Parallel Universe

“Every window on Alcatraz has a view of San Francisco”

A parallel universe is an imaginary, fictional distinct reality parallel to ones own life. So far, in the memoir Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen she has been definetly interrupted about the fact that she is living in a parallel universe, which she explains is the “worlds of the insane, the criminal, the crippled, the dying…” (5). 

She tells us that it is very easy to “slip” into this universe. The thing about this universe is that each time you find out about more things, and that its weird, because once you are in this world you can see what you left behind and you can see your other world. You are aware about what you left behind.  You are in a way, trapped. Just like a prisoner. And even the most dangerous prisoners, which used to be ‘kept’ in Alcatraz get to see something beautiful everyday, and she implies that she does not. And that even if she is not in a prison, she feels like if she were, because she is very much imprisoned by her disease.

So, First impressions of the book:

This woman, Susanna Kaysen is telling me about a whole other world that co-exists in our own. How weird is that?

She does not only write in a very weird way, like “People ask, How…”, “All I can tell them is, It’s..” (5)  adding capital letters were she shouldn’t, but also, the first page of the book is a CASE RECORD FOLDER in which it clearly indicates that she has Borderline Personality Disorder.

As explained by the U.S Library of Medicine,  BPD is a condition in which people have “long-term patters of unstable or turbulent emotions” which they feel about themselves or other people around them.

All of this that they feel and they experience causes them to take imprudent, or thoughtless extreme actions.

People with BPD tend to have muddled relationships with people.

As I was picking my memoirs out in the EVL, I wanted something that would interest me, something intense. I think I got enough intense from the first 7 pages of the book.

I am going to enjoy this memoir.