Goodreads | The Bell Jar

Sammy rated it:

(review of isbn 0060174900)

06/12/07

bookshelves: the-best

Read in November, 2004

There are many who have read The Bell Jar and absolutely loved it. I am gladly considering myself one of them. I was a little caught of guard when I read a few reviews of The Bell Jar comparing it to The Catcher in the Rye stating how it's the female version of it. I liked Catcher but I know there are many people who didn't and upon hearing that may be similar to Catcher not have the desire to read it. I assure you, The Bell Jar is a book all on it's own and sh...more There are many who have read The Bell Jar and absolutely loved it. I am gladly considering myself one of them. I was a little caught of guard when I read a few reviews of The Bell Jar comparing it to The Catcher in the Rye stating how it's the female version of it. I liked Catcher but I know there are many people who didn't and upon hearing that may be similar to Catcher not have the desire to read it. I assure you, The Bell Jar is a book all on it's own and should not be compared to any other book... even as a compliment.

When I first started reading the book I was a little put off, feeling it was an extremely pretensious novel. Her descriptions were crisp and precise, often using words that one rarely hears spoken or even read. I went into the novel knowing that Plath was a poet and felt that at first the book was just another form of her poetry and her showing off her writing abilities. But that only remained within the first two pages, because after that I became absorbed. The writing that I was a little sketchy about at first helped me visualize the setting and get to know the characters. And though Plath never really described many characters as to their personality, I began to feel I knew them all intimately.

Strangely enough, if you remember in my last review, what bothered me most about The Good Earth did not bother me in The Bell Jar. Because the Esther, the character we are following, is slowly descending into madness, time no longer matters. There are a few times I was confused about the timeline, but it did not upset me.

The book really spoke to me because of my own personal experiences with depression and suicide. It spoke to me as a woman and my views on sex and the confusion I'm sure most other girls out there face. It's amazing that this book was written and published over 30 years ago, really, when a new woman was coming out into the world. I have a feeling that this book helped women realize that they're not alone, and brought things to light that most people have commonly shoved aside; women and men. But what else is amazing is how relevant these topics still are today. Specifically with suicide, and specifically about the virtue and pureness of women compared to men.

So I guess that is why The Bell Jar is often compared to The Catcher in the Rye, with it's discussions and writings of often controversial titles. Setting off a new generation of writers, styles, and people. Another book also came to mind as I was reading, and that was The Perks of Being a Wallflower. There are moments when I could make a few direct comparisons between the two. With Esther slowly seperating herself from socialization and sinking deeper into her own thoughts and depression. Analyzing things that go on around her and her surroundings. Very reminscent of Perks.

If you feel you're suffering from depression, madness, confusion about topics pertaining to society and sex, or just looking for a good read, The Bell Jar is definetly the book for you. I also advise, if you're seriously suffering from depression, to get help for yourself. There is no shame in it, and getting help is better than ending your life. Even if you need to go on medication, DO NOT feel ashamed, especially if it's going to help you even more. ...less

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carolime rated it:

(review of isbn 0553278355)

08/05/07

Read in August, 2007

i really, really enjoyed this one. i knew i would; everyone recommended it to me and all my bests appreciated it wholeheartedly. i even picked up a paperback copy at a used bookstore years ago and didn't read it until now!

my bad. this is an awesome novel. it traces the mental breakdown of a college-age girl who seemingly has everything right. you know, grades, awards, scholarships, internships, etc. of course, the bell jar enumerates actual events and characters from the life of sylvia plat...more i really, really enjoyed this one. i knew i would; everyone recommended it to me and all my bests appreciated it wholeheartedly. i even picked up a paperback copy at a used bookstore years ago and didn't read it until now!

