This book review was written with The Village Voice in mind. I typed it tonight, as my life has suddenly become filled with interruptions. It still needs a lot of work. The book was published in 1993, so pretend that is when the book review is being written.
I still want to add details about Borderline Personality Disorder into it, and also do some research on Mclean Hospital. Find out if it had any scandals, since mental health care was not at it's greatest in the 1960's.
Pardon the Interruption
Sometimes it takes a good book to help us realize just how much we take our lives for granted. Our days are filled with interruptions. You are running late for work, and the dog has an accident on the carpet. You are about to take a nap, and the doorbell rings. We have all been there, and we know just how annoying these interruptions can be, but how many of us have really had our lives interrupted?
Imagine that you wake up one morning, and you begin going through your daily routine. You go into the kitchen to get a glass of milk, but you can’t get to the refrigerator because the black and white squares on the floor won’t let you. They appear to be moving, there are shapes in them, and you can’t take your eyes off them long enough to do what you have to do. Suddenly everything feels wrong. You are struck with panic, and you decide to skip work and stay in bed all day. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day, but then you wake up, and the same thing happens again. Things get worse and worse until you can’t deal with it anymore. You cry as you realize you have lost control of your life, you even begin to contemplate suicide.
This is what happened to Susanna Kaysen when she was eighteen years old. She woke up one day, and realized that something had a hold on her life. Something that wasn’t going to let go without a fight. This lead her to commit herself to Mclean Hospital, be diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and later write the national bestseller Girl, Interrupted.
One minute Susanna Kaysen is at a therapy session, the next she is in a taxi being sent to a psychiatric ward. It happened just that quickly, part of the world one day, locked away from it the next. Upon entering the ward she finds herself mingling with a strange mix of people. There is Polly, a young girl who lit herself on fire, and has one whole side of her body scared. Daisy, a rich girl who is addicted to chicken and laxatives. Later on there is a new girl who appears normal, but by the end of the book is playing in her own feces, and reminding the girls just how lucky they are to be on the minimum security ward. Then there is Lisa, a so-called sociopath who enjoys making monthly escapes, and passes the time by making trouble around the ward.
When paired with such an interesting cast of characters, Kaysen’s mental problems begin to seem less severe. As she becomes friends with the other girls in the ward the reader witnesses a change in her behavior. The once quiet Kaysen begins to act out in ways that just don’t seem to coincide with her thoughts. She seems to be making a conscious choice to allow herself to sink into insanity, which will leave you questioning if the ward is the best place for her.
The memoir is brilliantly pieced together with small chapters that focus on different events that Kaysen experienced during her two years in Mclean. These chapters are pieced together with copies of Kaysen’s actual medical records, and made coherent by juxtaposing memories of Mclean with recent reflections, and Kaysen’s new knowledge of mental illness.
There is a great market for books dealing with mental illness, both fiction and nonfiction. Why is that? The thing that makes Girl, Interrupted so fascinating may also be what makes it so frightening. All of the characters in the book have suffered from emotional turmoil so severe it has prevented them from living a normal life, but they don’t appear all that different from us. They have hopes and dreams, and some even have endearing personalities.
The memoir begins with a photocopy from Kaysen’s case record folder, probably added for authenticity. The fact that someone had to go through two years of emotional and psychological turmoil is frightening, but what is even more frightening is what she writes on the second page:
People ask, How did you get in there? What they really want to know is if they are likely to end up in their as well. I can’t answer the real question. All I can tell them is, It’s easy.
Many of Kaysen’s thoughts during her “mental breakdown” may not be that different from thoughts we’ve had during times of severe stress. Does this mean that this can happen to us too? That it is possible that we will wake up one day, and find our lives completely changed? Furthermore, does this mean that all the people in the psychiatric ward were once like us? Did they give into the abandonment of being confined and choose to let themselves sink into “insanity?”
Girl, Interrupted grabs the reader’s attention with reality and dark humor. Kaysen guides us through the roller coaster ride that is mental illness with a smile on her face. She realizes that she was never that different from those outside the ward, and it gave her the strength to overcome one of life’s interruptions. This book is a must for anyone who has ever been depressed, confused, or questioned their sanity. Life is full of interruptions, Girl, Interrupted is a worthwhile one.
Comments (4)
Hello Jessica
I think you have a strong piece here: very well detailed and structured. I definitely like the approach that you take to describing and critiquing the novel--that even those considered "insane" are not that much different from the average person--which is brilliantly introduced from the very beginning (and highlighted throughout, especially with the question of the novel's market power). In short, you are bringing it to the level of an average reader with what you have. This is great.
In terms of strengthening your arguments: I would like to have seen a couple of quotes to demonstrate the validity of these observations:
"The once quiet Kaysen begins to act out in ways that just don’t seem to coincide with her thoughts." (What are her thoughts according to the text? Are they rational compared to her actions? How exactly is she acting out?)
"[Susanna] seems to be making a conscious choice to allow herself to sink into insanity, which will leave you questioning if the ward is the best place for her." (What, from her thoughts or actions, leaves you to think this (this will be most likely be answered with the answers from the previous set of questions)?)
On a more minor, stylistic note: There are a couple of places where the language seems a bit choppy. Take this quote, for example:
"Sometimes it takes a good book to help us realize just how much we take our lives for granted. Our days are filled with interruptions."
I think there needs to be a transition between these two sentences.
I also feel like there is not enough of a transition between the description of the hypothetical events in the first paragraph and this part: "This is what happened to Susanna Kaysen when she was eighteen years old." Somehow, this sentence doesn't do enough to convey the importance of what you have just described in the previous statements.
