Look inside

Biographies

Girl, Interrupted

3.9(139)
HardcoverPaperback€13.00E-Book
Language
English
Available nowFree shipping
Buy Now

About the book

Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever.

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 to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele - Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor and Ray Charles. Unflinchingly honest and darkly funny, this bestselling memoir is a sharply vivid portrait of Susanna's fellow patients, the kaleidoscopically shifting world of the late sixties, and how sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.

'Girl, Interrupted is a beautiful, complex story that truly led the way on opening up a new, brave, nuanced approach to talking about women's mental health. An intense and personal story that taps into a universal truth about how the world responds to complicated young women' SCARLETT CURTIS

'Poignant, honest and triumphantly funny . . . A compelling and heartbreaking story' NEW YORK TIMES

'Not since Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar has a personal account of life in a mental hospital achieved as much popularity and acclaim' TIME

'A cool, elegant and unexpectedly funny memoir' SUNDAY TIMES

'Memorable and stirring' VOGUE

Editions (5)

ISBN9780349019598
PublisherLittle, Brown Book Group
Publication Date01/23/25

Reviews & Ratings

139 ratings

16 reviews

3.9

Tap to filter

  • berghutzenhexe
    berghutzenhexe

    12 Followers

    4.0

    Anders und besonders. Am Ende gibt es noch ein kleines Kapitel speziell zur BPS. Sehr interessant. Mir war auch nicht bewusst, dass es eine „wahre Geschichte“ ist. Empfehlung!

    Jun 3, 2024

  • emilygodoyyy
    emilygodoyyy

    21 Followers

    5.0

    This book is a memoir about Susana Kayson’s experience when she was 18 and voluntarily committed herself in a psychiatric hospital.

    Ive read this book before and decided to reread it and annotate it. It is by far one of my favorite books and the movie was also sooo goooddd. I loved how well the book was written. It’s sarcastic, funny, and real. It fully describes how a young person is dealing with a mental illness while being confused about it and trying to fully understand it. I loved all the characters in the book. It was an easy read and I finished in two days. The book describes the stigma around mental health in the 60’s and how hard it was for her and others around her that there was something wrong with her. It’s a classic must read book will always give it a 5/5 rating. Also, the way she got the name for the book was just the cherry on top. Favorite quotes from the book: “I told her once I wasn’t good at anything. She told me survival is a talent” “Sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.” “Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?” “Every window in Alcatraz has a view of San Francisco.” “Emptiness and boredom: what an understatement. What I felt was complete desolation. Desolation, despair, and depression. Isn't there some other way to look at this? After all, angst of these dimensions is a luxury item. You need to be well fed, clothes, and housed to have time for this much self-pity.” “In a strange way we were free. We'd reached the end of the line. We had nothing more to lose. Our privacy, our liberty, our dignity: all of this was gone and we were stripped down to the bare bones of our selves.”

    This book is a memoir about Susana Kayson’s experience when she was 18 and voluntarily committed herself in a psychiatric hospital.

    Feb 21, 2025

3 of 16 reviews

Reading is better with the READO app.

Discover books, track progress, read together.

Library

Keep track