Book Review Monday: Incredibly Alice, Girl, Interrupted, The Vagina Monologues

Since my summer began last Thursday, I have read three books that I would love to briefly discuss with all of your wonderful bloggers.

The first novel I read was Incredibly Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

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This book is part of the Alice Series, which I have been reading since I was ten-years-old. When I first began reading the books, Alice was my age. I grew up with Alice and even grew past her. Every May, a new Alice book is released. This most recent one featured Alice's last semester of senior year and her graduation.

As much as I love the Alice series, the author is getting old. She is SEVENTY-EIGHT!!! And she is writing about an eighteen-year-old girl. Unfortunately, Alice books now read as pretty awkward as the lingo is off and the situations just seem odd.

Of course, I'll still read Alice because of my attachment to the series, but to be completely honest, the last several books have been very meh...

The second book I read was Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen.

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I've been meaning to read this memoir for a while now as it is so commonly brought up in pop culture. There is even a SATC episode titled "Boy, Interrupted" about Carrie dating a guy who is a patient in a mental hospital.

Girl Interrupted is the true story of Susanna Kaysen, a woman who spent almost two years in the famous McLean Hospital, a mental hospital with patients such as Sylvia Plath and James Taylor. This book was strangely funny. It was also very disturbing during certain parts, sad, and very thought-provoking.

I really enjoyed this memoir, and I would recommend it. It made me think about mental illness, what qualifies a person as "crazy," and just the human mind in general.

The third book I read was The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler.

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The Vagina Monologues is actually a performance (which means I shouldn't have underlined it but instead used quotation marks- don't tell my English professors) featuring different women's perspectives, stories, memories, and views all about their vaginas.

This was an incredible read. It was SO empowering and eye-opening. And I cannot wait to celebrate V-Day next year! V-Day is a day that was inspired by Eve Ensler and raises awareness about the violence committed against women.

This week, I am working on The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.