{ Girl, Interrupted }

[delga]

I have a coherent plan in my head for the Numb3rs fic. Some sections are mapped out perfectly and just need to be written. Once I start, I'll be fine.

I find that when I finish a book that I've connected with on some level, the ending leaves me anxious. Or high. Or both, actually. The end of a book gets my adrenaline flowing. I finished Girl, Interrupted at around nine last night. Then I picked up my pen and I wrote until close to midnight, or thereafter. I don't really know the time frame. I don't think the book would have struck me so hard if I hadn't pretty much read all of it in the past two days. There are elements of it that remind me of The Bell Jar but mostly, I think, Kaysen is far more truthful with herself and her audience. Plath shrouds her memories in fiction so you're never really sure which parts of the novel are her and which parts aren't at all. Also, Kaysen writes in this direct tone, very matter-of-fact - lots of simple and compound sentences at times. The narrative jumps in time; not massively but sometimes it doubles back on itself. It's her life, open to scrutiny. Plath, of course, embodied her memories in half-truths and as such (as with all her writing, even her journals) the prose can become whimsical. I will have to read The Bell Jar again.

What I find interesting are the differences between the book and the film. Obviously, elements of the autobiography are compounded for the sake of brevity. But there are other points, other details that are magnified and abstracted. Take Angelina Jolie's persona, Lisa. In the book, yes, she runs away, she is larger than life, difficult. In the film, she is ten times that. She is sensual and alluring, a predator. The Lisa of the film stays behind; the Lisa that Kaysen knew got out, had a little boy.

I recommend both the film and the book. I recommend the book because of the weight of its truth; I recommend the film for its fiction. Both are stunning in their own way and both have the potential to unleash the mind.