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Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. General   

Editorial Review

The man on the $10 bill is probably the most overlooked Founding Father. This book--not a names-and-dates biography, but an appreciation and assessment in the tradition of Plutarch--should help change that. Richard Brookhiser is an outstanding writer well known for his previous books (especially the wonderful Read more

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A clear view of Alexander Hamilton
Richard Brookhiser writes with clear and precise prose.His abiltyto make an eighteenth Century icon come alive on paper is wonderful.If you want to get a good feel for the american revolution and the personalities that formed it this book should be on your reading list.

Disappointing
Alexander Hamilton, American is a fascinating book and is extremely well researched. However, it does not flow well. I was extremely disappointed by the Brookhiser's inability to connect paragraphs together. Moreover, he bombards the reader with trivial facts, and places too much emphasis on Hamilton's affair. Sadly, he did not place the same value in explaining Hamilton's feud with Aaron Burr. I expected more from this book.

Solid Intro to Hamilton
Brookhiser has written an easy-to-read biography of one of the most brilliant men ever to grace the planet. His "Introduction" in which he explains why Hamilton is a great man is not to be missed. Brookhiser's writing style is occasionally dry, but he knows what to leave in & what to leave out, & Hamilton is such a fascinating person and his life so rich, it hardly matters. In short, we basically live in the country that Hamilton envisioned and worked tirelessly to create. If any of the Founders could realistically be considered a demi-God, it is he. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1757-1804    2. 1783-1809    3. Biography    4. Biography & Autobiography    5. Biography / Autobiography    6. Biography/Autobiography    7. Hamilton, Alexander,    8. Historical - General    9. Historical - U.S.    10. Political    11. Politics and government    12. Statesmen    13. United States    14. United States - Colonial Period    15. United States - General    16. Hamilton, Alexander   

Editorial Review

Susan Orlean, Read more

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Nothing to get excited about
Susan Orlean, notable to most as a writer for The New Yorker, became the literary "It" girl in 2003 with the help of the movie "Adaptation" (the movie based on her book The Orchid Thief). In an attempt to capitalize on that book, "Bullfighter..." was released.
vastly overrated
Look at the cover of this book and you'll see who and what it's really about.It's all about SO; her subject matter is irrelevant both to her and, consequently, to the reader.Worse, even her style, which seems to sucker in a lot of poeple, is not exactly her own.If you want to read what she's read, and cribbed from, track down a copy of Mr. Personality, by Mark Singer, also a New Yorker writer but a far finer one.Really, I don't see how SO can pass MS in the NYer's hallways and not hide her head in shame.Singer is by far the more human writer.He reserves his style for his short Talk of the Town pieces, drifting it to the side for his longer, more important pices.Unlike SO, he knows when to take it down a notch in order to add some real heart and feeling to his writing.SO's stuff, from one story to the next, is stylistically the same beginning to end.Half.com often has copies of Singer's book.When you find it, be sure to check out what's on the cover; it ain't a picture of Singer.

Non-fiction at its finest
Like her predecessor Joan Didion, Susan Orlean writes of the wide range of human experience--from a traveling gospel group in the South to a budding basketball star--and in doing so presents a portrait of America that is both comprehensive and engaging. What's even better is that she does it without ever being sentimental.Read more

Subjects:  1. 20th century    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Literary    7. Reference    8. United States   

Editorial Review

Legends have attached themselves to Laura Ingalls Wilder, beloved author of the eight Little House novels, but what are the facts?Fans are familiar with her early pioneer years up to her marriage, at age 19, to Almanzo Wilder. But before this biography, little has been known about her adult years. This detail-packed biography amends that. John E. Miller has availed himself of myriad primary sources--Ingalls Wilder's unpublished autobiography, letters, her newspaper stories, and other documentary materials. Miller's approach is to track her evolution into one of American's most popular children's writers, a formidable challenge, because she left behind little in the way of personal revelation. Published between 1932 and 1943, the Little House novels were immediately seized upon; strangely, Ingalls Wilder did not begin her career as a novelist until she was in her mid-60s.Read more

