Rating: 
Summary: Overly romanticized
Review: I have had a similar experience to Kaysen. After about twenty minutes interview (though I have not checked recently) a professional who did not know me decided to have me put in McLean, the same institution as Kaysen. At 18. The same age of Kaysen.There I had some very bad experiences. I don't believe I should ever have spent any time there. I don't have time to detail them all but I had very hurtful experiences. They diagnosed me with some iffy psychiatric diagnoses out of the current version of the DSM and also with a neurological syndrome which I do have. They never explained or told me about the neurological syndrome. (I choose to use the language they use.) Apparently I could not learn from or help myself in knowing that I had it. So they kept this to themselves. Her commitment happened in the late 1960's. The book says that she began to write it circa 1990. (Unless she had taken notes earlier.) She managed to compress two years of experience into a novella-length story. In the space of twenty-plus years you lose some memories and bad memories do tend to fade with time. I think Kaysen can write well but also over-writes though. She lyricizes her own experiences. Prettifies them. She criticizes psychiatry and at the same time seems to accept it. She accepts herself as mad. I don't accept this experience as a spiritual journey or a chemical imbalance or anything except a judgment made by other people and judgment made about the self. "Victims. Therapy. Borderline personality disorder. " Enough. No more. Away with them.
Rating: 
Summary: Like the movie better
Review: I recommend reading the book first then watching the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Do not disturb
Review: Girl, Interrupted (title taken from the painting by Vermeer) is a work that is impossible to put down. Between the expressed self-loathing/loving for her fellow mental patients and the desire to escape to freedom, Susanna Kaysen has made a sort of game out of her Borderline personality diagnosis. The movie and the book (in my opinion) go hand in hand. The book isn't nearly as descriptive as it should be, thus the movie helps make the characters come to life. A very easy to read book due to shorter chapters. Highly recommended to those readers who are in absolute love with Plath or Sexton.
Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating journey
Review: Susanna Kaysen's well-known biography traces her admission into a mental institution while in her late teens. The book is a fascinating exploration of her journey into and out of the institution, a short book well worth reading. Kaysen is admitted into the institution after a brief visit (how brief is unclear, although the book ultimately settles on 20-30 minutes) who knows nothing about her other than she attempted to kill herself over a relationship problem (a move which she ultimately reconsidered after taking a large dose of aspirin). Rather than recommending therapy, the doctor ships her over to the institution so she can "rest". I was expecting a sort of female "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". This book is a much kinder, gentler tale, tracing Kaysen's friendships with the other patients, her desire to know what is beyond the institutional walls, and ultimately, her recovery. The main problem I encountered with this book was that I wanted to know more. Where exactly did the other girls' problems come from? Why did Kaysen's parents not come to visit her? Ultimately, Kaysen leaves the hospital, marries, and moves on with her life. We get foreshadowing that the marriage is doomed, and we know that Kaysen becomes an author. But I wanted more detail on how this happened. Similarly, the other patients are not sketched in much detail. Lisa, played by Angelina Jolie in the film, is a psychopath, but we never really know how she got there. We get a tantalizing glimpse of Lisa near the end, but it's not enough. The portraits of the other patients are even less detailed. This book is fascinating, but it begs for (dare I say it) a sequel to follow up on the lives of these girls. While I recommend this book, I would have liked for it to be about twice as long.
Rating:
Summary: fast read...
Review: I watched the movie before reading the book. I must say that I was going to give the book 2 stars for the beginning of the book and than towards the end I was going to up it to 4 stars-so I thought I would go in-between and give it a 3. It is an easy, fast read. The first part of the book, moreorless, tells what she went through. I understand some people's reviews when they say "huh?" because the way Ms. Kaysen writes is very sporadic, one short chapter it's about this and the next short chapter it's about something completely different. Does that have something to do with her 'disorder'? Or just the way she chooses to write? I don't know. Speaking of the disorder-while watching the movie, as well as reading the books...everyone has 2 voices. So I connected with a lot of what she was saying HOWEVER most people listen and agrees with the "real" voice that lives in the real world. And most people do not bang their wrists, etc. Perhaps she really believes the one that tells her the thing in the corner of the room is a tiger and not a golden bookcase or what have you. You'll understand what she thinks and why, more towards the end of the book, when she really explains why she is the way she is or was and why she was in the hospital for a year and a half. One thing that really irked me about the book. Well, I don't know if I should consider this a book irking, more like the movie. The whole deal with Daisy. Daisy, in the movie, hung herself while Susanna and Lisa were passing by on their way to their destination after hop scotching the hospital. In the book, Daisy is not with Lisa or Susanna when she kills herself. Now I know movies are exaggerated and made more hyped to get people to watch but in my opinion, the whole Daisy thing was a big thing to blow out of proportion-in terms of Lisa and Susanna witnessing such things, when they really didn't. Overall I give it a 3. There are other books out there that really digs deep in terms of mental disorders and people's lives. But if you're one to read memoirs, all types of them...I'll recommend the book. The way it's written, however, is not for everyone. So if anything, check it out at the library or borrow it from someone you know that has it on hand, if you're not for certain.
