Girl, Interrupted

Many do not know this but Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen is a memoir! Released in 1993, this memoir text retells the experiences of the author as a young woman in a psychiatric hospital after being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The book was then made into a popular movie starring Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder.

I first read Girl, Interrupted in high school. I have reread it since but would like to reread parts of it once more for the sake of my research. Before writing this post I reread the chapter titled "Checkmate". Within this chapter the protagonist, Susanna, recalls sitting on the floor smoking outside the nurses station and discussing sex with other young female patients in the hospital.

"I hadn't tried it. Although my boyfriend had calmed down about my being in the hospital and come to visit me, the person on checks caught me giving him a blow job, and we'd been put on supervised visits. He wasn't visiting anymore."

Probably one of my favorite aspects of Girl, Interrupted as a memoir is the bluntness of it. Everything is retold by the author in a very matter-of-fact way. At times this can be very cold or bleak in tone. I remember breezing through this book the times I have read it because the author recounts her experiences in a down to earth way that makes it seem as if someone is casually telling you about their time spent in a psych ward. I'm interested in using this type of memoir in my writing- just recalling experiences for what they were and not romanticize them with literary devices or too much emotional expression. I'm interested in how the bluntness of retelling shocking experiences without the acknowledgment of emotion effects the tone of the piece.