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Want to read a colorful biography or a dry history book?
I purchased this book to read about how Laura Ingalls Wilder became the celebrated author of the Little House series of books.I was very disappointed, therefore, that this uninsightful, dry, fragmented, and repetitious tome read more like a bad history book with too many statistics, facts and figures, rather than character analysis, leaving me with no more knowledge of Laura's character than before I read it.For example, after describing ad nauseum all the organizations and activities one could possibly participate in their town, the author states that we do not know if Laura and her family enjoyed any of them. It was frustrating to constantly read the words "probably, maybe, if, we can presume ....."The author makes too many assumptions and repeatedly expresses his inability to accurately understand and relay Laura's personal feelings due to the unfortunate lack of diaries, letters, and journals left behind by Mrs. Wilder.Relying too much on her daughter, Rose's writings, he portrays Laura as an overprotective, condescending, controlling mother and a domineering wife who refused to vow to obey her husband during their wedding.Miller is not quite sure he even believes Rose's unflattering portrayal of her mother, because she was mentally ill and emotionally unstable herself.This book contains so much one-sided information about Laura's daughter that it should instead be titled Becoming Rose Wilder Lane.

Well-Researched and Most Interesting
Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder is a wonderfully written, detailed account of the real-life, complex womanthat scores of American children grew to love through Wilder's award-winning "Little House" series of books.Author, John E. Miller is to be commended for his work, since his was no easy undertaking in telling the story of the celebrated author, who experienced more than a fair share of financial struggles and setbacks, as well as a stormy, difficult relationship with her only child, Rose Wilder Lane.
Fascinating, insightful.
Unlike many of the other reviewers of this book, I wasted no time looking for alleged flaws in this book. As someone who grew up with and was indelibly influenced by Laura's books, I really appreciated no end the look at the woman behind the legend, as the apt title suggests. Miller does a fantastic job of showing how he pieced through all the existing evidence, and of drawing logical conclusions. It must have been a significant challenge to have drawn those conclusions, given that all of the subjects are long dead: in other words, Miller has done our work for us, giving the reader an opportunity to have an absorbing look at the real woman and her family. For any admirer of Laura Ingalls Wilder's timeless, priceless chronicles, they will not want to pass up this invaluable, generously insightful study. I thank John Miller for an incredible job well done. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1867-1957    2. 20th century    3. Authors, American    4. Biography    5. Biography & Autobiography    6. Biography / Autobiography    7. Fiction    8. Frontier and pioneer life    9. Historical - U.S.    10. Literary    11. Missouri    12. United States    13. Wilder, Laura Ingalls,    14. Women    15. Women pioneers    16. Biography: general    17. English    18. Novels, other prose & writers: from c 1900 -    19. USA    20. Wilder, Laura Ingalls   

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Kids shouldn't always idolize great athletes
Game of shadows was recently printed in March 2006. The book was written by two men to show the truth behind some of the greatest athletes throughout the world. The two men summarized over five years of information they gathered together from the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations and other companies on steroid use in sports. It would start off explaining the important of sports and how sports have a big impact on kids and teenagers. Then it would show investigation reports from years ago on different football and baseball players. The details they use on each of the characters after they would work out or before they work out seems like your looking at a picture of them. Also since it's a true story and all of the characters are real people then many of us (readers) can relate to at least one thing that a character is going through. I enjoyed the book a lot because it showed me how star athletes don't always have it made easy even if they are not doing anything wrong. Most people think that all the fame and riches make it a better life and an easier way to live but everytime you read another chapter in this book you realize its wrong and star athletes have to worry about simple things like where they throw their trash away at. The only downfall to this book is the ending where it didn't really explain what happened to Barry Bonds. The theme of this book is "cheaters never prosper".

Stright to the point
First things first: this is essentially a term paper, or a series of articles strung together. While that's not a bad thing, you shouldn't expect great *writing* here. That said, it's adequately done, and exhaustively researched... which is disturbing because there is no doubt that Bonds, and the rest of these guys cheated. No doubt at all. And they make no apologies for it either, essentially claiming since everyone else was doing it they had to do it too in order to compete (an excuse for bad behavior I hadn't heard since grammar school). Yes, this book takes an especially hard look at Barry Bonds, and for good reason. Inexplicably, yet luckily for him, he was the only one of dozens to not outright admit steroid use in his grand jury testimony, even though the extent of the evidence was essentially the same for all the athletes involved. And although the authors put forth a steady stream of facts, interviews and other hard evidence that Bonds is in fact guilty, we need only the very public "evidence" that at age 36, when every other human on the planet's body begins breaking down, Barry Bonds put on 40 pounds of pure muscle and increased his stats in every area of the game by an incredible margin. After reading this book I firmly believe that he, Palmiero, McGwire, Giambi, Jones, et all should have asterisks by their records. And the argument that "we don't know what Babe Ruth was injecting!" is a weak argument: the other thing this book does well is act as a steroid primer, and the modern drugs and techniques are simply no match for whatever those old timer could get their hands on. So, even thought it will make you mad, and maybe even sad, if you're a fan of baseball, or sports in general, you need to read this book.

