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Girl, Interrupted

TikTok made me buy it!
By Susanna Kaysen
Series: VMC
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3.94 goodreads logo

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Check link for latest rating. ( 271,681 ratings, 12,922 reviews)
Brief Description
Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever. In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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The bestselling cult classic memoir, now a BookTok favourite, reissued as part of the new Virago Modern Classic 'Green Spines' design.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever.

In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele - Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor and Ray Charles. Unflinchingly honest and darkly funny, this bestselling memoir is a sharply vivid portrait of Susanna's fellow patients, the kaleidoscopically shifting world of the late sixties, and how sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.

Girl, Interrupted is a beautiful, complex story that truly led the way on opening up a new, brave, nuanced approach to talking about women's mental health. An intense and personal story that taps into a universal truth about how the world responds to complicated young women' - SCARLETT CURTIS

'Poignant, honest and triumphantly funny . . . A compelling and heartbreaking story' - NEW YORK TIMES

'Not since Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar has a personal account of life in a mental hospital achieved as much popularity and acclaim' - TIME

'A cool, elegant and unexpectedly funny memoir' - SUNDAY TIMES

'Memorable and stirring' - VOGUE

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    Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever. In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, eighteen-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be...
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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780349019598

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 23 January 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Virago Press Ltd

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 16.0mm

Width: 126.0mm

Height: 196.0mm

Weight: 157g

Pages: 192

Collections

Best Sellers at Book Hero Biography & Memoir Black Friday Sale Black Friday Sale: Biographies & Memoirs Black Friday Sale: Books In Stock Books New Zealand's Best Selling Books Non-Fiction Series: VMC Susanna Kaysen

About the Author

Susanna Kaysen (1948) was brought up in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she still lives. She has written two novels, ASA, AS I KNEW HIM and FAR AFIELD. While working on the latter, memories of her two year stay at McLean's Psychiatric Hospital began to emerge. With the help of a lawyer she obtained her 350 page file from the hospital. GIRL, INTERRUPTED followed.

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  • Girl, Interrupted
    In 1967, after a session with a psychiatrist she'd never seen before, 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen was put in a taxi and sent to McLean Hospital to be treated for depression. She spent most of the next two years on the ward for teenage girls in a psychiatric hospital renowned for its famous clientele - Sylvia Plath, Robert Lowell, James Taylor...
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