The Camera My Mother Gave Me

Susanna Kaysen, who wrote about her teenage depression in the bestseller Girl, Interrupted, now takes on another taboo subject: her vagina—which suddenly and inexplicably starts to hurt. The Camera My Mother Gave Me takes us through Susanna Kaysen's often comic, sometimes surreal encounters with all kinds of doctors—internists, gynecologists, and "alternative health" experts—as well as with her boyfriend and her friends as she seeks a cure—but nothing works. As sex becomes more and more painful, Kaysen's relationship with her boyfriend disintegrates and she turns to her best friends, her wicked sense of humor, and her wry self-reflection to cope. Spare, frank, and altogether original, The Camera My Mother Gave Me is an extraordinary investigation into the role sex plays into perception and our notions of ourselves, and into what happens when the erotic impulse meets the world of medicine.