, e finì invece con l’uscire quando di anni ne aveva venti. (diciannove mesi di ricovero).
Valerie = Whoopi Goldberg
Aveva già tentato il suicidio, ma in modo particolarmente maldestro: ingerito 50 aspirine e avvisato per telefono il ragazzo dell’epoca. Ovviamente si salvò, finì tutto in una lavanda gastrica, e in un ricordo, forse perfino bello, perché Susanna dice che dopo non ha più avute tendenze suicide.
Quello che c’era e che maggiormente la portò al ricovero nell’ospedale psichiatrico di cui sopra, fu il dolore, il disagio di vivere. Anche lei, pur se perfettamente consapevole, aveva visioni che le deformavano la realtà intorno: facce di gomma, superfici che si trasformavano in reticolati geometrici e via andare.
Eppure la famiglia era più che ‘buona�, più che certificata e agiata: per esempio, suo padre Carl Kaysen era un economista che insegnava al MIT, ed era primo consigliere del presidente John F. Kennedy.
Dr Wick = Vanessa Redgrave
Ma Susanna era donna, e allora le cose si complicavano: se faceva fatica a entrare nella casellina destinata a lei � fidanzamento, matrimonio, figlio, casa, cucina, lavatrici ecc � si poteva dire che era matta, o isterica. D’altra parte alla sua epoca il target delle case farmaceutiche per quanto riguardava i farmaci psicotropi era proprio l’altra metà del cielo. E quindi, scava scava - ma anche volendo rimanere in superficie � qui si parla di Eva, e Medea, Circe, Medusa, tutte finite dentro lo specchio come Alice.
Melvin/Dr Potts = Jeffrey Tambor
Pubblicato venticinque anni dopo (1993) in apparente forma di diario, alterna brevi capitoli pressoché autoconclusivi, episodi, sketch, a documenti ospedalieri ufficiali, diagnosi, referti ecc. Ogni cosa è raccontata con abbondante ricorso all’ironia, anche i momenti più neri: infatti, questo gruppo di pazienti psicotiche, più o meno coetanee di Susanna, rumorose lamentose rabbiose - il silenzio è il grande assente nel reparto, è quello di cui Susanna sente maggiormente la mancanza, più ancora della libertà - , sprigionano tutte simpatia tenerezza e calore umano.
Ma la parte del libro che ho trovato più bella è l’ultimo quarto quando Susanna “guarisce�, esce, affronta il futuro, incontra un paio di compagne di reparto, ragiona sulla sua malattia, o pazzia, o disturbo, o disagio, o dolore, che dir si voglia: qui la Kaysen, senza abbandonare l’ironia, sa colpirmi dritto al cuore, in fondo fino all’osso.
Toby = Jared Leto (salta agli occhi la barba posticcia)
Il titolo del romanzo è preso da un quadro di Vermeer esposto al Frick che Susanna vede prima di essere ricoverata, e rivede anni dopo essere stata dimessa: Ragazza interrotta mentre suona. Un quadro che Vermeer immerge nella sua tipica luce, del tutto credibile, eppure irreale.
Il film ha lo stesso titolo, ed è del 1999. Più che tratto o basato, è liberamente ispirato al romanzo. Chiaro che una cosa è leggere di manicomio, stanze di isolamento, camicie di forza, elettroshock, altra cosa è vederli. Tuttavia è proprio una scelta drammaturgica quella di adottare un tono drammatico, e meno ironico, inventarsi un percorso con inizio e fine invece che a zig zag come il romanzo, che così facendo evita la parabola edificante. In sintesi un approccio più banale e meno critico. Nonostante la regia di James Mangold, che ce ne ha regalati diversi molto belli, il film non mantiene l’originalità e la potenza di sguardo del romanzo.
Polly = Elisabeth Moss
Georgina = Clea DuVall
Daisy = Brittany Murphy
June 29, 2022
is it bad that i related to this? maybe. should i book a doctor’s appointment? also maybe
Read
January 6, 2024so lana del rey coquette vinyl 😍 (it's the most traumatizing piece of literature i've read)
Read
April 18, 2025I don't feel like this is a book you rate. It's insightful to how women's mental health was perceived decades ago. I don't 100% agree that a lot of the themes still remain relevant to how it's treated now. If anything, doctors are extremely hesitant and reserved now in treatment options compared to back then.