my bad. this is an awesome novel. it traces the mental breakdown of a college-age girl who seemingly has everything right. you know, grades, awards, scholarships, internships, etc. of course, the bell jar enumerates actual events and characters from the life of sylvia plath. so on some levels, it rings alarmingly true to real experience. i never suffered mental dissolution on this level- but i was always guilty of having the surface "perfect academic life" and the internal riots of doubt and neurosis. thus, i think the thoughts and experiences this book intimates are crucially important to understanding young women, the modern era, overachievers, sexuality in intellectuals, etc.

you know how you always try to identify with the main character? or even the narrator (if they're separate.) you align some aspect of your personality, your features, even your goals. it always makes the story more real, and i think that for myself it allows me to completely block out my own world and join the story-world. how could you cry at the end of the book if you weren't in story-world? the bell jar, for me, required no effort at all to indentify with the protagonist.

she's smart, observant, driven, snarky, emotional, creative, introspective; and eventually, neurotic, timorous, questioning, judgemental. she faces all sorts of the same questions i (and most of my peer group) faces. intellectualism or self-satisfied family life? sex or love? the outside world or my mental space? caring about everything or caring about nothing? it is the way esther, the main character, treats these questions that makes her fabulously real and alarmingly close to home. she isn't consistent. she identifies her goals but also recognizes her own behaviors as subverting them. she's her own sharpest critic-- and it that what brings about her mental breakdown?

i think, too, that i was really touched by her realizations about place-- that the city (new york OF COURSE) is overwhelming. full of people and things and maybe not all of them are worth caring about. but how can one sort out that challenge? the suburbs, by comparison, are small-minded and sleepy, capable only of choking one's brain. other places in the novel-- cities that aren't new york, the mental institution, various hospitals and doctor's offices-- these places seek to enrich the basic dichotomy. they counterpoint and fine-tune, often offering respite or challenges of their own. i think that i'm pretty influenced by places and that my own mentality often aligns place with mental state. would i go crazy if i had to move back and live with my parents in their northern virginia bedroom community? crazy is a relative term, i suppose....less

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Randy rated it:

(review of isbn 0060930187)

03/16/08

bookshelves: fiction

Read in December, 2001

It's weird how dated books often get remembered for completely different reasons than the author could've possibly intended. I doubt Sylvia Plath thought to herself, "This semi-autobiographical novel will be a poignant look into my adolescence once I attain a cult following for sticking my head in an oven." Or, "I hope my book becomes regarded as a seminal work of postwar ennui and oppressive gender roles."

In The Savage God, A. Alvarez says S...more It's weird how dated books often get remembered for completely different reasons than the author could've possibly intended. I doubt Sylvia Plath thought to herself, "This semi-autobiographical novel will be a poignant look into my adolescence once I attain a cult following for sticking my head in an oven." Or, "I hope my book becomes regarded as a seminal work of postwar ennui and oppressive gender roles."

In The Savage God, A. Alvarez says Sylvia spoke of The Bell Jar "with some embarrassment as an autobiographical apprentice-work which she had to write in order to free herself from the past." I can forgive her for being so severe on herself. When you're writing the poems that later become Ariel, it's hard not to consider everything you've written before a steaming pile of crap. But there's an element of truth to her self-criticism.

I give it three stars on its own merits. The woman clearly knew how to write, and the imagery is utterly mind-blowing. With so much misinformation about depression being a primitive pity-fest--and the fact that there are so many pills you can take for it now--not many people realize what an expansive and inexplicable experience depression can be. You can't demean or diminish depression after you've read The Bell Jar.

I give it another star for cultural and historical relevance. This book could be read in a history class on the 1950s. While Betty Freidan was writing about "the problem that has no name," Sylvia Plath was creating a character that was acting it out. And Plath's poetic rendering of depression has taken on increased significance given the explosion of incidence rates since 1980.

