Rating: 
Summary: Parallel Universe
Review: "...it is easy to slip into a parallel universe. Thereare many of them: worlds of insane, criminal, ... These wordswithin the first few pages of Susanna Kaysen's book, Girl Interrupted still ring within the deep crevices of my brain only a mere day since finishing her memoir. An emotional journey with Kaysen reveals that we are all on the "borderline" of having an emotional breakdown. Who hasn't been depressed and not known exactly why? Who hasn't wanted to escape from all responsibilities in life? We all feel a little crazy sometimes, and this book reminds us what makes us crazy is crossing the line; the line of not just being depressed, or dazed, or apathetic, but the line of wanting to live. Susanna Kaysen crossed the line. She swallowed fifty aspirin before realizing that it wasn't what she really wanted. She lined them up and took one by one, counting them as she went. This lands her in the local mental hospital with some not so run-of-the-mill people. To name a few, There's Lisa, and later Lisa number two are both sociopaths. Then Polly, who lit herself on fire, Daisy, who eats only chicken, rids her body of the nourishment with laxatives, and saves the chicken carcasses in her room, and Alice, who decorates her new high security room with feces. The analogies that Kaysen uses are amazing. So many times will you find yourself siding with her and at times the hospital almost seems like a vacation from life and sounds like a good idea. Then she quickly jerks you back to reality by reminding you that in the hospital you got plastic silverware that is locked up only for usage when accompanied by a nurse or how there is someone who busts into your room and "checks" in on you every five minutes, whether you like it or not. Being a teenager during any time period is not easy. Heck, if it were up to all the psychologists, psychoanalysts, and a large majority of parents, every teenager would be put into some kind of mental hospital or "mental health" program. I remember clearly asking myself at the age of 16 if I was going insane. I too felt as though I were standing on the gray line between parallel universes: between the "sane" world and the "insane" world. Even within the first few pages of her book, I felt the walls closing in on me. She makes her audience smell the hospital smells; the way the institution felt to this young woman. Susanna knew she really didn't belong there, but the longer she was there, the safer she felt behind the locked doors and bar-covered security windows. Ms. Kaysen brings to light the humor in her diagnosis: Borderline Personality. I understand the humor in this diagnosis, especially in one of someone of a mere 18. Ms. Kaysen defines this in one of her final chapters: "An essential feature of this disorder is a pervasive pattern of instability of self image, interpersonal relationships, and mood,....................................." Doesn't this sound like a normal teenager going through the phases to adulthood? Who, at the age of 17 or 18, glanced in the mirror and thought they were ugly; or who was one day in a cheerful, loving-life kind of mood and the next nearly suicidal? Even after she was released from the hospital, her world followed her into the new life she tried to acquire. She continued therapy and psychoanalysis. Her therapist had to write letters permitting her to acquire a job, a driver's license: things we, who were never "locked up," take for granted. She mentioned that every time she tried to apply for a job while still at the hospital, she was looked down upon by any future employer. No wonder she felt as though the hospital was a safe haven. No one on the inside saw her as though she was crazy. Everyone was equal. But on the outside, she realized life was much different. Even the prisoners of Alcatraz wanted to find a way out of their prison cells, to visit the City by the Bay. But if they had ever gotten that chance, I think maybe they would have realized it was a safer world on the inside. By the end of the book, you are not a changed person, you are not reborn, but you are enlightened. Yes...Other people do feel as stressed out as you. Never before can any of us really say we know what goes on in a mental hospital. We all know someone who has been committed to one, or have heard of celebrities being committed. And it makes us realize how everyone suffers and it is okay to not always be happy. But it is not okay to let that take control of your life.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely a borderline
Review: Borderlines are manipulative, and in this respect Kaysen appears to continue to suffer from her diagnosis. She tried to make me think she was trapped in hostile, prison-like environment when actually she was self-admitted and could have, being over 18, signed herself out any time. I got the feeling she needed to be crazy, to have the context and structure the whole experience allowed. College wasn't her thing, so she dabbled in being crazy for a couple of years. She only left to get when another instituion, marriage, was offered as an option after all. If I'm wrong and Kaysen was debilitated by severe illness, then kaysen really downplayed her illness and symptoms as dramatically as she thrills us with the "loony bin" details in this book. Sneaky. Very borderline. (I worked on a psyche ward for over three years, BTW.)
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Summary: loony bins rule
Review: I loved this book b/cause it was a true story. ....... Especially when they described everyone. I think that the part where Daisy dropped her ice cream was funny.