american hypocrisy outlined but if felt like "Enquirer" magazine
first off the authors made a very good case with the numerous accounts of governmental patronizing attitude towards some athletes that have supposedly cheated on their record breaking and personal best of their respective sports, while at the same time harshly criticizicing other countries denial of doping practices for not coming forward and admitting their less than rigorous demands they impose upon their athletes to what the writers call it''the American hypocrisy" when effectively dealing with this problem.
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Subjects:  1. Anabolic steroids    2. Baseball - General    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Doping in sports    5. Health aspects    6. Sports    7. Sports & Recreation    8. Sports - Baseball    9. Steroids   

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IF LUCIE ARNAZ DIDN'T ENDORSE THIS.......
why should anyone else???Her own daughter says it is filled with inacurracies and indeed, the author makes it a point in every page to make himself the ONLY friend Lucy ever had.As Lucie Arnaz herself said, "skip this one".

The gayest imaginary friend anyone ever had
I find it highly unlikely anyone allegedly getting these old Hollywood stories from Lucille Ball herself would have gotten them so inaccurately.Approximately two chapters into the book, I began to strongly suspect this man never knew Ms. Ball at all.He supports their "intimate friendship" with an insert of photographs, all of which were obviously taken on only two different occasions, my guess is they were taken right before she had him arrested for stalking.Passing up no opportunity to toot his own off-key horn, the author tends to paint Ms. Ball as a bitter old clown who apparently hated everyone in the world except Jim Brochu, wildly incongruent with virtually every other existing account of Lucille as a generally warm and generous soul who was well loved by those who knew her. Brady's "Lucille", Andrew's "Lucy & Ricky & Fred & Ethel" and Ms. Ball's own "Love Lucy" are only three of a number of infinitely better, more entertaining, and more accurate books on this subject that I can think of without even looking it up. This book is total garbage, it should be read only to placate the author's obvious need to display his psychosis to the rest of the world, and then kept on hand in case the reader should run out of loo paper one day.

LITTERED with INACCURACIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Skip this one!!!
As with other reviewers here - this guy thinks too much of himself in relation to Miss Ball.I wonder if there are not a few splinters in the windmills of his mind. While searching through Lucie Arnaz' website I found this quote in response to a fan looking for reading material:"The Jim Brochu , "Lucy in the Afternoon" book (which was released moments after her passing) is littered with inaccuracies, and totally fabricated stories. Skip THAT one!" Unfortunately, I read this book before realizing any of that. I do believe this book to be JUNK ... Read more

Subjects:  1. 1911-    2. Ball, Lucille,    3. Biography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Entertainers    6. General    7. Large Print    8. Large type books    9. United States    10. Ball, Lucille   

Editorial Review

Meteorologists called the storm that hit North America's eastern seaboard inOctober 1991 a "perfect storm" because of the rare combination of factorsthat created it. For everyone else, it was perfect hell. In Read more

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Excellent, exciting and interesting...
I read this book after I visited Gloucester last year and had a chance to read F/V Black Sheep before it was published, in it the author talks about drinking in a bar with Sully so it was interesting to be able to get this book and read about what happened to him. Gloucester fishermen sure lead tough lives. This is a very exciting book with lots of details and information about what their lives are like. I'll probably read it again.