But the book is very dated, in social setting, cultural references (she mentions the Rosenbergs in the first sentence to set the mood), and to a lesser extent language. These limitations wouldn't necessarily be problematic if the themes were more universal (cf. The Catcher in the Rye), but to some extent the resonance of the book is limited by its roots in specific social contexts (e.g., the gender roles) and its emphasis on describing a state of mind that is very hard to communicate and to which few people can relate directly (e.g., the depression). Although she does an amazing job translating such a specific experience into a novel that can be appreciated by anyone, she's right to point out that it's too rooted in specific themes and events to be as universally applicable as some of her later poems.

But there's no question that it's still worth everybody's time, and it's held up for me over multiple readings. She was a hell of an author.
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Jessica rated it:

(review of isbn 0553278355)

11/16/07

bookshelves: chicklits, crazy-ladies, here-is-new-york, love-and-other-indoor-sports, wee-ones-and-bored-teenagers

Read in January, 1989

recommends it for: middle-school and up

I read this in the fourth grade, which was too young. For one thing, I did not realize at the time that Plath was psychiatrically ill. One thing that happens a lot in kids' books is that a character's normal or slightly unusual behavior is perceived as being wildly unacceptable by the uptight and repressive adults around them. I thought this was one of these books. The fact that the girl was lying on her parents' basement floor for months or whatever, playing with the mercury from a broken therm...more I read this in the fourth grade, which was too young. For one thing, I did not realize at the time that Plath was psychiatrically ill. One thing that happens a lot in kids' books is that a character's normal or slightly unusual behavior is perceived as being wildly unacceptable by the uptight and repressive adults around them. I thought this was one of these books. The fact that the girl was lying on her parents' basement floor for months or whatever, playing with the mercury from a broken thermometer, seemed like a fairly ordinary -- if fascinating -- thing for her to be doing. The response of her family and doctors seemed like the crazy, scary part. I've reread this book since then, but not recently enough to remember whether there was any validity to my intial perception. Maybe it is written that way? I don't remember. Does she appear mentally ill to the reader who's mature enough to know what mental illness is? The only action of Plath's in this book that seemed really insane to me was when she says she cut the plastic starfish off a purse from her magazine contest NYC days, and gave it to the baby to teethe on. To me this seemed mad, mad mad mad. Somehow -- and I don't know what this says about me -- the suicidal stuff seemed far more reasonable.

The other reason I was too young for this book was that it was probably the first description of sex that I ever read, and it was very disturbing. Probably a lot of people would call this a good thing, since her description made me vow never to try it. However, I would disagree. Plath's experience of sex as being an excruciatingly painful experience that caused her to bleed uncontrollably for an insanely long time was not a good introduction to this concept. I don't think I would've been making big plans in the fourth grade to have sex even if I weren't thoroughly terrified of it, and reading about this just freaked me out and made me feel confused.

None of this, of course, stopped me at all from loving this book like crazy, which no doubt contributed to the Bangles being my favorite band at the time, in no small part due to their rousing tribute to Sylvia on their wonderful album Everything....less

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Julie rated it:

03/25/08

Read in March, 2008

The Bell Jar Harper Large Print, 2000, 296 p. $19.95
Sylvia Plath ISBN 0-06-057309-0

“This is the most depressing book I’ve ever read," says a teacher. In my opinion, scary, adventurous and sad/depressing novels are what should be read all around the world by everyone. These are the books that actually create the different moods in a reader’s mind. A comedy book has never caught my attention, jokes from books has never made me laugh. Boo...more The Bell Jar Harper Large Print, 2000, 296 p. $19.95
Sylvia Plath ISBN 0-06-057309-0