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Summary: witty and real
Review: I just finished this book this morning, and I found it incredibly entertaining. It's very impressive that someone can write about an experience such as the one Kaysen went through so well. It just goes to show the courage that people can actually posess. I also found it very educational on the subject of mental health. Very good.
Rating: 
Summary: A quaint memoir -- great airplane reading
Review: Susanna Kaysen's memoir of her stay in a mental institution is well written. I like the way she moves from chapter to chapter, not in a chronological way, but in a topical one. Each chapter discusses a different character or aspect of the experience, and the details are captured in a startling, real way. I wish it had been longer and more of the gaps had been filled in, but it was a satisfying read. I finished it on a two-hour flight.
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Summary: A Sad Time in our Cultural History
Review: I vaguely remember a time when being institutionalized for being human was an okay thing. I read Kaysen's "diary" of mental illness with interest. We're all a little nuts somehow... I was blown away by the idea that someone with a good deal of youth and a little naivete could be locked up for life with no way back. The thought that the experience would leave one questioning their own sanity for life is a jail sentence in and of itself. The book was very well written and sometimes outright funny. I look forward to seeing what they've done with the movie.
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Summary: Made me think.
Review: I picked this book after I was told I had panic disorder and I was semi-manic depressive. I kept putting off reading this book because I didn't want to read about someone else's crazy life while mine was just as crazy. But when I picked it up I was amazed that I could almsot related to the book. I know that when you are young you go thru times where you don't know where you are going or what you want to do. Well that summed me up right there. I was one of the few people in my class that didn't go on to college but I still went on about life. The charactors in the book are so true, I felt I could related to Susanna and knew what was going on. I luckly enough read the book before I went to the movies to see it. I was glad I had because the book and movie were differnt. The actrescess in the movie were the best Ryder is wonderful and Jolie she deserved that Oscar for her role in the movie it has to be on the best movies I've seen her in. I also liked the girl who played Daisy and Georgina. :)
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Summary: Girl Interrupted
Review: After attempting suicide in 1967, Susanna Kaysen voluntarily admitted herself to the psychiatric ward at McLean Hospital. The setting is what I found the most interesting and is what made me want to read this book. I thought it was a great book. People, including myself, have always wondered what goes on in mental hospitals and in the mind of a mentally ill patient. Susanna Kaysen explains and describes both of these things in such great detail that the reader can almost imagine the actual setting and thoughts of the characters. One thing that confused me was how the author skips around between events in the novel. At first, I was confused by the lack of chronological order, but as soon as I figured out what was happening, I was able to follow along. This book is a fast read and I would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a good book. I would especially recommend it to a teenage reader. Teenage readers can really identify with the characters in this story because we all feel different or isolated from society more than than once throughout our teenage years. I know that I related to the novel. I wouldn't say that I am "crazy," but I would admit that I have felt my fair share of alienation from society. This book is a fast read and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good book.
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Summary: Girl, Interrupted
Review: In the year 1967, the world seemed to tumble down for 18 year old, Susanna Kaysen. She had a bumpy life and felt nothing could go right, so she attempted to kill herself. Unfortunatly, for her, the attempt failed and she was hospitalized at McLean Hospital. Would you want to end up like this? Not me! For a book that talks about suicide as much as this one, it was an excellent book to read. If your a person who likes books that are fast-reading and hard to put down, you will surely enjoy Girl, Interrupted. I found it interesting to read about several different girls and their problems, each one very different. The book was very dramatic and true. It made me realize how easily I take life for granted sometimes. I often felt sorry for the characters in the book, because their lives are so totally different from mine. It's sad really. I'm able to go out into the world and be free to do almost anything I want. Unfortunatly, the characters in the book have it totally opposite. This book is worth reading and I would recommend it to anyone. It was a good experience for me to read and hopefully it is a good experience for someone else.
Rating:
Summary: GIRL
Review: Girl Interrupted is a very good book. This book deals with suicide and it really makes you think. It brings up a lot of different issues most people probably never would think about. The beginning is very fast reading. By the end of the story it reads a little slow. It is very interesting to see how this 18 yr. old girl lives her life in the ward. And to see the way she deals with her problems. The book really jumps around a lot from dates and also between characters. A lot of different characters are introduced into the picture so you really have to pay close attention, you can get lost very fast. The book really lets you get an insight into the way the hospital was and also lets you see the different characteristics of the patients.
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