A haunting sea
This is a gripping book that kept me awake many nights when the winds would push the rain against my bed room windows.They say that the New England weather is unpredictable and having lived in Massachusetts for almost 15 years I can only agree.Storms can build so fast that a sunny picnic can quickly turn into a washed out event.In fact, I remember this "Perfect storm" happening in October of 1991.It happened the day of Halloween and it rained and rained and rained.The sky was so dark and the wind was roaring like a true Nor'easter.Given my location and own personal experience of this storm, I feel very attached to this story.
The Perfect Storm
By: Travis Brountas, a sixth grader in Maine
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Subjects:  1. Biography / Autobiography    2. Halloween Nor'easter, 1991    3. Large Print    4. Natural Disasters    5. Nature    6. New England    7. North Atlantic Ocean    8. Oceans & Seas    9. Shipwrecks    10. Specific Groups - General    11. Swordfish fisheries   

Editorial Review

The audiocassette version of Kitty Kelley's Read more

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No wonder you can't buy this in England
This book while big is full of lies and no wonder it isn't available in England because if it where the Queen would be all over it for the lies that it says about the royals.
I loved every page of this book!
I love reading about the royal family and I just loved this book!I have read several books about Diana so I knew the history there but I never knew what an awful mother the Queen is!And I didn't realize how everything has to be approved by her!Nor did I realize what a womanizer Price Philip was and all the mistresses he had over the years!
Shocking, mesmerzing, eye-popping
I give this wonderful book 5 stars because it discusses the private details about the royal family behind the closed doors of Buckingham Palace and what they're really thinking!
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Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Europe - Great Britain - General    6. Great Britain    7. Large type books    8. Queens    9. Rich & Famous    10. Royalty    11. Biography: royalty    12. Elizabeth    13. Family    14. Windsor, House of   

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Respectful study of fascinating First Lady
Martha Washington: An American Life by Patricia Brady brings life and character to an overlooked woman in history.Martha Washington is one of those people in history that everyone has heard of, but little is known about.I never considered reading a book about her life until I was reading a biography of George (His Excellency by Joseph J. Ellis) and it stated that Martha burned all of the correspondence between them after George's death.For me, this made Martha a woman of mystery: what was she trying to hide?Brady's book answers the question: nothing, she was protecting her husband the way she did her entire life.Brady portrays Martha as a loving wife, protective mother, and intelligent woman of her time.Brady does a good job of describing Martha and her life with our first president, but sometimes the book seems to read a bit like an interview that Good Housekeeping or Ladies Home Journal would do with a sitting First Lady: glossy without any depth.Martha suffered through an amazing amount of loss in her life, but the only time Brady taps into that and portrays it with depth is upon George's death.The book's only true flaw may be that Brady views Martha with a bit too much respect, but the first First Lady seems worthy of that kind of admiration.This book should help bring her the appreciation she is most certainly due.

Didn't enjoy this at all
My high school was assigned the task of reading this book for summer reading this year. I do not know of one child in my entire school that enjoyed it. While the subject is extensively researched I found the writing extremely monotone and improvised. It seems that Brady used the word "probably" too much throughout the pages. I understand that Brady is trying to paint a picture of the life and tales of Martha Washington for the reader, but it doesn't really seem to be told from Martha's standpoint, more from Brady's view. All of the charecters are made out to be very jolly and like they can do no wrong. I also believe it lacked important details and that too much effort was spent on very detailed lists of things like the 2 page monologue on what food was consumed at a dinner party. It was all just really fake to me.

Fascinating...
I can't say enough about this book. It was a wonderful read and great for anyone that wants to know more about Martha Washington and the life she lived.Fascinating read! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. First Ladies    6. Historical - General    7. Historical - U.S.    8. Juvenile literature    9. Large type books    10. Presidents' spouses    11. United States    12. Women    13. Fiction   

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I'm No Parrothead, But I Can Relate
This travel diary, autobiography, Buffett philosophy, & memoir is something I've had on the shelf for several years, and not too excited about pulling it down for a read. I'm not a huge Buffett fan (he had only a couple of big musical hits with Cheese Burgers in Paradise and Margaritaville, but he continues to record music, publish books, and has a rabid fan base of Parrotheads). The dude is laid back, loves squeezing every bit of life he can into each day, loves his family, has no religion (he dwells on that issue a few too many times......a disillusioned Catholic).......and flying his seaplane and fishing are his addictions. Basically, Buffett takes a 3 week seaplane trip into the Caribbean, Central and South America to celebrate and reflect on his life and turning fifty. Actually, the book was published in 1998 and Buffett is turning 60 this month.......I wonder if he'll write another book about turning 60?
Way Too Long
This book was part travelogue and part autobiography.It's too thin on humor and the travel notes were too long-winded and in most places uninteresting. Buffet was a bit of a loafer, albeit an intelligent and talented musician and song writer.A shorter version of 250 pages would've been better, and I'm fairly certain some of his more interesting adventures have been omitted.Is that the price of writing today as a more mature and family oriented individual?You can love his music at any age, but perhaps you've got to be 50 to fully understand the pace and course of his narrative.