“This is the most depressing book I’ve ever read," says a teacher. In my opinion, scary, adventurous and sad/depressing novels are what should be read all around the world by everyone. These are the books that actually create the different moods in a reader’s mind. A comedy book has never caught my attention, jokes from books has never made me laugh. Books that I enjoy most are ones that actually makes me feel sad, makes me wonder and makes me feel sorrow for the protagonist in the book. These moods are all brought to me by The Bell Jar. A wonderful, depressing book that is really enjoyable.
Sylvia Plath, the author of The Bell Jar, uses many literary elements in her literature piece, creating an interesting plot for all her readers. The book staring Esther Greenwood brings out the saddest, most depressing experience of her life. In tbe beginning, from being a smart, rich college girl, whom depends on scholarships, she then becomes someone that nearly loses her own life by her own hands. Oddly, nobody is after her, but it is her chasing after herself. The pain inside her brings her to feeling of suicidal. But the wants doesn’t bring her to leaving this world. Her many tries only brings her to a smaller and smaller chance of ever being able to successfully commit suicide. With the help of psychiatrists and her family and friends beside her, she no longer feels that there is no more hope in this world.
I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys feeling sadness, and sorrow when reading about a character’s life. Pitiful is also something that occurs in the text. The controversial between whether this book is based on Sylvia Plath’s true life or not has still been going on, due to this, the author herself out of the book commits suicide. This is absolutely a horrible ending, we must all learn from the tragedies that this author might have encountered in her early lives of living.
-Julie Tse (902)

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Michaela rated it:

07/06/07

Read in April, 2007

This was the first time I'd read Sylvia Plath, and it wasn't really what I expected. I'm not sure why, but originally I thought the writing style would be more formal and structured than what I read in The Bell Jar, which turned out to be a more fluid, train-of-thought sort of writing. Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of this style, having been turned on to it long ago by Catcher in the Rye.

She's a troubled girl from the start, while she's on an internship of sorts at a magazine, getting to e...more This was the first time I'd read Sylvia Plath, and it wasn't really what I expected. I'm not sure why, but originally I thought the writing style would be more formal and structured than what I read in The Bell Jar, which turned out to be a more fluid, train-of-thought sort of writing. Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of this style, having been turned on to it long ago by Catcher in the Rye.

She's a troubled girl from the start, while she's on an internship of sorts at a magazine, getting to experience the high life in New York. However she still seems to struggle to fit in--acting like the other girls doesn't come as naturally to her and she doesn't always seem to want it to.

Once the summer comes, she returns home, and that's where it is more clear that she is in distress. She has little to do with her days, and her only desire now is to die. And this is written by someone who actually knows that feeling, as Ms. Plath had experienced it strongly herself.

I think that is what stuck out most to me in the book. I've seen badly written suicide attempts many, many times. Written by people who like the dramatic idea of it, but lack the actual feeling behind it. Here the thoughts all match up perfectly with the overwhelming feeling of suicide, and with the identity of the character. How calmly she swallows pill after pill--how desperately she tries to drown herself in the salt water while swimming with friends, only to be forced to resurface every time. And, in particular, as they pass over a bridge while driving her to the asylum, and she plans to jump out into the water. As an observer you know that is senseless. It's a small river with picturesque sailboats, and she has the mad idea she'd be able to kill herself if she were to jump in. Those thoughts belong to the desperate, suicidal mind. (All the same, her family on either side of her lean forward as they cross, so that she can't reach the handles on the car doors).

I read this book so quickly. I was enraptured with the protagonist, Esther, and all that went on for her. I found it a very good read....less

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Greg rated it:

10/11/07

Read in October, 2007

Going into The Bell Jar I expected immediate immersion into a world of gloom followed by the incessant whining that often accompanies that world. Those of you who have read Prozac Nation know exactly what I mean. What else should I have expected from a woman who committed suicide by putting her head in an oven?

Perhaps that is why I put it off reading this classic for so long. Yet to my pleasant surprise, the novel opens on a high note describing a young Esther Greenwood in t...more Going into The Bell Jar I expected immediate immersion into a world of gloom followed by the incessant whining that often accompanies that world. Those of you who have read Prozac Nation know exactly what I mean. What else should I have expected from a woman who committed suicide by putting her head in an oven?

Perhaps that is why I put it off reading this classic for so long. Yet to my pleasant surprise, the novel opens on a high note describing a young Esther Greenwood in the midst of a summer internship working for a fashion magazine in New York City. We find Esther to be extremely intelligent and analytical if somewhat detached. Plath endears us to Esther through her wit—she takes very little at face value and her whimsical cynicism is strangely charming.

Through the first third of the novel, I couldn’t help but imagine her as Capote’s Holly Golightly before she became a top-shelf prostitute (forgetting, of course, all that we learn about Golightly’s past later in the novel). Smart in looks and mind, she maintains an air of fetching naiveté and entitlement, and I fell for her just like Plath wanted me to.

It is only after Esther has our affection and sympathy that Plath sends her into the downward spiral that she herself experienced. We track Esther’s illness as she contends with a boyfriend she despises, superficial friends, mental institutions and an obsession to lose her virginity. I found this to be a very real depiction of depression, no doubt due to the autobiographical nature of the novel. Often people associate depression with sadness or some upsetting external issue. Yet as we learn through Esther’s descent, apathy and fatigue are very real culprits and are often seen instead as character defects.

The Bell Jar gives us insight into Plath’s particular brand of depression as well as any biography on her could. It is not a cheerful read but has several moments of humor and levity that make it bearable to one not inclined to read a book on this subject.
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Jessie rated it:

07/03/08

Read in July, 2008

When I first opened The Bell Jar, I latched on immediately, loving every page of the somewhat self-indulgent, train-like chugging that the narrative takes. Maybe it was because I was just in a low mood. Maybe it was because the beginning is a lot easier to get through than the end, a lot funnier, at least. But I was stunned at how simply Sylvia Plath was able to explain some impulses that to me have seemed invisible and complex and utterly unexplainable.

As I picked up the book this morning,...more When I first opened The Bell Jar, I latched on immediately, loving every page of the somewhat self-indulgent, train-like chugging that the narrative takes. Maybe it was because I was just in a low mood. Maybe it was because the beginning is a lot easier to get through than the end, a lot funnier, at least. But I was stunned at how simply Sylvia Plath was able to explain some impulses that to me have seemed invisible and complex and utterly unexplainable.

As I picked up the book this morning, however, in a much better mood and much closer to the much heavier end, I'm finding it so much thicker to read, like chopping my way out of a vat of hardened peanut butter. (Oh, bad metaphors.) Now, with only about 50 pages left, reading The Bell Jar feels exactly like eating a big, heavy meal. At first you can't imagine a more satisfying indulgence, but as you continue, you start to feel slightly nauseous. Suddenly you look up and realize how much you've eaten: both the sheer amount and the knowledge of it make you feel sick and weighted. At some point, you stop considering the possibility of stopping: you've eaten so much that it makes literally no difference, and can only hope to get to the end without hurling.

I think that Sylvia Plath is brilliant, don't get me wrong. I've literally never had such a visceral experience reading a book. When I finish it I'm not sure that I'll ever - ever - read it again, but I will finish it and I will continue to appreciate a work that was able to get a physical as well as mental reaction out of me. For me, The Bell Jar has been an Experience with a capital "E" - kind of like eating a fried twinkie: the kind of thing you do once but probably never again, because you appreciate how it could be destructive and addictive to continue.

Hmm...third food metaphor of this review. Might be time for lunch.

Update: Finished it, and although it certainly doesn't rank among my favorite books I gave it 5 stars because it felt terribly important. I think it's both crucial and dangerous that it exists. ...less

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Rolls rated it:

03/07/07

Read in November, 2006

recommends it for: the unempowered

Being a bit intimidated by poetry in general (although constant re-reading of e.e. cummings and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by Eliot is as necessary to me as breathing)I never thought my and Sylvia Plath's literary paths would ever cross. That all changed when I read and was bewitched by "The Bell Jar."

