Kaysen, Susanna. Girl Interrupted. New York: Vintage Books, 1993.
A break from my usual fiction, this one is a memoir. In the 1960's Susanna Kaysen was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and placed in a Psychiatric Ward. It seems clear that Ms. Kaysen certainly didn't feel that all was well with the world. She had a history of suicide attempts and running away from home. However, Borderline Personality Disorder seems a bit much. Kaysen's memoir points out the impossibility of perception. When admitted, she accepts her diagnosis but over time she comes to realize that virtually any person can fit into the description for a borderline. Additionally, attitudes and morals change and the psychological disorder discriptors can't keep up. Compounded with out of date unfair gender norms and were any of us ever really safe. What's the quality that keeps us out of the nuthouse? Is it sanity, or just an ability to fit in?
Years later, Ms. Kaysen's book was made into a movie. It's a good movie, as far as it goes, but it misses out on the true tragedy. Life and sanity. Insanity and death. In the end, just lables.
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