The memoir does not construct the whole story behind most of the people mentioned, which was interesting to me as a lot of mental health issues are derived from some sort of lived experience. Doctors and scientists are currently trying to determine the proportions of environmental and intrinsic influence on disorders that were commonly thought to be just chemical dysregulation in the brain.
I do not particularly relate to Susanna as we only really see her in the context of hospitalisation, and not how BPD affects her in other contexts, causing the overall destruction of her life. People who romanticise Susanna's told experience, in my opinion, are either extremely naive or use it to perpetuate this identity. I don't see either as productive.
I am glad I read this, but probably will not watch the movie.
₊˚⊹� pre-reading
i've seen this story talked about everywhere, people reference it all the time in ways that seem very ignorant and seem to romanticise mental illness - but i've never seen the movie or read it. so i thought from one psych ward girl to another i'd find out for myself :)
The memoir does not construct the whole story behind most of the people mentioned, which was interesting to me as a lot of mental health issues are derived from some sort of lived experience. Doctors and scientists are currently trying to determine the proportions of environmental and intrinsic influence on disorders that were commonly thought to be just chemical dysregulation in the brain.
I do not particularly relate to Susanna as we only really see her in the context of hospitalisation, and not how BPD affects her in other contexts, causing the overall destruction of her life. People who romanticise Susanna's told experience, in my opinion, are either extremely naive or use it to perpetuate this identity. I don't see either as productive.
I am glad I read this, but probably will not watch the movie.
₊˚⊹� pre-reading
i've seen this story talked about everywhere, people reference it all the time in ways that seem very ignorant and seem to romanticise mental illness - but i've never seen the movie or read it. so i thought from one psych ward girl to another i'd find out for myself :)
March 12, 2017
After reading novels like or , one could be forgiven for feeling skeptical about the treatment for the mentally ill during the 1960's. I'm not sure Susanna Kaysen's memoir will change that much. In 1967, after a short interview with a psychiatrist, she was admitted, (committed may be a better word), to a mental hospital in Massachusetts, the same one that treated Sylvia Plath. Her stay lasted about 2 years. She was told she had a "character disorder". Twenty five years later, after reading her hospital records, she learned she was diagnosed with "Borderline Personality Disorder". This memoir is her recollection of the time she spent, the treatment she received, the doctors and nurses who treated her, and the other patients around her. For those of us who are not personally familiar with these type of histories and institutions, this is an eye opening revelation and I can only hope things have improved since 1967.
The book title was inspired by Vermeer's painting "Girl Interruped at Her Music".
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The book title was inspired by Vermeer's painting "Girl Interruped at Her Music".
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March 24, 2017
"'Today, you seem puzzled about something.� Of course I was sad and puzzled, I was eighteen, it was spring, and I was behind bars.�
Kind of sheds light on the whole system of mental asylums, doesn't it? Anyway how do you know if the treatment of a mentally disordered person is working. You won't take their word for it, and if they question the institution, than you can claim (and actually genuinely believe) that you are suffering from persecution complex. That is the trouble - they have a big word for everything which makes you think of it as a disease. If you are too moody, you have bipolar disease; if you are too sad, you are depressed; if you are too happy, you are suffering from euphoria. You can't do anything out of proportion or rules in this world gets declared insane. And once you are declared crazy, even things you do by the book of proportions is suspected:
"They had a special language: regression, acting out, hostility, withdrawal, indulging in behavior. This last phrase could be attached to any activity and make it sound suspicious: indulging in eating behavior, talking behavior, writing behavior. In the outside world people ate and talked and wrote, but nothing we did was simple."
Also, with a race which seems to be at war with itself and rest of life on planet since begining of its so called 'intelligence' and which has brought the planet to destruction, who, really can lay claim on sanity?
Still it is one of those chances where you can see things from point of view of an inmate.
With people like author and her friends, part of problem is knowledge of their instablity. How much lonely they must feel knowing that that they are alone in the world of things they are imagining. And some were really teenagers, discovering the not so likeable realities of the world, so one can't help wondering whether they couldn't be helped more with a good counseling and medicine rather than being locked in an asylum.
I still do not agree with her complete disapproval of professional of psychologists, I think that as a field it still seems to be finding its feet (and unfortunately has started on wrong foot) - also while being a psychologist may not be the hardest thing, being a good one must be terribly difficult requiring insight into human mind, a combination or compassion and disinterestedness, patience etc. But except for that, it was beautiful all around.
