Girl, InterruptedNATIONAL BESTSELLER • In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital. Her memoir of the next two years is a "poignant, honest ... triumphantly funny ... and heartbreaking story" (The New York Times Book Review). The ward for teenage girls in the McLean psychiatric hospital was as renowned for its famous clientele—Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor, and Ray Charles—as for its progressive methods of treating those who could afford its sanctuary. Kaysen's memoir encompasses horror and razor-edged perception while providing vivid portraits of her fellow patients and their keepers. It is a brilliant evocation of a "parallel universe" set within the kaleidoscopically shifting landscape of the late sixties. Girl, Interrupted is a clear-sighted, unflinching document that gives lasting and specific dimension to our definitions of sane and insane, mental illness and recovery. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - DzejnCrvena - LibraryThingLately, I've been fascinated with real-life stories on suicide and mental illness. Like The Bell Jar, this memoir is hilarious and thought-provoking. I love quoting many parts of this book to describe ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - starbox - LibraryThingAs a suicidal 18-year old, the author was committed for 18 months to a psychiatric hospital. I thought her descriptions of mental illness were really insightful: "Insanity comes in two basic varieties ... Read full review
Contents
Section 1 | 7 |
Section 2 | 11 |
Section 3 | 15 |
Section 4 | 16 |
Section 5 | 20 |
Section 6 | 25 |
Section 7 | 28 |
Section 8 | 36 |
Section 19 | 75 |
Section 20 | 79 |
Section 21 | 83 |
Section 22 | 92 |
Section 23 | 94 |
Section 24 | 107 |
Section 25 | 110 |
Section 26 | 116 |
Section 9 | 39 |
Section 10 | 45 |
Section 11 | 48 |
Section 12 | 52 |
Section 13 | 54 |
Section 14 | 56 |
Section 15 | 58 |
Section 16 | 65 |
Section 17 | 69 |
Section 18 | 71 |
Section 27 | 123 |
Section 28 | 129 |
Section 29 | 134 |
Section 30 | 137 |
Section 31 | 147 |
Section 32 | 150 |
Section 33 | 160 |
Section 34 | 165 |
Section 35 | 171 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
acting Alice asked began bones boyfriend brain called chair checks couldn't crazy crying Daisy DATE death decided depression diagnosis didn't disorder doctor don't door everything eyes face father feel felt floor front fuck Georgina getting Girl give going hall hand happened hard head nurse hospital hour inside INTERPRETER Interrupted It's Kaysen knew later leave Lisa Cody living locked looked McWeeney mean mental minutes months morning moving never night nursing station Okay once parents patient person Polly probably question rest seclusion sitting smoke sort spent staff stand started stop suicide Susanna talking tell there's things thought told tongue took Torrey trying turned USUAL Valerie Wade waiting walked ward wasn't watched week window write wrong yell
Bibliographic information
| Title | Girl, Interrupted |
| Author | Susanna Kaysen |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2013 |
| ISBN | 0804151113, 9780804151115 |
| Length | 192 pages |
| Subjects | › Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs Psychology / Mental Health Social Science / Women's Studies |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |