Girl Interrupted Book Report

Words: 1867
Pages: 8

As a young woman who someday wants to become a therapist for the mentally ill, I find great pleasure in reading and learning more about the “insane.” The book Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen was an interesting read about Susanna’s life as a mental patient at McLean Hospital. There was a movie based off the book as well with the same title directed by James Mangold. The book definitely surpassed the movie because the book had so much more detail. The book talks more about Susanna’s thoughts and feeling, but also describes and depicts the other characters more as well making it much more fascinating to read. The book starts off with Susanna sitting in an office talking to a psychologist. He evaluates and observes her to see what is going …show more content…
In the book you’re more knowledgeable on Susanna’s thoughts on the events that happen. The book and the movie were slightly different, but they were both about Susanna struggling through her days in the hospital. While reading the book, we as the reader get a better feel that she is in a mental hospital, unlike the movie. For example the ice cream incident in the book started because a girl who was once a fellow patient committed suicide. The nurses all decided to take everyone out as a group to get ice cream. Lisa made a sexual joke towards the new boy who worked there, and then it began. Other girls began to blurt out rude, sexual, and dirty joke or words. The nurses couldn’t get everyone to calm down or stop so they had to leave, which is definitely a realistic vision. To see a bunch of teenage lunatics going out into the public for the first time in a long while. On the other hand, in the movie a woman comes into the store to confront Susanna about sleeping with her husband, and with Lisa being the spunky girl she is opened her mouth and the situation escalated. She barked at the woman until she had left, and of course Lisa had gotten in trouble with the head nurse for acting up. This wouldn’t really happen. The director just did it for drama, and it doesn’t fit