Parting thought : it is a memoir, read it like that and not as a novel. It is not supposed to be entertaining.
More quotes:
“When you’re sad you need to hear your sorrow structured into sound."
"Why did she do it? Nobody knew. Nobody dared to ask. Because—what courage! Who had the courage to burn herself? Twenty aspirin, a little slit alongside the veins of the arm, 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."
"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."
“I think many people kill themselves simply to stop the debate about whether they will or they won’t.�
“It was only part of myself I wanted to kill: the part that wanted to kill herself.�
"Our hospital was famous and housed many great poets and singers. Did the hospital specialize in poets and singers or was it that poets and singers specialized in madness?�
June 25, 2018
“I was trying to explain my situation to myself. My situation was that I was in pain and nobody knew it, even I had trouble knowing it. So I told myself, over and over, You are in pain. It was the only way I could get through to myself. I was demonstrating externally and irrefutably an inward condition.�
Amen to that.
Look, this is a book where, if you already suffer from a mental health issue, you will get it. You will draw parallels in your own life and experiences. You will nod in agreement at the internalisation, the questions, the doubt. Absolutely nothing has changed there, from the 60's to today, and it never will. Its the nature of the beast. Having a mental health issue is all about doubt.
If, you're on the other side of this, if you have perfect mental health (nobody does, but stay with me here), you probably wont understand this, and because you don't understand it, you probably wont enjoy it. And there's nothing wrong with that. Absolutely nothing.
Thanks to recent campaigns to draw awareness to mental health conditions, people these days are somewhat more receptive to the idea of others who's minds don't quite work the same way theirs do. But, we are nowhere near where we need to be in regards to this issue. Nowhere near.
This is a very brave story, published in an era when mental health wasn't talked about. Period. It may be somewhat outdated in respect to modern diagnosis' and treatments, but the feelings are all the same. This book is so honest, and that shines through in every single sentence.
It spoke to me, and I hope it speaks to you too.
March 8, 2011
Saw the movie, loved Angelina in it. Now I'll tackle the book.
Update: Finished the novel. I'm now convinced that the publication and fantastic reception of this novel was probably a great case of timing. Kaysen's account of her stay in McLean Hospital is a captivating look into her mental state during her 2 year stay. However, I've got to say that if she had stayed elsewhere, or tried to publish her account now, it probably wouldn't have been received as favorably. For the most part, many of her intermittent stories read as a desperate cry for attention, ANY attention. Her parents are NEVER mentioned, and I find it odd to see that the novel has no seeming beginning or end. We're given a VERY brief description of her original interview, as well as interesting reproductions of her case files, but her rambling thoughts throughout give no impression of how she actually responded to her therapy.
I'm sad to say that I honestly expected more. Susanna's desperate hero-worship of her friend Lisa, her wild behavior, and her desperate attempts to receive attention from anyone tell me that far from requiring a hospital stay, she needed a hug, some coffee, and a good friend/parent to tell her that she was being an idiot about her life. I've seen more self-actualization on some Twitter ramblings than I saw in Girl, Interrupted. Not worth the read.
Update: Finished the novel. I'm now convinced that the publication and fantastic reception of this novel was probably a great case of timing. Kaysen's account of her stay in McLean Hospital is a captivating look into her mental state during her 2 year stay. However, I've got to say that if she had stayed elsewhere, or tried to publish her account now, it probably wouldn't have been received as favorably. For the most part, many of her intermittent stories read as a desperate cry for attention, ANY attention. Her parents are NEVER mentioned, and I find it odd to see that the novel has no seeming beginning or end. We're given a VERY brief description of her original interview, as well as interesting reproductions of her case files, but her rambling thoughts throughout give no impression of how she actually responded to her therapy.
I'm sad to say that I honestly expected more. Susanna's desperate hero-worship of her friend Lisa, her wild behavior, and her desperate attempts to receive attention from anyone tell me that far from requiring a hospital stay, she needed a hug, some coffee, and a good friend/parent to tell her that she was being an idiot about her life. I've seen more self-actualization on some Twitter ramblings than I saw in Girl, Interrupted. Not worth the read.
