A review by meganwintrip
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
5.0
Wow.. what an amazing read this was. The true story about Susanna Kaysen and her journey with mental illness. I literally couldn't put the book down it was so good. I've seen the movie and I loved it, I'm so glad I finally got the book!
I love that Susanna inserted pages from her hospital file into the book too, (she got her 350 page hospital file through her lawyer). It's so fascinating reading all the notes the doctor's made and the assumptions they wrote down.
Just being thrown into a taxi cab and taken to a hospital for your mental illness must have been scary, it was the 60s I suppose and back then they were prone to throwing you away until you were "better", they put you away for so many ridiculous reasons. Compared to now; where they like to help you within the community as it benefits the individuals more, although there are still some cases where it is safer for the individual to be put into an institution for a while.
Susanna was diagnosed with a personality disorder, she was in the psychiatric hospital with a few girls called Lisa, Daisy, Polly, Cynthia and Georgina. All the girls had disorders such as Eating disorders and Schizophrenia; apart from Lisa, Lisa was a sociopath.
The book follows Susanna's journey at the psychiatric hospital alongside her friends that she made there. It follows her time at the hospital, her mental illness journey and her recovery to the outside world. You also get a little insight of the life of Lisa and Georgina who Susanna stayed in contact with after getting out of the hospital.
Such a wonderfully written book and parts of it are really relatable. I highly recommend it.
I love that Susanna inserted pages from her hospital file into the book too, (she got her 350 page hospital file through her lawyer). It's so fascinating reading all the notes the doctor's made and the assumptions they wrote down.
Just being thrown into a taxi cab and taken to a hospital for your mental illness must have been scary, it was the 60s I suppose and back then they were prone to throwing you away until you were "better", they put you away for so many ridiculous reasons. Compared to now; where they like to help you within the community as it benefits the individuals more, although there are still some cases where it is safer for the individual to be put into an institution for a while.
Susanna was diagnosed with a personality disorder, she was in the psychiatric hospital with a few girls called Lisa, Daisy, Polly, Cynthia and Georgina. All the girls had disorders such as Eating disorders and Schizophrenia; apart from Lisa, Lisa was a sociopath.
The book follows Susanna's journey at the psychiatric hospital alongside her friends that she made there. It follows her time at the hospital, her mental illness journey and her recovery to the outside world. You also get a little insight of the life of Lisa and Georgina who Susanna stayed in contact with after getting out of the hospital.
Such a wonderfully written book and parts of it are really relatable. I highly recommend it.