Rating: 
Summary: Captivating... an excellent read!
Review: I was interested in reading this book when I heard that the movie starring Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder was coming out. I was even more intrigued when I learned what the book was about-- a teen's struggle with mental illness. A teenage therapy patient myself, I really was able to relate to Susanna and sympathize with her throughout her autobiographical story. Even if you aren't a "lunatic" like Susanna, the Lisas, Daisy, or anyone else at her institution, I'm sure you'll be able to relate to something in the story because of Kaysen's vivid, colloquial style of writing. For those of you who've seen the movie, I must say that the book is more enjoyable, but quite different from its Hollywood counterpart. However, both are fantastic in their own ways, so enjoy both media.
Rating: 
Summary: Girl, Interrupted
Review: Susanna Kaysen, the main character and author of this book, simply went for a doctor's appointment one day and the doctor, not letting her know what was going on, shoved her in a taxi and sent her to Mclean Hosptial, where her stay was about 2 years. Through that year, she experienced many new friends,yet problems, but also discovered new paths and a new way of life which led her to a world of seeing the real Susanna. Susanna entered the mental hospital still having no idea why she was there, but what she soon came to realize was that she was the most normal one out of all that were staying there. The hospital was a very strict facility with locked everything. There was no leaving the hospital except for when the nurse would take 6 lucky patients to get ice cream, but that was hardly ever. Nurses checked on you every 10, 20, or 30 minutes, depending on your behavior and diagnosis. Susanna also had a therapist, with whom she met weekly and told him about her problems and thoughts about everything. Susanna's diagnosis was something having to do with depression, and even though she was in an environment full of friends like Georgina, Lisa, and Cynthia, she felt out of place because they all had seriuos problems and she didn't. All the other characters made the book so lively and humorous, even though it was talking about a serious issue. Susanna was a big thinker and this book showed great analyzation of her every thought. It was so greatly analyzed that it not only taught her something, but everyone reading the book. What happens at the end of the book is for you to find out. Don't miss reading Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. It shows such good -real experiences and how some people just don't have life so easy as others and how they deal with it so well.
Rating:
Summary: Girl Interrupted (How do you now when you are crazy?)
Review: This book, The Girl Interrupted is a great book to read. This book is full of dark comedy and very interesting points that Susanna tells us about here stay at Mclean Hospital.
Susanna was 18 when she was put into Mclean Hospital, she was diagnosed as having a Borderline Personality Disorder. She tells us about the events that ocurred while she was a patient at the hospital. She tells us in detail about the other patients that are admitted there. Susanna tells us sbout her every day activites that took place, and she tells us about how she was in her crazy state of mind.
This book has a very interesting and different plot and the format of the book flows smoothly, I would highly recomend this book to anyone who is interested in a dark comedy book.
Rating:
Summary: So much better than the movie!
Review: I saw the film "Girl Interrupted" before reading the book. What a difference! The movie was interesting and somewhat absorbing, but it had that fake Hollywood drama feel to it. (It felt a lot like the Robin Williams movie "Patch Adams"). The ending was way too trite, and a lot of the events (such as the patients sneaking around for hours in the head psychiatrist's office) were totally implausible. The book was superior in every way!Susanna Kaysen gives an unflinching look at the years of her life spent in a mental hospital. I felt that Kaysen was brave to write the way she did, considering the book sometimes shows her in an unflattering light. Kaysen does not romanticize her mental problems, and she holds herself accountable for her behavior, even as she explores the underlying motivation for it. The brief information about other disturbed young girls is vivid and unforgettable. Also, Kaysen's discussion of sanity vs. insanity is thought-provoking. My only complaint about the book is its length; it was too short! (Just enough to tantalize you). For a similar book that goes into a bit more detail, I recommend "Mockingbird Years" by Emily Fox Gordon.
Rating: 
Summary: I liked the movie better
Review: I watched the movie before I read the book, so maybe after watching the movie and seeing everything close up in visual detail, I was disappointed by the book's lack of detail. Sure it had it's moments and cute tales especially about Daisy and her chickens, Lisa and her escapades, and the whole group going to the ice cream palor, but what it didn't have was the complete package that the movie presented to the viewer. Instead of reading the emotional turmoil of the girls in the minimum security ward, you actually witnessed it, and I found that much more compelling. However, I really enjoyed the chapter "Mind vs. Brain", in which the author describes in humorous detail the difference between a sane and an insane person. Watch the movie, and skip the book.