January 1, 2025
Sure, this is a somewhat classic memoir about female mental illness, as it has all the tropes that we have come to know: 18-year-old Kaysen, born into a wealthy and influential American family in 1948, felt like the life she was expected to dream of was indeed her nightmare. College, children, a proper job? No, thanks, Susanna wanted boyfriends and literature - and the story of her being institutionalized for eighteen months at Harvard's largest psychiatric facility (originally named "Asylum for the Insane") makes it appear like her puzzling nonconformity was somewhat worse than her borderline personality disorder.
Told in short vignettes, frequently centering on other patients and staff, Kaysen's book gives a panorama of a bunch of women who struggle with mental problems and find refuge in a hospital that shields them from the outside demands that they feel unable to meet, but at the same time, it is often impossible to determine what can be categorized as illness and what is just perceived as inconvenient in a society as it is structured to function, leading back to the question of what is normal in a world that has limited options for young, bright, adventurous females.
There is no stringent storyline, and the intense interiority and lack of agency of the narrator can be a hindrance to the overall enjoyment of the text (the side plot of how Susanna gets married is just.. let's face it: insane), but there are some strong minor characters like Lisa Rowe, diagnosed as a sociopath (which seems very unlikely to be correct), and Daisy, who has an interesting relationship to... dead chicken?! Kaysen's sparse, matter-of-fact style gives the episodes special power, as she empathically shows the young women in a moment of crisis and renders them relatable, as they are facing the challenge to make decisions for their lives that seem just too much.
Still, it's very much a book of its time: Because Kaysen and others have challenged the idea of what "normal women" are so successfully, the disruptive potential of the story has evaporated, and, although non-conforming woman are still a provocation to many, "Girl, Interrupted" is now a historic document. Today, a young protagonist like Susanna would be prime material for an novel, where the world needs healing, not her unapologetic self.
Told in short vignettes, frequently centering on other patients and staff, Kaysen's book gives a panorama of a bunch of women who struggle with mental problems and find refuge in a hospital that shields them from the outside demands that they feel unable to meet, but at the same time, it is often impossible to determine what can be categorized as illness and what is just perceived as inconvenient in a society as it is structured to function, leading back to the question of what is normal in a world that has limited options for young, bright, adventurous females.
There is no stringent storyline, and the intense interiority and lack of agency of the narrator can be a hindrance to the overall enjoyment of the text (the side plot of how Susanna gets married is just.. let's face it: insane), but there are some strong minor characters like Lisa Rowe, diagnosed as a sociopath (which seems very unlikely to be correct), and Daisy, who has an interesting relationship to... dead chicken?! Kaysen's sparse, matter-of-fact style gives the episodes special power, as she empathically shows the young women in a moment of crisis and renders them relatable, as they are facing the challenge to make decisions for their lives that seem just too much.
Still, it's very much a book of its time: Because Kaysen and others have challenged the idea of what "normal women" are so successfully, the disruptive potential of the story has evaporated, and, although non-conforming woman are still a provocation to many, "Girl, Interrupted" is now a historic document. Today, a young protagonist like Susanna would be prime material for an novel, where the world needs healing, not her unapologetic self.
January 4, 2016
I told her once I wasn’t good at anything. She told me survival is a talent.
Insanity. For most of us the idea of being insane is scary. The harder question is the why; why is insanity so scary? Is it so scary because we have all, at one time or another (I believe), doubted our own sanity? I know I have. Or is it so scary because it is so impossible to define, to categorize in absolutes? When is the threshold at its thinnest?
In the moments when my brain launches like a freight train into a station, yet in about a dozen different ways, at 4 o’clock in the morning when I have been exhausted and unable to sleep all day? In the inner conversations I have with myself, or other people, inside my own head that never see the light of day? What does it really mean to be crazy?? In the quiet nectar of a cup of coffee in the morning when the fog is tumbling lazily over my brain making everything just a little less ‘real� feeling?
Is it true what they say; the more you question your own sanity the less likely you are, in fact, to be insane? If so Susanna Kaysen is definitely NOT insane. She questions everything and has probably one of the most introspective voices I have ever read. Her thoughts, expressed superbly in Girl, Interrupted, are well thought out and certainly sane sounding.
Was I ever crazy? Maybe. Or maybe life is� 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. They were not perfect, but they were my friends.
What is insanity?! Is it a true state of being or is it a mind’s reaction to an unnatural state of existence? Fore how natural is it really to exist in a world constantly defining you for you, where it is more important to seem something than truly BE it. Perhaps we will never really know, certainly (even now, far removed from the dates Kaysen found herself at home in an institution) there are far more questions than answers.