A Pirate Family Vacation
I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir. Buffett wrote it during a family vacation to the Carribbean and South America over Christmas 1996 and New Years 1997. The trip inspired memories of his childhood and of other trips and he weaves these stories into the book. There are also wonderful asides about geography, history, movies, fiction and of course, music. Some of my favorite pieces of the memoir were the times he spent with his then 2 1/2 year old son Cameron. As a parent of a now 3 1/2 year son, I found myself laughing at the descriptions of his son's enthusiasm and energy. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Blank Books/Journals    5. Buffett, Jimmy    6. Composers & Musicians - Pop    7. Country music    8. Country musicians    9. Entertainment & Performing Arts - General    10. Large type books    11. United States    12. Biography & Autobiography / Composers & Musicians   

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Subjects:  1. Christianity - Christian Life - General    2. General    3. Sports & Recreation    4. Sports - General    5. Biography & Autobiography / Sports    6. Religion-Christianity - Christian Life - General   

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Women over 50--a must read
This is an excellent, very current overview of this all too common disease and its treatment. Let's face it--we're all responsible for our own health, few of us use the same physician for our whole adult lives, and education is a must. Most of us are generally aware of this disease, but did you know: that hip fractures are really breaks in the femur neck, the top of the thigh bone? that there are several drugs out there to treat this, not just fosamax? that osteoporosis can result from lack of calcium or exercise during childhood? This book explains what those T-scores from your bone density test really mean. Lots of info here too on exercise and diet. A bit less interesting is the personal discussion from Ann Richards on her own life, but that doesn't mar this extremely useful work.

Full disclosure
While I found this book to be useful and Ms. Richards' style to be non-technical and engaging, I wish that, before I bought the book, I had seen the statement which is on the reverse of the title page: "Ann Richards is a spokesperson for Eli Lilly, which owns the patent for Evista.Dr. Richard U. Levine, M.D. has been a member of the speakers' bureau for Eli Lilly."

Inspirational!!!
I could not put this book down.One would expect a book on Osteoporosis to be a bit dry but Ann keeps it real!You go girl. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography & Autobiography    2. Biography/Autobiography    3. Consumer Health    4. Diet / Health / Fitness    5. Diseases - Musculoskeletal    6. General    7. Women's Health - General   

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5stars for Colacello; 2 for the cast?
As a Reagan supporter, I really wanted to love the Reagans and to see Nancy Reagan's reputation vindicated. Nancy, in her elder years, is very admirable. It is a bit creepy to read that Ronnie always called her Mommie, but no one can deny their mutual love. Bob Colacello isquite thorough in his research,fair and honest - no whitewashing here...the endless sniping and self-aggrandizement of Nancy's pals, like Betsey Bloomingdale et al? These women were all intimate friends, but were clawing at each other for primacy in the Reagan inner circle. Bloomingdale brags about her caviar parties andhobnobbing with the Paris set of sophisticates, but gets caught evading customs duties for lying about how much she paid for a new couture outfit in France. The other graceless, snobby chums of Nancy also seem like the idle, witless, rich that P. G. Wodehouse skewered in his books. The Kitchen Cabinet husbands are scary and only a tad less obnoxious. The book makes one feel queasy; Ronnie and Nancy seem bought and paid for by their cronies. Nancy herself comes off as self-deceiving and controlling - a shallow and manipulative social climber who rewrote her personal history;possibly she is portrayed as second only to Joan Crawford as Mommie Dearest. Ron takes up ballet as an adult. Patti has herself sterilized at 24 because she's afraid she'll be like her mother??!
A unique perspective
Colacello deconstructs the Reagans like no other author has. He starts with the premise that their personal and social lives were inseparable from their political ambitions, and an essential factor in Ronald Reagan's rise to power. He goes on to explore how the couple's social milieu and interpersonal relationships influenced Reagan's political ideas and governing style.
A Must-Read
The perfect mix of gossip and history. Meticulously researched and carefully observed. You won't be able to put it down. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Actors    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. California    7. First Ladies    8. General    9. Governors    10. Historical - U.S.    11. Presidents    12. Presidents & Heads of State    13. Reagan, Ronald    14. United States    15. Biography & Autobiography / General   

