Girl, Interrupted
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This article is about the book. For information about the movie, see Girl, Interrupted (film)
Girl, Interrupted is a memoir by Susanna Kaysen. In the book she relates her experiences as a patient in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s. The memoir's title is taken from the Vermeer painting, Girl Interrupted at her Music.
In 1999, the memoir was used as the basis for the film Girl, Interrupted, starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, and directed by James Mangold.
[edit] Plot of Girl, Interrupted
The "plot" of Girl, Interrupted does not follow a linear storyline, but instead the author provides personal stories through a series of non-chronological vignettes and personal reflections on why she was institutionalized.
Susanna Kaysen, eighteen years old in April of 1967, voluntarily enters McLean Hospital, in Belmont, Massachusetts, after attempting suicide. Kaysen is diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, and her stay extends eighteen months.
Fellow patients Polly Clark, Lisa Rowe, Georgina Tuskin and Daisy Randone highlight Kaysen’s experience at McLean as she describes their personal issues, insanities, and how they come to cope with the time they must spend in the hospital. Kaysen also introduces the reader to particular staff members, including Valerie, Dr. Wick and Mrs. McWeeney.
Kaysen reflects on the nature of her illness, including difficulty making sense of visual patterns, and suggests that sanity is a falsehood constructed to help the "healthy" feel "normal." She also questions how doctors treat mental illnesses, and whether they are treating the brain or the mind.
During her stay, Kaysen undergoes a frightening period of depersonalization, where she bites open the flesh on her hand after she becomes terrified that she has "lost her bones." Also, during a trip to the dentist, Kaysen becomes frantic after waking from the general anesthesia and no one will tell her how long she was unconscious. She fears that she has "lost" time.
Some years after leaving McLean, Kaysen visits Georgina, who is now married and still quite unconventional. Kaysen bumps into Lisa, who has a son and lives in Brookline, outside of a subway station. Daisy commits suicide, and Polly's whereabouts are unknown.
[edit] Characters
Susanna Kaysen - The main character of the story who is in the hospital for attempting suicide.
Polly - A girl in the mental institution who set herself on fire but survived. As a result, she has horrible burns all over her body.
Lisa - A sociopath in the mental institution who befriends Susanna.
Daisy - A tragic girl who stays in her room at the institution for the majority of the time. Daisy only eats chicken as her food and saves the carcasses afterwards. She allows only Lisa into her room and she has little trust of people in general.
