Girl, Interrupted

Praise

“Poignant, honest and triumphantly funny … [a] compelling and heartbreaking story.” —The New York Times Book Review

“In  piercing  vignettes shadowed  with  humor [Kaysen]  brings  to life the routine of  the ward and its patients…. Kaysen’s meditations on young  women  and  madness  form  a  trenchant  counterpoint  to  the copies of her medical records that are woven into the text.” —The New Yorker

“An eloquent and unexpectedly funny memoir.” —Vanity Fair

”Memorable and stirring …   fascinating. A powerful examination  not only of Kaysen’s own imperfections  but of  those of  the system  that diagnosed her.” —Vogue

“Tough-minded … darkly comic … written with indelible clarity.” —Newsweek

“[A]n account of a disturbed girl’s unwilling passage into womanhood … and here is the girl, looking into our faces with urgent eyes.” —Washington Post Book World

“At  turns  wry,  sardonic,  witty  … an  unusual  glimpse  of  a  young woman’s  experience  with  insanity.  Kaysen  presents  a  meaningful analysis of  the dual and contradictory  nature of  psychiatric hospital­ization as both refuge and prison.” —San Francisco Chronicle