Category: A Memoir
Insanity. For most of us the idea of being insane is scary. The harder question is the why; why is insanity so scary? Is it so scary because we have all, at one time or another (I believe), doubted our own sanity? I know I have. Or is it so scary because it is so impossible to define, to categorize in absolutes? When is the threshold at its thinnest?
In the moments when my brain launches like a freight train into a station, yet in about a dozen different ways, at 4 o’clock in the morning when I have been exhausted and unable to sleep all day? In the inner conversations I have with myself, or other people, inside my own head that never see the light of day? What does it really mean to be crazy?? In the quiet nectar of a cup of coffee in the morning when the fog is tumbling lazily over my brain making everything just a little less ‘real� feeling?
Is it true what they say; the more you question your own sanity the less likely you are, in fact, to be insane? If so Susanna Kaysen is definitely NOT insane. She questions everything and has probably one of the most introspective voices I have ever read. Her thoughts, expressed superbly in Girl, Interrupted, are well thought out and certainly sane sounding.
Was I ever crazy? Maybe. Or maybe life is� 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. They were not perfect, but they were my friends.
What is insanity?! Is it a true state of being or is it a mind’s reaction to an unnatural state of existence? Fore how natural is it really to exist in a world constantly defining you for you, where it is more important to seem something than truly BE it. Perhaps we will never really know, certainly (even now, far removed from the dates Kaysen found herself at home in an institution) there are far more questions than answers.
Category: A Memoir
October 13, 2007
While Susanna Keysen composes some very poetic essays offering alternative and sometimes beautiful perspectives in her autobiography, her general tone is very, very defensive. Granted discussing whether or not one suffered from a mental illness can never be easy, but the book seems to be her manifesto for proving that she wasn't really borderline, as her therapist diagnosed.
I don't know enough about Borderline Personality Disorder to judge - I agree that it seems women are disproportionately diagnosed with it, and a conservative environment could easily allow for any non-conformist woman to be blamed for her own marginalization and labeled insane. However, while Keysen seems to want to be seen as simply non-conformist in an oppressive time, she was in some ways destructively so by her own admission. She gave herself bruises, she attempted suicide, she tried to break into her own hand convinced it was a monkey's.
The early Sixties sounded like a terrible time to be a woman, and many of the mental institutions were anything but conducive to healing. Nevertheless, I don't buy the defensive rebel's libertarian spiel that they should just be left alone to hurt themselves, uninterrupted. Perhaps Susanna wanted to criticize her diagnosis or how she was treated, but claiming that her acts of self-harm warranted no such "interruption" with treatment seems rather dramatic and ungrateful. The adolescent glorification of the misunderstood, self-harming Plath-like waif is both dangerous and very selfish, and there are scores of books and songs and films to help this glorification along.
I hope girls who read this book are smart enough not to fall for it, but can still enjoy her moments of poetic greatness.
I don't know enough about Borderline Personality Disorder to judge - I agree that it seems women are disproportionately diagnosed with it, and a conservative environment could easily allow for any non-conformist woman to be blamed for her own marginalization and labeled insane. However, while Keysen seems to want to be seen as simply non-conformist in an oppressive time, she was in some ways destructively so by her own admission. She gave herself bruises, she attempted suicide, she tried to break into her own hand convinced it was a monkey's.
The early Sixties sounded like a terrible time to be a woman, and many of the mental institutions were anything but conducive to healing. Nevertheless, I don't buy the defensive rebel's libertarian spiel that they should just be left alone to hurt themselves, uninterrupted. Perhaps Susanna wanted to criticize her diagnosis or how she was treated, but claiming that her acts of self-harm warranted no such "interruption" with treatment seems rather dramatic and ungrateful. The adolescent glorification of the misunderstood, self-harming Plath-like waif is both dangerous and very selfish, and there are scores of books and songs and films to help this glorification along.
I hope girls who read this book are smart enough not to fall for it, but can still enjoy her moments of poetic greatness.
October 29, 2022
this book made me feel so seen🧍♀�
February 16, 2008
We're told not to, but I sometimes do judge a book by its cover. At least once in my life, it has paid off. I first read this book because I saw it laying under the desk of a girl in my French class in 8th grade and was immediately attracted to it- the constrast of blue against white and the separation and duality of the girl between.
