Susanna Kaysen
Girl, Interrupted (1993)
Author: Susanna Kaysen
Genre: Non-Fiction (Memoir)
Book Summary:
This memoir is about Susanna Kaysen, who spent a couple of years as a patient in a mental institution as a young woman in the 1960s. After experiencing feelings of deep depression and making a suicide attempt, Susanna goes to see a psychiatrist, who she has never met before. After completing the therapy session, the psychiatrist puts Susanna in a taxi and sends her to be admitted to McLean Hospital, a mental hospital in Massachusetts. Once she is there and admitted, the memoir describes her two-year experience of living at the mental hospital. Susanna describes the other people who lived with her at the hospital, including the nurses, doctors, an especially the other patients, who end-up being her friends while she lives there. Susanna Kaysen also gives a lot of information about how mental institutions were run in the 1960s and general information about mental illness and the repercussions of it for all of the people effected by it. At the end of the memoir, we find out what happened to Susanna and a couple of the other patients once they were released from the mental institution.
Geographical Setting: Belmont, Massachusetts (McLean Hospital)
Time Period: Present day (1967-1969)
Appeal Characteristics:
This a fast-paced and compelling memoir that is a page-turner from the beginning to the end of the novel. The tone of the novel is fairly serious at times, but there is some dark humor included in the memoir as well. The author has written a very character-driven novel by using great detail to explain the interesting people that she met while living in the mental hospital, particulary the patients that she lived with and made friends with while she was at the mental hospital. The setting of the mental hospital is crucial to the memoir, because the author treats the hospital almost as though its another character in her memoir. The plot discusses issues such as dealing with mental health problems and the way that mental institutions were ran in the 1960s.
Read-alikes: If you want to read another book by Susanna Kaysen, I suggest Far Afield. The novel is about Jonathan Brand, who goes to a group of Scandinavian islands to perform anthropology work and while he's there he learns how to adjust to the way of life there. If you enjoy memoirs about women dealing with depression, I suggest Willow Weep For Me: a Black Woman's Journey Through Depression: a Memoir by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah. The memoir is about the author, who moved from Africa to the United States as a young child, and her battle with depression. If you enjoy novels about young women, who were patients in mental hospitals, I suggest I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg. The novel is about Deborah, a young mentally-ill woman who was a patient in a mental hospital for three years. If you want to read a novel about mental institutions of the past, which includes well-drawn characterizations and some dark humor, I suggest One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. The novel is about McMurphy, a criminal who fakes being mentally ill and becomes a patient in a mental institution where he battles with the head nurse at the institution. Also, if you want to watch a film about dealing with mental illness which is based on a memoir, I suggest Raging Bull which is directed by Martin Scorsese. The film is about Jake LaMotta, a troubled boxer who distances himself from his family and friends.
Red Flags: The memoir includes a lot of strong language, some sexual content, and some serious and disturbing content.
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