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Overview

Girl, Interrupted is a memoir by Susanna Kaysen that was first published in 1993. It describes Kaysen’s two year stay at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts, starting in 1967 where she receives treatment after a suicide attempt. Kaysen narrates Girl, Interrupted in a cool, dispassionate voice, sketching the characters and scenes that illustrate life in a mental hospital for the affluent in the late 1960s. The nearly emotionless narration reflects both the detachment Kaysen feels from life as an adolescent, and a desire to leave certain conclusions to her readers.

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