It was beautiful and strange and thought-provoking and somehow irrationally felt as close to me as some crazy friend who'd been trapped in my own brain for thirteen years. The author at once seemed to be a part of me that hadn't yet been able to speak, and a complete stranger who frightened and compelled me.
I've returned to it time and time again and each time have found new truths and new absurdities. It so accurately and curiously expresses the truths of a mind in distress and the questioning of a woman in the making (and particularly of a woman approaching adulthood in the 1960's, while psychology was still a relatively new field). I lead a book club discussion of it some years ago and was startled at the stark honesty that it inspired in us as we talked, regardless of whether we actually liked the book or not.
To me, the book has nearly no relation to the movie other than the slight similarities between the premises. Where the movie may introduce you to interesting characters and attempt to give you a linear story, it has no way to bring you into the complex and contradictory inner world of the author.
I will recommend to anyone to give it a try, because I believe what you discover in it speaks not of the book itself, but of who you as the reader are.
It was beautiful and strange and thought-provoking and somehow irrationally felt as close to me as some crazy friend who'd been trapped in my own brain for thirteen years. The author at once seemed to be a part of me that hadn't yet been able to speak, and a complete stranger who frightened and compelled me.
I've returned to it time and time again and each time have found new truths and new absurdities. It so accurately and curiously expresses the truths of a mind in distress and the questioning of a woman in the making (and particularly of a woman approaching adulthood in the 1960's, while psychology was still a relatively new field). I lead a book club discussion of it some years ago and was startled at the stark honesty that it inspired in us as we talked, regardless of whether we actually liked the book or not.
To me, the book has nearly no relation to the movie other than the slight similarities between the premises. Where the movie may introduce you to interesting characters and attempt to give you a linear story, it has no way to bring you into the complex and contradictory inner world of the author.
I will recommend to anyone to give it a try, because I believe what you discover in it speaks not of the book itself, but of who you as the reader are.
June 14, 2021
I read Susanna Kaysen's memoir at an impressionable time in my life, in my early thirties. Susanna Kaysen was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. As I started reading it, at first -very naively - I couldn't understand why this young woman, who had wealth and status, could be so unhappy that she had to be institutionalized. Unhappiness and world weariness I understood, but that it could be a reason for admission to a psychiatric hospital perplexed me. This memoir marked the beginning of my interest in and exploration of mental health issues.
I ended up really enjoying this memoir, and although the movie took many liberties, I also enjoyed the movie: Winona Ryder nailed Kaysen's neurotic character and Angelina Jolie took home the Oscar for her role as the psychopathic Lisa.
Life takes its toll on all of us. We don't always get what we (think) we want; people leave our lives either voluntarily or they pass away; we feel lacking in some way or the constant struggle to keep up with the Joneses just wears your mental health down. Depression is not an illness that cares how much money you have in the bank, the clothes you wear, or the house you live in. Most of us will struggle with mental health and/or anxiety issues at some point in our lives. This was Susanna Kaysen's very engrossing and eye-opening (for me) story. Highly recommended.
I ended up really enjoying this memoir, and although the movie took many liberties, I also enjoyed the movie: Winona Ryder nailed Kaysen's neurotic character and Angelina Jolie took home the Oscar for her role as the psychopathic Lisa.
Life takes its toll on all of us. We don't always get what we (think) we want; people leave our lives either voluntarily or they pass away; we feel lacking in some way or the constant struggle to keep up with the Joneses just wears your mental health down. Depression is not an illness that cares how much money you have in the bank, the clothes you wear, or the house you live in. Most of us will struggle with mental health and/or anxiety issues at some point in our lives. This was Susanna Kaysen's very engrossing and eye-opening (for me) story. Highly recommended.
September 10, 2022
This book was a memoir of Susanna Kaysen's time in a mental institution.
When I first started this book I thought it would be an excellent insight into the damaged mind of a young eighteen-year-old girl and I was looking forward to the intriguing thoughts of a mentally ill person. However, I found that the book mostly focused on the author's time in the mental institution and I did not get a sense of how the illness affected herself. Kaysen mainly described the other people she lived with and not so much about her own progress or life. Furthermore, the chapters seemed to jump around a lot so there was no sense of chronology or order; perhaps this was meant to reflect how Kaysen's mind was chaotic and unstable but I found this quite annoying, making the book difficult to enjoy. The writing style was simplistic making this novel an easy read. I also found that I did not connect or feel empathetic with the author despite the personal depiction of her story, which disheartened me somewhat as I hoped that I would feel deeply moved by her tale; realistically I felt bored and disconnected.
