Girl, Interrupted – Susanna Kaysen
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Girl, Interrupted is one of my favorite kinds of memoirs: the kind written by mentally unstable teenage girls. It is in a series of clips, tidbits of Kaysen’s experience in McLean Hospital with mentions of her life before and after being diagnosed. It also includes some of her hospital records as well which I found to be a nice touch. I loved it. It’s not long and it’s well written with short chapters making it easy to read. I found the entirety of the book to be fascinating and a bit relieving, and to any girl who occasionally feels a little strange I would absolutely recommend giving it a try (though I do understand these types of formats aren’t for everyone). I would also recommend reading the forward because that helps explain the formatting as well. In all, no complaints from me!
Betting On You – Lynn Painter
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Honestly, I would have given this book five stars. Up until page 356, this book was well deserving of a perfect review. I read the whole 432 pages in less than half-a-day. I enjoyed nearly every second of it and laughed out loud on several occasions (it’s rom-com following main characters Bailey and Charlie – it’s dual POV). However, the events occurring on and after page 355 seriously annoyed me. The writing was still lighthearted, but the male main character, Charlie, messed up badly. For who knows what reason, he decided to be mean, grossly clingy, and weird for a few chapters, then eventually got over it and the rest of the book was good. I even would have given this book four stars because those few chapters were my only complaint, but I am so upset that the whole book wasn’t as perfect as it could have been that I knocked it down another star. I do not understand where the character switch came from and why it was necessary, but I was not a fan. In all I would recommend it to rom-com lovers because it was mostly good, but I will still harbor unfavorable feelings toward it for not living up to its full potential
The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
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After finishing Girl, Interrupted, I was instantly inclined to fish out The Bell Jar, which has been sitting unread on my shelf for months. I love Sylvia Plath’s writing, and I have no idea why it took me so long to read this. On the trend of Kaysen’s memoir, it follows Plath’s journey to the same famed McLean Hospital. It’s first person POV, same as Girl, Interrupted. I really enjoyed the writing style and formatting of the book. Also like Girl, Interrupted, this memoir probably isn’t for everyone but I’d absolutely read it again and recommend you give it a try!