Rating:
Summary: Girl, Interrupted Book Review
Review: This book gives a truthful look into the mind of a disturbed young woman who finds herself in a mental hospital due to a struggle with her inner emotions. Ms. Kaysen makes no effort to sugarcoat the conditions or situations involving her and the other patients at the hospital. Everything she writes is honest and extremely vivid. One account in which we see a frightening and true depiction of a patient's situation is in the chapter entitled, "Calais Is Engraved In My Heart." After a girl named Alice Calais has a severe mental breakdown she is sent to maximum security. The other girls go to visit her, and what they find leaves the reader with an unsettling vision of the lives of these young women. Kaysen makes no excuses for herself, or anyone else, she simply tells her story the way it happened. Another aspect of Ms. Kaysen's writing, that separates her from the rest, is her ability to covey abstract thoughts and theories in a very personal way. Using unique metaphors, symbols, and her own experiences, she is able to address such topics as the inner Id, the cause and effect of her condition, and the thin line that divides normality from insanity. In a place that seems so dark and unhappy Kaysen manages to insert light and humor. One of Kaysen's fellow patients, Lisa, while extremely disturbed, is also very witty and sharp. Kaysen herself also has a very humorous side. A weaker point of the novel is that in some cases Kaysen's writing becomes so internal that it seems scattered and is difficult to follow. Another point that may turn readers away is the extremely graphic and unapologetic accounts of the effects of illness in the hospital. However, this book was an informative, creative, and groundbreaking piece of literature that is certainly worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!
Review: I have just finished reading "Girl, Interrupted." It was so interesting! I know I am going to reread it over and over again. The plot is well developed and has only minor flaws. The main character, which is the author, Susanna Kaysen, gives to you her story, detailed and honest. It's basically about her problems and troubles dealing with mentail hospitals. She enters a hospital called "McLean Hospital." She puts it in a very humorous way, showing the world what life is like inside the white walls of a hospital. She meets many people there, freinds and enemies, and deals with new experiences. Susanna Kaysen is a very brave person to print millions of copies of her own experiences. She is a highly educated and should write more books! I highly recomend this over the movie, although the movie isn't bad...This book should be read by everyone, and should gain as much popularity as "Go Ask Alice.." Girl, Interrupted is easily a favorite for me, and after you read it, you'll love it! Happy Reading!
Rating:
Summary: So much better than the movie!
Review: I saw the film "Girl Interrupted" before reading the book. What a difference! The movie was interesting and somewhat absorbing, but it had that fake Hollywood drama feel to it. (It felt a lot like the Robin Williams movie "Patch Adams"). The ending was way too trite, and a lot of the events (such as the patients sneaking around for hours in the head psychiatrist's office) were totally implausible. The book was superior in every way! Susanna Kaysen gives an unflinching look at the years of her life spent in a mental hospital. I felt that Kaysen was brave to write the way she did, considering the book sometimes shows her in an unflattering light. Kaysen does not romanticize her mental problems, and she holds herself accountable for her behavior, even as she explores the underlying motivation for it. The brief information about other disturbed young girls is vivid and unforgettable. Also, Kaysen's discussion of sanity vs. insanity is thought-provoking. My only complaint about the book is its length; it was too short! (Just enough to tantalize you). For a similar book that goes into a bit more detail, I recommend "Mockingbird Years" by Emily Fox Gordon.
Rating:
Summary: Understanding a Mental Illness
Review: Right from the beginning of Girl, Interrupted the author introduces herself as an eighteen-year-old named Susanna Kaysen. She encounters a session with a psychiatrist she's never met or spoken to before in her life. The beginning of the book is thrilling and exciting because you're not exactly sure where you're going to end up. Susanna is then sent away in a taxi, which takes her to McLean Hospital. It becomes very real and clear about what is going on if you've had similar experiences in life. She stays in a ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital for the next two years of her life. By this point you really feel like you're right there with the writer. It all becomes very real and a little hard to read. This memoir of Kaysen includes horrible things that go on in the ward and at the same time she gives the readers a very clear description about the other patients in there. In the end the book brings you to a conclusion between mental illness and recovery. This book really showed me that life isn't as bad as I perceived it. I learned that when you think you've got it bad, you might not really know what you've got coming for you-because as you get older the real world can sometimes catch up with you.
I would recommend this book to anyone that is struggling with a friend or family member that has a mental illness. It helps you to understand what pain they're going through and why they say and think the way they do. This was by far one of my favorite books I've read this year and at the same time it was my biggest life saver.
Rating:
Summary: Eye-opening insightful and awe inspiring
Review: If I could give this book 6 stars I would! Right from the opening this book grips the reader with facinating therioes of live and incrediable thought process. For example the view of attempted suicide as 'brave and couragous', or even the tag line "Sometimes we have to go a little razy just to stay sane". An amazing book worthy of many awards. A must read for any teenager questioning life. Susanna Kaysen is a true gift to this world!
|
