Memoirs like “Girl, Interrupt” by Susanna Kaysen uncover important perceptions, for example how women are often labeled as something less than normal when they refuse to confirm, or how mental illness is hidden and shamed. Thirty years after it was written, the message still resonates, and learning from stories like it is why we read memoir. We know more about trauma and mental illness today than thirty years ago, but the stigma to speak openly about it, to ask for help, to accept mental illness on par with physical illness has not come that far. Trauma memoirs are necessary narratives to educate and inform on the lived experience of trauma, and shine light onto things that perpetuate in darkness.
Read about Girl, Interrupted here: Girl, Interrupted interrogates how women are 'mad' when they refuse to conform – 30 years on, this memoir is still important (theconversation.com)
My memoir “The Hungarian Girl” will be published by She Writes Press in June 2024. (The name may change.)
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