Rating:
Summary: a glance at the way things are
Review: I didn't really think that this book would be a good read. I figured that it would be like many other books about borderline personality disorder--factual, plain, and very uninteresting. However, once I started reading, I seriously couldn't put it down! I loved the way Kaysen described everything, it gives you a glance at the way some people live and think, and at the way they feel. It was definitely worth the read. I recommend this to anyone and everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Read the Bell Jar Instead
Review: Sylvia Plath was admitted to McLean Hospital in 1953, fifteen years before Susanna Kaysen's two year stay there, and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath was published in 1963, twenty-nine years before the publication of Girl Interrupted. Both books are about young women on the verge of both adulthood and madness. However, Plath's novel is told with depth and substance, whereas Kaysen just skims the surface. While Girl Interrupted paints a vivid portrait of Kaysen's stay at McLean hospital, it doesn't do much else. It's a quick and easy read, despite it not being told in order. It muses on and on about having a mental illness, and while at times the text is engaging, it's never enlightening or beautiful.
Rating:
Summary: A diary-like depiction of life in a mental hospital.
Review: An enjoyable, stream of consciousness read from beginning to end. The book, although different from the movie, was in many ways more enjoyable. It was a less glamorous account of this piece of the author's life.
Rating:
Summary: Girl, Interrupted
Review: I have to admit, before I picked the movie (I saw the movie first), I thought it was going to be some cheesy chick-flick or something. As soon as I saw it, it all changed. I was so intrigued by these characters that I emmidaitely bought the book. I loved it. Susanna's writing brought alive these characters, brought alive this un-spoken world. She discribed insanity and psychiatric conditions so vividly I was mesmorized. The book perfectly balances experiences and notions. Some chapters deal with everyday life in McLean (the hospital) while others fascinating notes, some preconceived while others totally new. The fact that this is not fiction is also relevent, as I feel deep compassion, if not a connection, towards the author. The medical papers sprinkled throughout the book reminded me that this was real. That Susanna is real. She may be your next-door neighbor. A relative. A friend. She could be you.
Rating:
Summary: A young girl's life is suddenly interrupted
Review: If you are a teenage girl, who is struggling with your emotions, than this book is for you. It is a story of an 18 year old girl named susanna who is suddenly shipped off to a mental ward in a taxi, and she is diagnosed with a "borderline personality". She Doesn't even know what that is, but she deals with it. The people are a little rough at first, but she finds out that the other women in the hospital are actually more connected and even more sane than some of the ordinary people in the outside world. She makes a connection with one of the girls, who sticks out as a fear-nothing-rebel. They go on an emotional rollercoaster with eachother, and susanna lets all of her screams and cries out into her little journal. The journal is her ticket out of the institution, and she eventually uses it. She grows up to be a writer, like she always dreamed, and writes the story i am talking about right now. I personally thought this was an excellent book. I don't read much. When I saw advertisements for the movie on TV, it seemed interesting. So, since I didnt want to bug my parents to pay money to go see it with me, I checked the book out at the library. Since I am only 14, some of the things confused me. But, I understood the storyline, and deeply connected, end felt as if I could relate with susanna kaysen. After reading the book, I waited until the movie came out on TV, and I watched it. It was very powerful, and I wanted to see it again and again. I read the book often, and I understand things more as I read them. Well, Please read the book, or rent the movie. You will be deeply moved.
| 
