Crazy or Right? : Girl, Interrupted

Title of Book: Girl Interrupted

Author: Susanna Kaysen

Date of Publication: 1993

Publisher: Turtle Bay Books

Susanna was a regular teenager that had some bad moments. She had dropped out of school and had a relationship with her teacher. She tried to overdose on painkillers and was sent to a doctor by her parents. After fifteen minutes, that doctor sent her out to McLean Hospital. There she met others like her. Polly, she set herself on fire in her garage. Lisa, a physco t hat knew everything about everyone in the hospital. And others like the roommate- Georgina, Daisy-the one that eats chicken, and the main nurse- Valerie.In her biography she describes life in a mental institute. Everything is opposite and Susanna makes it sound like they are fishes in a bowl looking out. She mentions that the concepts in science don’t make sense in the life of an insane, for example, what goes up doesn’t come down. On a more daily basis, she mentions the time stamps she’s on and how society outside wastes time. They get “checks” every five to fifteen minutes by the nurses; therefore, they are constantly reminded they have just wasted precious minutes of their lives. The society doesn’t seem to feel or notice five minutes going by, since they have a life to think about.

“Was I crazy or right? In 1967, this was a hard question to answer. Even twenty-five years later, it’s a hard question to answer.”

Susanna was thinking back on how she viewed discrimination. She thought that it was sexist for the typists to all be women and for the supervisors to all be men. Today, anyone would justify what she’s saying. This makes me think whether Susanna’s situation was due to the lifestyle then or was she just in the wrong hands. Susanna dropped out of school, had a relationship with her teacher and tried to commit suicide. Would something like this happen in life today? This book compares life as the insane and sane view it.