Susanna Kaysen





Susanna Kaysen

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born
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, The United States
November 11, 1948

gender
female

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About this author

Susanna Kaysen is an American author.

Kaysen was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Kaysen attended high school at the Commonwealth School in Boston and the Cambridge School before being sent to McLean Hospital in 1967 to undergo psychiatric treatment for depression. It was there she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. She was released after eighteen months. She later drew on this experience for her 1993 memoir Girl, Interrupted, which was made into a film in 1999, her role being played by Winona Ryder.

She is the daughter of the economist Carl Kaysen, a professor at MIT and former advisor to President John F. Kennedy. Her mother, deceased, was sister of architect Richard Neutra. Kaysen also has one sister and has be...more


Average rating: 3.81 · 69,497 ratings · 1,831 reviews · 6 distinct works · Similar authors
Girl, Interrupted
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The Camera My Mother Gave Me
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Far Afield
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“Crazy isn't being broken or swallowing a dark secret. It's you or me amplified. If you ever told a lie and enjoyed it. If you ever wished you could be a child forever.”
Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted

“Suicide is a form of murder - premeditated murder. It isn't something you do the first time you think of doing it. It takes getting used to. And you need the means, the opportunity, the motive. A successful suicide demands good organization and a cool head, both of which are usually incompatible with the suicidal state of mind.”
Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted

“Scar tissue has no character. It's not like skin. It doesn't show age or illness or pallor or tan. It has no pores, no hair, no wrinkles. It's like a slip cover. It shields and disguises what's beneath. That's why we grow it; we have something to hide. ”
Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted

Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL SPRING CHALLENGE - 2009 6462 8063 Jun 14, 2009 02:57pm  


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