Has anyone else read this memoir?

[BrokenBoy]

Ok so RN I'm reading a memoir by this chick named Susanna Kaysen called Girl, Interrupted bout the author trying to kill herself, failing, and being put in an asylum for a year and she is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder.

Despite it's grimdark subject matter it's a very humorous memoir. I totally recommend reading it if you haven't already.

Has anyone else here read it?

 

[Aspychata]

Think l heard about it. Did you relate to anything in it? Do you understand borderline personality now? And how is it similar and not similar to you?

Great you want to share your views about this!

 

[tree]

I saw some of the movie.
It was pretty bad.
Thin. Cheap characterizations....

 

[tkcartoonist]

Never read it, but I heard the author disowned the movie version because it deviated too far from the book.

 

[BrokenBoy]

Never read it, but I heard the author disowned the movie version because it deviated too far from the book.

Yeah I heard the movie added what she called "melodramatic drivel" such as the bit where Susanna runs away from the asylum.

 

[BrokenBoy]

Think l heard about it. Did you relate to anything in it? Do you understand borderline personality now? And how is it similar and not similar to you?

Great you want to share your views about this!

I didn't exactly find it "relatable" but I could empathize a bit with her situation.

I was in an asylum for 2 and a half days and it wasn't nearly as bad as she describes it.

 

[tree]

I didn't exactly find it "relatable" but I could empathize a bit with her situation.

I was in an asylum for 2 and a half days and it wasn't nearly as bad as she describes it.

Length of stay and era may affect your view.
Her story was based in the 1960s and her
stay was a year and a half.

Girl, Interrupted - Wikipedia

 

[Kalinychta]

Yes! I’ve read it, and I loved it. I saw the movie a long time ago, and it’s nothing at all like the book.

 

[tree]

Yes! I’ve read it, and I loved it. I saw the movie a long time ago, and it’s nothing at all like the book.

That gives me some hope.
Maybe the book would be worth reading.
The movie wasn't worth watching, as far as
I was concerned.

 

[Kalinychta]

That gives me some hope.
Maybe the book would be worth reading.
The movie wasn't worth watching, as far as
I was concerned.

Agreed. The characters in the film are vile people, and the story itself is just boring, not to mention unrealistic. The book, however, is truly excellent. Fascinating, informative, and beautifully written.

 

[Major Tom]

I also saw the movie, hopefully the memoir is better, but I hesitate to read the memoir, because the movie was so bad. I will check it out though, because often writing conveys much more than can be conveyed in a movie.

 

[Fino]

Very interesting opinions here! It's one of my favorite books. And it's my favorite movie. The movie is more "inspired" by the book than it is based on it. It'd make sense to not even connect the two. The book is not written in a style which translates to a movie. It's not like a novel or anything.

 

[Kalinychta]

Another memoir that may interest you is The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. It’s written as fiction but is autobiographical/memoir, and Sylvia was committed to the same mental hospital as the author of Girl, Interrupted (McLean Hospital in Massachusetts).

 

[SusanLR]

I've read The Bell Jar. Thought it was good.
I have not read Girl Interrupted, but, I did see the movie and was totally absorbed while watching it.
I found the movie pretty realistic and the song End of the World was an interesting touch for me,
because that was my favourite song when I was six.