Think you've got problems? I've just spent three years and many's-a thousand pounds at university on a degree in English and Film that is next-to-no use in the real-world job market. Why bother? Well... because I can think of worse ways to spend three whole years than reading books and watching films, can't you?

Kaysen's tale of her years in a mental hospital during her late teens in the 1960s is often, somewhat inevitably, compared to other owrks of a similar vein - particularly Sylvia Plath's 'The Bell Jar' (the novel which arguably paved the way for the whole 'depressed young woman' subgenre) and Elizabeth Wurtzel's bestselling memoir 'Prozac Nation'. It has gained popularity in the last few years thanks to the afore-mentioned film adaptation of the same name, which garnered the Best Supporting Actress Oscar and has achieved a certain cult status. I really liked the film - despite my dubiousness about the acting skills of one Winona Ryder - and now, despite glaring differences between the two, I can state the same of the book.

Herein lies one of the wonderfully refreshing aspects of 'Girl, Interrupted'. Perhaps it's because Kaysen is writing in retrospect, having come through her depressive episodes and seemingly gained a sense of perspective in her distance from the subject. She doesn't write about depression in a bleak way, walling the reader up in subjective intensity until they become as numb to the words as depressives can be to the outside world.

Kaysen's writing style neatly sidestepsthe kidn of self-indulgent over-emoting that tended to become irritating in 'Prozac Nation', and shows occasional flashes of ingenious eloquence which are all the more astute and impressive when you remember this is not actually a work of fiction. The inclusion of her reports keeps us grounded ina sense of the story's tragic and shocking reality, so that the author doesn't have to keep reminding us of it and begging for our pity. The chapter in which she quotes a textbook definition of her diagnosed disorder and then critiques it is particularly memorable - she's able to raise questions about views on and treatment of mental illness without having to jump on a bandwagon and aggressively push the agenda.

It's interesting to note the plot elements that the film "developed". How they turned Kaysen's head nurse Valerie from a tall, thin, wisecracking demi-goddess into the matronly and rounded figure played by Whoopi Goldberg is anybody's guess - maybe it's a racial awareness thing, or maybe Whoopi channelled funds into the movie or something. It worked in the film, and the original Valerie worked in the book - it's not wrong, remember, just different. But when you strip away the high drama and subplots from the film, you're left with Kaysen's account - pared down, stark and wry; the story of a girl committed to a hospital to hang in suspended animation and observe the course of this interruption to her life. Teh account is fascinating and unique and it will stay with you - three reasons it deserves its spot at the forefront of the ever-swelling market for tales of those who are young and depressed in the land of Hope and Glory.