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Journalism's ugly side
Mike Wallace has been engaged in his so- called hard- hitting journalism for years. But anyone who has studied Wallace close-up knows he has engaged repeatedly in some of the most dishonest of all journalist practices. In the late eighties his crew was caught paying Palestinian youths to throw rocks at Israeli soldiers. This provided good film footage. Wallace's most recent interview which is not included in this book is a perfect illustration of the dishonesty in another way. The very same week Wallace interviewed him Ahmadinejad spoke in Iran before a screaming hystircal audience. He ranted against the United States and said how it would fall apart. But his most bitter cursings were for Israel and he repeatedly shouted to his audience , in Hitlerlike fashion 'Death to Israel'
Memories of an Astonishing Career
Who else can boast such a remarkable career - 60 years of interviewing the most fascinating, influential and interesting people on the planet! Although the behind-the-scenes "revelations" aren't particularly revealing, the book offers an entertaining and interesting look back at the cultural, political and historical changes the world has experienced during the decades of Wallace's reign as the king of interviewers.
Tantalizing but superficial
Mike Wallace certainly has some great stories to tell, but beyond the longer section on the Westmoreland and Wigan sagas, there is almost no meat on the bone here, which is disappointing since Wallace really has interviewed many of the most influential people of our times. the accompanying dvd is a great piece of history, but once again, only if you wish to condense history into forty second segments. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography And Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. Editors, Journalists, Publishers    7. General    8. Journalists    9. Large type books    10. Media Studies - Electronic Media    11. Personal Memoirs    12. United States    13. Biography & Autobiography / General   

Editorial Review

Aldrich Ames, according to this account by a team of Read more

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5 stars for the next book
Step by step we are moving to the truth.
Far far far... far away form the truth
The book is far far far ... far away from the truth. So far, that this book is complete non-sense. By the way, the reality is much more excited than the book.
The book should be rewritten accordingly the facts
The book is not written accordingly the facts.
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Subjects:  1. Biography/Autobiography    2. Espionage, Soviet    3. General    4. Intelligence officers    5. Intelligence service    6. Military - Intelligence/Espionage    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Public Affairs & Administration    9. United States    10. Ames, Aldrich Hazen    11. Biography: general    12. Espionage & secret services   

Editorial Review

When reality got "too dense" for 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen, she was hospitalized. It was 1967, and reality was too dense for many people.But few who are labeled mad and locked up for refusing to stick to an agreed-upon reality possess Kaysen's lucidity in sorting out a maelstrom of contrary perceptions. Her observations about hospital life are deftly rendered; often darkly funny. Her clarity about the complex province of brain and mind, of neuro-chemical activity and something more, make this book of brief essays an exquisite challenge to conventional thinking about what is normal and what is deviant. ... Read more

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A Funny and Heartbreaking Memoir of a Girl, Interrupted
Girl, Interrupted is about an eighteen year old girl named Susanna Kaysen, who attends McLean Hospital- a psychiatric place for teenage girls. Her new therapist sent her there because he said that she had a personality disorder. Along the way to recovery, she meets new people with problems of their own.
not for me....
In my opinion this was not a good book. If it hadn't been such a short read I probably wouldn't have been able to finish it. Maybe the movie is better.

Country Club living
In one of the reviews found on my edition states that "Girl, Interrupted" is a writer's book" (Boston Phoenix Literary Section). The Philadelphia Inquirer' review states, "Remarkable....In prose lean and mean," and "it avoids the romantic inflation that most other sufferers of psychoses fall into when they describe their experience". Kaysen simply lets us know, with spare prose, what it is like to have a life interrupted by madness." These reviews praising Kaysen's book are the main reasons why I didn't care for the book as much as would have liked to. Because of that sparse and lean prose the book lacks depth. It reads more like a series of unrelated vignettes rather than a cohesive novel. The reviewer praises Kaysen's book for avoiding "romantic inflation," while I feel it shows the exact opposite.
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Subjects:  1. 1948-    2. Biography    3. Biography & Autobiography    4. Biography / Autobiography    5. Biography/Autobiography    6. General    7. Kaysen, Susanna,    8. Large type books    9. Massachusetts    10. Mental Illness    11. Mental health    12. Nursing - Psychiatric    13. Psychiatric hospital patients    14. Specific Groups - Special Needs    15. Women    16. Women's Health - General    17. Kaysen, Susanna