One aspect I did like was the insertion of real documents from the doctor's notes which were intriguing and informative. It gave me a greater understanding of the process of a mental institution, and I really felt for the characters. In addition, Kaysen wrote how people treated them as unhuman which moved me as mental illness is not something to scorn or mock but a very serious disorder. The isolated situation of these people made me more aware of the prejudice surrounding mental illness and the way people instantly judge one who has dealt with a mental disorder; they tend to avoid them and feel scared or uneasy.
Overall, I did not enjoy this book very much, although at times it was quite informative and it was also interesting to see how living in a mental institution was like in the 1960s.
When I first started this book I thought it would be an excellent insight into the damaged mind of a young eighteen-year-old girl and I was looking forward to the intriguing thoughts of a mentally ill person. However, I found that the book mostly focused on the author's time in the mental institution and I did not get a sense of how the illness affected herself. Kaysen mainly described the other people she lived with and not so much about her own progress or life. Furthermore, the chapters seemed to jump around a lot so there was no sense of chronology or order; perhaps this was meant to reflect how Kaysen's mind was chaotic and unstable but I found this quite annoying, making the book difficult to enjoy. The writing style was simplistic making this novel an easy read. I also found that I did not connect or feel empathetic with the author despite the personal depiction of her story, which disheartened me somewhat as I hoped that I would feel deeply moved by her tale; realistically I felt bored and disconnected.
One aspect I did like was the insertion of real documents from the doctor's notes which were intriguing and informative. It gave me a greater understanding of the process of a mental institution, and I really felt for the characters. In addition, Kaysen wrote how people treated them as unhuman which moved me as mental illness is not something to scorn or mock but a very serious disorder. The isolated situation of these people made me more aware of the prejudice surrounding mental illness and the way people instantly judge one who has dealt with a mental disorder; they tend to avoid them and feel scared or uneasy.
Overall, I did not enjoy this book very much, although at times it was quite informative and it was also interesting to see how living in a mental institution was like in the 1960s.
April 12, 2022
finished in less than 3 hours because it was THAT good
July 21, 2024
a bold, poignant memoir in which kaysen reflects on her adolescence, 'interrupted' by her 18-month stay in a mental health ward during the 60s. it studies the influence that a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BDP) had on her psyche and raises questions about society's response to 'insanity.'
kaysen is a masterful writer, and perhaps the success of the novel should be attributed to the two intersecting narrative styles and purposes.
one half may be identified as the non-linear vignettes of moments within the hospital between the young girls, depicting the often visceral, disturbing nature of their interactions. it is unflinching in its portrayal, blunt and raw, yet, at times with chillingly beautiful pros- capturing the complexity of mental illness. despite its heavy content, kaysen finds humour and sincerity in the face of tragedy, giving the story a profoundly versatile field of emotional depth.
"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. they were not perfect, but they were my friends.�
interestingly, the other half of the novel is a carefully articulated academic discussion on the corruption in mental health treatment facilities, exploring the constant lack of understanding professionals exhibited in their response to mental health disorders. kaysen reviews the approach as she experienced it with the bigger picture in mind, rarely discussing her specific circumstances and making the overall argument that the definition of sanity or insanity often stems from "society's low tolerance for deviant behaviour". it was both heartbreaking and infuriating to read of the drastic differences between what she records as true and the judgements made in her records on her condition. it really did strike me, particularly back in the 60s but even now, the extent of misunderstanding that still hangs in psychology. no clean-cut conclusions are drawn. instead, questions are posed and conversation is sparked.
"was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren't? was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?�
i'm honestly just amazed by the intelligence of this woman and her courage in sharing both her own experiences and insight, as well as an academic perspective and reflection. a must-read text for anyone interested in history, mental health or the human condition.
kaysen is a masterful writer, and perhaps the success of the novel should be attributed to the two intersecting narrative styles and purposes.
one half may be identified as the non-linear vignettes of moments within the hospital between the young girls, depicting the often visceral, disturbing nature of their interactions. it is unflinching in its portrayal, blunt and raw, yet, at times with chillingly beautiful pros- capturing the complexity of mental illness. despite its heavy content, kaysen finds humour and sincerity in the face of tragedy, giving the story a profoundly versatile field of emotional depth.
