Girl, Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted paperback cover
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| Author | Susanna Kaysen |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Publisher | Turtle Bay Books |
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Publication date
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1993 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 168 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 28155618 |
| 616.89/0092 B 20 | |
| LC Class | RC464.K36 A3 1993 |
Girl, Interrupted is a best-selling1993 memoir by American author Susanna Kaysen, relating her experiences as a young woman in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s after being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The memoir's title is a reference to the Vermeer painting Girl Interrupted at Her Music.
While writing the novel Far Afield, Kaysen began to recall her almost two years at McLean Hospital. She obtained her file from the hospital with the help of a lawyer.
In 1999, the memoir was adapted into a film of the same name starring Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie and Brittany Murphy. It was directed by James Mangold.
The plot of Girl, Interrupted does not follow a linear storyline, but instead the author provides personal stories through a series of short descriptions of events and personal reflections on why she was placed in the hospital. She begins by talking about the concept of a parallel universe and how easy it is to slip into one, comparing insanity to an alternate world. She discusses how some people fall into insanity gradually and others just snap. Kaysen also details the doctor's visit before first going to the hospital and the taxi ride there at the beginning of the book before launching into the chronicles of her time at the hospital. The hospital also sits upon a hill, and it's a big brick building.
In April 1967, 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen is admitted to McLean Hospital, in Belmont, Massachusetts, after attempting suicide by overdosing on pills. She denies that it was a suicide attempt to a psychiatrist, who suggests she take time to regroup in McLean, a private mental hospital. Susanna is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and her stay extends to 18 months rather than the proposed couple of weeks.
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