On another developmental note: You definitely need some background on BPD, as well as on mental hospital conditions in the 60s. The Village Voice caters to a quite artsy audience, one that may not necessarily know too much about such details.
On a grammatical note, be wary of run-on sentences: "You cry as you realize you have lost control of your life, you even begin to contemplate suicide," for example.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email or post me a comment.
If there's anything else, I'll let you know.
Good luck!
Best,
Rebecca
Posted by Rebecca Pesantez | November 13, 2007 10:38 PM
Posted on November 13, 2007 22:38
Hi Jessica. First of all, great title! It's perfect, for a review of Kaysen's memoir published in the Voice.
Your writing is nice and clear--and the tone is very direct, aimed at readers. That's a very good thing, but I wonder if the details in the first two paragraphs are right for the Voice. The details of the daily activity you describe sound very mainstream and middle class, and the Voice has always presented itself as an alternative publication. I could imagine fairly easy substitutions for these details, but you might also consider taking a different approach entirely for the intro.
On a related note, I think it's taking you too long to get to the book. Can you introduce it earlier?
When you get to describing Kaysen's decision to enter McLean, can you describe the "something" you refer to in more specific terms. You could say something like "she didn't have a diagnosis yet, but her symptoms were..." It would be helpful to get a clearer picture of the problem right up front.
After this, you describe the memoir's characters, its structure, its opening "hook" (with the photocopied records), and then her description of her breakdown. You might want to move this description up to the second or third paragraph. It might help you to be more specific from the start. You might also flesh out the discussions of character and structure with more quotations from the novel.
Finally, I think it is a good idea to include some information about Borderline Personality Disorder. If you do, I think you should also spend some time discussing the diagnostic problems associated with the disorder (and others like it). Kaysen's memoir is in large part a critique of the medical establishment and its treatment of people suffering with the symptoms of disorders like these. I think you can rely on Kaysen's critique to help you explain what BPD is, how it's understood by the medical community, and what problems arise in treating it.
Posted by Jason Tougaw | November 15, 2007 4:57 PM
Posted on November 15, 2007 16:57
Jessie,
I like, very much, your idea of 'a life interrupted' but I think you need to rearrange some things to make your ideas more clear.
I agree with Professor Tougaw that your first paragraphs are a little too white-bread. They bring up this idea of losing status which is more of a "Pleasant Valley Sunday"-middle class concern. Please feel free to wrap yourself in leather and chains to rewrite this. (I'm kidding, right?) Seriously, they your lead leaves a lot to be desired--and doesn't even deal with the book!
You should probably introduce the concept of the text a little earlier, in a review that's only supposed to be a thousand words. You quote the first page of the book at the end of your paper--"People ask, How did you get in there? What they really want to know is if they are likely to end up in their as well. I can’t answer the real question. All I can tell them is, It’s easy."--you might try that at the front to bring readers into the text.
I think you have a great idea with the sudden loss of life, but you don't get into it in great detail and you don't deal with the idea through the book. There needs to be a direct connection between the idea and the book. Get your hands dirty.
Also, you have this way throughout your review of summarizing the entire events of the novel in a sentence or two. Let's not forget that a book review should involve the plot of the book. The reader should get a taste (not the whole storyline or anything drastic like that) of what life in McLean is like. (And life outside of McLean--it's been a while since I've read this book but I remember, unlike the movie, there's a lot more stuff outside of McLean.)
Here's some examples:
"When paired with such an interesting cast of characters, Kaysen’s mental problems begin to seem less severe."
-- We really have no idea what Kaysen's mental problems are. (Because the book has just come out, no?) Some research into Borderline Personality Disorder could help you explain it to the reader (and how BPD affects Kaysen's interactions with the other inmates.)
"The memoir is brilliantly pieced together with small chapters that focus on different events that Kaysen experienced during her two years in Mclean."
-- Well, there's the book in a sentence. So instead of giving us this one sentence, you could give us some of the events you talk about--perhaps something that illustrates BPD, or any of the theoretical ideas you want to bring forth in the book.
I'm not sure how to end this comment (other than repeating what I've just said, which I'm not going to do) so... Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Posted by John Rice | November 24, 2007 1:23 PM
Posted on November 24, 2007 13:23
Hi Jessica . . . I am so sorry but I just realized that I was supposed to respond to your review. I realize it is very late in the game but I suppose any feedback is better than no feedback.
First off, I really like the tone of your review. It is friendly and conversational so it is very appealing to a casual reader. The only thing I wasn't sure about was the use of "you" and "we" when refering to the reader. I don't know . . . it just seems almost too personal and conversational and may negate your authority to some degree. But that could just be a personal preference on my part and it may be completely appropriate for your journal choice--your call. I just couldn't help but wonder about the "we" and began questioning if I (as the hypothetical reader) would feel that I belonged in the same catagory as the critic . . . do you know what I mean?
I like your first paragraph and the way you try to emerse the reader in some semblance of the insanity that Kaysen experiences but wonder if it might be tightened up a bit. It does take a while to get to the actual book so . . . I don't know, maybe introduce it briefly and then try to 'emerse the reader' a bit before continuing with the book info.
I really don't know anything about Borderline Personality Disorder so i would have liked to have had a little more information added to educate me :)
Other than those few things I think you have a great review in the wings. I apologize again for my lateness and hope that something I said may be of help. . . or, that at the very least, it doesn't screw you up at this point.
Good Luck!
Posted by Jennifer | November 24, 2007 6:35 PM
Posted on November 24, 2007 18:35