"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. they were not perfect, but they were my friends.�
interestingly, the other half of the novel is a carefully articulated academic discussion on the corruption in mental health treatment facilities, exploring the constant lack of understanding professionals exhibited in their response to mental health disorders. kaysen reviews the approach as she experienced it with the bigger picture in mind, rarely discussing her specific circumstances and making the overall argument that the definition of sanity or insanity often stems from "society's low tolerance for deviant behaviour". it was both heartbreaking and infuriating to read of the drastic differences between what she records as true and the judgements made in her records on her condition. it really did strike me, particularly back in the 60s but even now, the extent of misunderstanding that still hangs in psychology. no clean-cut conclusions are drawn. instead, questions are posed and conversation is sparked.
"was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren't? was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?�
i'm honestly just amazed by the intelligence of this woman and her courage in sharing both her own experiences and insight, as well as an academic perspective and reflection. a must-read text for anyone interested in history, mental health or the human condition.
May 1, 2020
While the movie is absolutely a Hollywood adaption with much added storyline, drama, and a weird glamorization of "broken girls", it's still one that I've always really liked and watched many times. I hoped the memoir would provide a much more realistic idea of what Susanna Kaysen's time at McLean Hospital actually looked like, as well as details that weren't included in the film.
Unfortunately, it reads like the barest bones of the script, meaning there's nothing here that wasn't in the movie. And also what's here is vague and scattered, written often with an uninterested tone. I suppose this is more a collection of vignettes; snapshots and random memories of Susanna's time at the hospital. I appreciate the style of writing, but it's not my favourite.
I will say that last chapter is amazing. I absolutely loved the story of the Vermeer painting, and how Susanna saw two different versions at two different points in her life.
Ultimately I wish I could have had the opportunity to read this before the movie, and I think if you do you should take it.
Unfortunately, it reads like the barest bones of the script, meaning there's nothing here that wasn't in the movie. And also what's here is vague and scattered, written often with an uninterested tone. I suppose this is more a collection of vignettes; snapshots and random memories of Susanna's time at the hospital. I appreciate the style of writing, but it's not my favourite.
I will say that last chapter is amazing. I absolutely loved the story of the Vermeer painting, and how Susanna saw two different versions at two different points in her life.
Ultimately I wish I could have had the opportunity to read this before the movie, and I think if you do you should take it.
November 27, 2021
FABULOUS.
May 2, 2021
I don’t know if I'm the only person in this world to still not have seen the movie, but I always give a try to the book.
Unfortunately.
People don’t usually spend years in a mental hospital by their choice, this was the first thing that intrigued me. Also, we're talking about the 60s: you didn’t joke about going to places like these.
But Susanna did, and it was pretty easy according to her story.
I'm not saying I don’t believe her, she was young and not really problematic, but hers seemed more like a vacation and not a psychiatric treatment. She had a confusing and not stable life, like this book.
The narration is unbearable, she talks about the other girls and what they used to do day by day without a meaning. No feelings, no real details; it seems she tried to report what happened just because she did that experience and nobody else did.
One moment she’s trying to explain to the reader what her disease is, and the other one she’s talking about the demonstrations in 1968. In the end, you know how she got in but not how she got out.
And that’s it, end of the book. Thanks to having read it, now I'm just gonna live my life knowing I'm a writer.
� 2 stars
Unfortunately.
People don’t usually spend years in a mental hospital by their choice, this was the first thing that intrigued me. Also, we're talking about the 60s: you didn’t joke about going to places like these.
But Susanna did, and it was pretty easy according to her story.
I'm not saying I don’t believe her, she was young and not really problematic, but hers seemed more like a vacation and not a psychiatric treatment. She had a confusing and not stable life, like this book.
The narration is unbearable, she talks about the other girls and what they used to do day by day without a meaning. No feelings, no real details; it seems she tried to report what happened just because she did that experience and nobody else did.
One moment she’s trying to explain to the reader what her disease is, and the other one she’s talking about the demonstrations in 1968. In the end, you know how she got in but not how she got out.
And that’s it, end of the book. Thanks to having read it, now I'm just gonna live my life knowing I'm a writer.
� 2 stars
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