Girl, Interrupted

Spoiler Alert: At different points in our lives, we've all been the woman in the painting

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A striking and complex look into the inner mind of a young woman during the turbulent 1960s, Girl, Interrupted is certainly a classic for good reason. With similarities to The Bell Jar, this story follows Susanna Kaysen's own real life experiences while spending much of her formative years in a woman's psychiatric ward. When Susanna tries to take her own life at the end of her senior year in high school, she finds her life turned upside down as she it is reluctantly sent away to what she so kindly refers to as "the looney bin." With no real direction in life and no self awareness, Susanna is in denial of her situation; she continually maintains that despite her actions, she is not crazy -- unlike the women she is forced to live with. Through compelling characters and heartfelt scenes, this novel shows that perhaps the line between sanity and insanity is less distinct than we may realize. As Susanna slowly finds sisterhood in the most unlikely of places, she begins to grapple with frightening the idea that perhaps -- she is better suited for a life of confinement than a life out in the real world. Although events are whirling and buzzing outside their very doors, time seems at a standstill as Susanna and the other women are locked away with their demons. Whether it was Susanna, the thoughtful and perceptive protagonist, Lisa, the spontaneous sociopath with a knack for finding trouble, Daisy, an abused daddy's girl with some awful secrets, or Polly, an innocent and childish victim with scars to prove it, each unique woman helped shape the story into a complex and multi-faceted novel. While the issues that were dealt with in this story are not something to be taken lightly, there is a certain beauty to broken women, and the bonds that can be formed between them. Towards the end of the story, I was especially taken by the art reference that Susanna mentions from which her story gets its title. She describes to readers what she felt the first time she saw the Vermeer painting entitled "Girl Interrupted at her music." As her story comes full circle, and she realizes that the painting means something far different to her after all she has faced, I too was completely enamored with the beautiful art piece (eventually googling it so I too could see was our heroine did.) I can now never look at the painting again without thinking of the beautifully broken woman who stood crying in a museum when she saw it. While quite dark and perhaps a bit gritty at times, I found this story ultimately to be quite optimistic and validating. I not only can't look at art the same way, I also no longer see mental illness nor my own struggles in the same light. Sometimes we all feel as if our life has been interrupted, we feel lost; but there are always, always going to be people, and places, and paintings to show us the way.

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Favorite Quotes: "The only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy.” ~~ “Was everybody seeing this stuff and acting as though they weren’t? Was insanity just a matter of dropping the act?” ~~ Did the hospital specialize in poets and singers or was it that poets and singers specialized in madness?” ~~“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.” ~~ “I told her once I wasn’t good at anything. She told me survival is a talent.” ~~ “As far as I could see, life demanded skills I didn't have.” ~~ “Every window in Alcatraz has a view of San Francisco. ”