Girl, Interrupted

I needed something post-Goldfinch to pull me out of my quickly approaching reading slump, and at 168 pages ‘Girl, Interrupted’ by Susanna Kaysen was the perfect read. I always knew that the movie (one of my favorites) was based on a memoir of Kaysen’s time spent in a psychiatric unit. I just never read the memoir- until now. It’s very in line with the movie, minus a few things here and there. The book is more introspective, while the movie leans towards the plot point of Lisa and Susanna’s relationship and eventually their escape through the tunnels (which didn’t actually happen in the book, but Kaysen’s fascination with the tunnels was prevalent) It’s interesting to read about the dynamics of a psychiatric unit in the 60s, the diagnosis terminology used by male doctors to describe teenage girls who are bored, lost, lonely. It reminds me of a quote from another fave book/movie Virgin Suicides, “Obviously, Doctor, you’ve never been a thirteen year old girl.” I’m glad I finally got the chance to read this book and I recommend it to anyone who has ever felt confined or confused by the societal pressures of being a woman.