Girl, Interrupted
by Susanna Kaysen
★ Top 5 book of 1993 · #5 on Best Books of 1993
At eighteen, Susanna Kaysen was sent by taxi to McLean Hospital and stayed nearly two years on its teenage girls' ward. Her memoir offers sharp, unflinching portraits of patients and staff, and reconsiders what sanity, illness and recovery really mean.
Best for: Readers curious about psychiatric hospitals and how sanity and mental illness are defined
Girl, Interrupted is #5 on BookWard's Best Books of 1993, out of 36 1993 books that cleared our data bar.
What Girl, Interrupted is about
At eighteen, Susanna Kaysen is admitted to McLean Hospital in Massachusetts after a suicide attempt, expecting a stay of a couple of weeks. She remains for eighteen months. Her memoir recalls those months with a dry, spare, thoughtful voice, sketching the other young women on her ward and the staff who watched over them. She also questions the label of borderline personality disorder she was given, and asks what we really mean by sanity and by being well. Readers interested in mental health, adolescence and how institutions treat the people in their care will find a lot to think about.
Girl, Interrupted on the Best Books of 1993
Girl, Interrupted came out in 1993. Of the 36 books first published in 1993 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #5 on our Best Books of 1993 list.
Why it made the list: 461 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (29 ratings); 21 are reading it right now. The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
It earns Being read right now.
Nearby on the 1993 list
- Along Came a Spider James Patterson, #3
- A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth, #4
- Understanding Comics Scott McCloud, #6
- Trainspotting Irvine Welsh, #7
See all Best Books of 1993 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1992 Best Books of 1994.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 388 want to read it, 21 are reading it now and 52 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 4 out of 5 from 29 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 94 | 55% |
| Reader love | 42 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 92 | 20% |
Questions about Girl, Interrupted
When was Girl, Interrupted published?
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen was first published in 1993.
Was Girl, Interrupted one of the best books of 1993?
Girl, Interrupted is #5 on BookWard's Best Books of 1993, out of 36 1993 books that cleared our data bar. 461 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (29 ratings); 21 are reading it right now.
Why is Girl, Interrupted on the Best Books of 1993 list?
461 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 4 out of 5 (29 ratings); 21 are reading it right now.
More of the best books of 1993
- The Giver Lois Lowry, #1
- The Scam Debashis Basu, #2
- Along Came a Spider James Patterson, #3
- A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth, #4
- Understanding Comics Scott McCloud, #6
- Trainspotting Irvine Welsh, #7
See the full Best Books of 1993, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
Find your own best books
Add what you have read, rate it, and BookWard will recommend what to read next.
Free while in beta. No credit card needed.