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Summary: Girl Interrupted is great
Review: I loved "Girl Interrupted." I think the characterization of everything and everyone was very accurate. The way things were in institutions in the 1960's isn't much different from today. And I know firsthand. If anyone ever dared to wonder about life in the "parallel universe," then I strongly suggest reading this book with an open mind and an open heart.
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Summary: What's the big deal?
Review: I bought this book because I thought it would provide some insight into the world of mental illness. I was sorely disappointed.
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Summary: maybe the best book I've ever read
Review: I read Girl, Interrupted back in 1994 when I was fifteen years old... it mirrored the kind of pain, alienation, frustration, and desolation I was feeling in a way that popular music or whatever failed to do... in fact, maybe the best thing about this book is that, along with books like Hamlet, The Bell Jar, and The Catcher in the Rye, it portrays "adolescent angst" in a way that completely acknowledges the pettiness it can take on while not devaluing the profundity of the experience. I've re-read Girl, Interrupted many, many times since then and since I've become more politically oriented in my "old age," I've become very, very interested in the implications it has on how women are viewed in our society, like what behaviors are viewed as "normal" or "acceptable..." (Another book that deals with those issues is Phyllis Chesler's Women and Madness). I think this book is a feminist book, but not limited to that. What makes it the best book I've ever read is it's sheer immediacy, Kaysen's ability to laugh at herself without devaluing her experience, and the fact that it deals with the whole mental illness thing in a way that is honest, unpretentious, and totally validating if you happen to suffer from mental illness... or know someone who does, which we all do.
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Summary: Sometimes Literally Impossible To Put Down
Review: This is one of those books that you try to put down, but end up picking back up moments later to read, to devour. And only when you do finish it do you really breath.It's also a very good, if shocking novel. Kaysen makes few if any compromises in the portrayal of Claymoor, and the girls discuss everything, including having sex with your boyfriend on five-minute checks. There's also a lot of introspection, some of which left me thinking more than I had in awhile after reading. This book is hard to put down, and at less than 200 pages, it's a pretty quick read. If there was one flaw, it's that this didn't tell more about the institution, and skipped around time periods a lot. But if you don't mind thinking and being briefly possessed by a novel, it's a definite must-read.
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Summary: Girl, Interrupted
Review: I found the book, Girl Interrupted, to be very interesting. It was amazing to see what somebody actually goes through when they go to a psychiatric hospital. One of my favrote parts in this book was when Susanna talks about her suicide because people actually do it. It shows us, the readers, peoples motives on why they would do it. Everything that Susanna did lead her to suicide. She did not want to write a history paper, so she knew that commiting suicide would make her problem go away. On the other hand she said, "I liked that movie - maybe I shouldn't kill myself." For some people, the smallest things will kill them. After Susanna took the fifty aspirin to kill herself she knew that wasn't what she wanted - then she was sent to the psychiatric hopspital. I also liked this book a lot because of the characters. Even though they were not made up they were interesting and very different. Lisa was very outspoken. She did whatever she wanted because the nurses let her. They knew that she would run away. She made fun of all the people in the hospital. Daisy was very different though, she was crazy. All she wanted were laxatives and chicken which she would pick apart. Susanna seemed very normal and did not deserve to be there. She made one little mistake and found herself in the hospital. I would request this book to anybody because it enlightens people. It will show you that even the most normal people can wind up in a psychiatric hospital. Also it was writen very beautifully. The details were incredible. I felt like I was in the hospital with them.
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Summary: The best book I have read in a long time
Review: Girl, Interrupted is by far one of the best books I have ever read. It is seldom that you get someones perspective of an institution from the inside. Though there were a few boring parts, the book was overall very well written. Another book I reccomend on the same subject is Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy.
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Summary: Girl, Interrupted
Review: I picked up this book in a Barnes & Noble about 4 months ago. I immediately started reading it and could not put it down. It is compelling and makes me want to learn more about the human mind and psychology. It is depressing, but wonderful.
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Summary: forget this book, read The Bell Jar instead
Review: This is the worst book I have read in ten years. The highlights of the story are a few freaky recollections of the mental hospital, the typical patient draws pictures on the walls with her stool (this is recounted all the time in any psych book) and electo-shock therapy. The very short and disjointed chapters offer no flow, only an irritating expectation that the story has to get better pretty soon..after all they made a movie of it! How they did is beyond me, but I am sure there must be entirely new dialogue and story line put together for the movie. There just is nothing here, I hate to disappoint you, but that is the truth. I can not understand how this can be construed as a novel, it is so terrible. It reads like someones scratchy notes, and never really gives a feeling of the story coming together. If you are interested in this type of novel, read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
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Summary: essay, interrupted
Review: Perhaps this work might be titled ESSAY, INTERRUPTED. I am fascinated to imagine how this 'novel' could become a screenplay, starring one of my favorite actresses, Angelina Jolie, although I've yet to see the movie. I enjoyed the rhythm and the flow of fluid descriptive writing, but feel disappointed overall. A short novel can be powerful, but there are lots of us around who can ramble on about our adventures in the sixties. Additionally, I had trouble keeping the similar characters straight. It's a smooth essay, but let's not call this work a novel.
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Summary: Wry & Witty
Review: If you're expecting the Bell Jar or a book like it you won't find it here. Girl, Interruped is definitely a quicker read, and it's generally pretty easy to digest. Although Ms. Kaysen's style is less dramatic than people might expect, the message will hit you pretty strongly. Her views about her experience are a worthy read--fresh and insightful. There are times when I felt the urge to skip chapters (for example, when she goes into the lenghtly monologue) but I stuck it out and enjoyed this book at the end.
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