The book is a powerful and sadly semiautobriographical depiction of a young girl's slide into suicidal depression. It starts off positively enough. Young Esther G...more

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Maricar rated it:

03/04/08

bookshelves: classics, favorites, fiction-for-women

the first few pages of Bell Jar were deceptively banal. though it still made for a relatively interesting read, I initially really didn't feel engaged with the story of Esther. but then the pace picks up as Plath unfolds the subtle but swift undoing that encroaches on the protagonist's consciousness. in no time at all, i found haunting affinity with some of what Esther went through--those times when everything seems to be on a standstill and yet knowing that the world is passing swiftly by witho...more

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James rated it:

(review of isbn 0553278355)

06/23/08

Read in June, 2008

recommends it for: Anyone with a heart

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The Bell Jar is most likely one of the most haunting novels I have read. This novel affected me to the point where I felt I had to find out more about Plath and her life after finished reading. The ending, leaving the reader at an abrupt standstill, didn't work for me. The first time I had finished reading this novel, I just sat there, thinking. What exactly was The Bell Jar? Does Esther escape? After further biographical reading, I got my answer and wondered if maybe every person who reads this...more

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Brenda rated it:

03/24/08

Read in March, 2008

Favorite Quotes:

"There is nothing like puking with somebody to make you into old friends."

"I was only purely happy until I was nine years old. After that - in spite of the Girl Scouts and the piano lessons and the water-color lessons and the dancing lessons and the sailing camp, all of which my mother scrimped to give me, and college, with crwing in the mist before breakfast and blackbottom pies and the little new firecrackers of ideas going off everyday - I had never real...more

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Christina rated it:

10/14/07

bookshelves: currently-reading

Read in October, 2007

Interview
1.) Why are you in New York?
I’m currently here for a month. I’m working as a guest editor for a fashion magazine.

2.) Why did you leave Doreen alone with a guy that she had just met, especially if she was drunk?
Well, I saw that Doreen and her date were having fun, joking around and playing. Besides that I was starting to get bored and a little irritated with them so I figured I’d just go home.
3.) Why did Doreen miss the luncheon?
She just wanted to spend some tim...more

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Technoferal rated it:

02/05/08

recommends it for: primarily females/adolescents

It states to put a date up there, but as I have read, and re-read The Bell Jar so many times over the years, I just can not.
This book may&can be seen as the FEMALE counterpart to The Catcher in the Rye, as I see there's some debate about this below. Both books are approximately from the same time period (the early-mid 20th century) when mores, thoughts, etc. were rapidly changing due to the tumult and upheaval caused by the Industrial Revolution's aftermath(not to ment...more

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Mister Jones rated it:

03/29/08

bookshelves: crap-that-actually-got-published

Read in January, 1982

recommended to Mister Jones by: a self-absorbed pedantic prof of gender-studies
recommends it for: Peppy Sorority Girls who like Betty Crocker oven recipes

[groan] when I was in my twenties, I read this book and liked it immensely; I related to Esther; I empathized with her angst and anxiety about what life had handed unfairly to her, and how she had enabled all of that woe to alienate her from a world she felt she had no part. The prose was clear; well-written; and was steeped in persecution and isolation as Esther spiraled into the darkest recesses of depression.

In grad school, all I heard was how great Ms. Plath was, how her writing--her poe...more

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Alison rated it:

04/14/08

bookshelves: classics

Read in April, 2008

recommended to Alison by: Todd
recommends it for: the curious

I started out loving The Bell Jar. About 100 pages in, and I'd already mentally bequeathed the five star rating. I was enjoying Ester as this Salinger-esque anti-heroine--living in New York...being off-put by all of the forks in the road (or figs on the tree as she calls them)...she's at that age where she's starting to pick up on all the *phoniness* and *hypocrisy* that lies ahead..this bored genius.

But then around page 125-150, the mental illness really starts to kick in. It was fascin...more

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Chris rated it:

08/13/07

Read in August, 2007

I'm really not sure what to say about this book. It was a fascinating read, but I didn't really love it. And yet at times I could really relate to Esther...to almost a scary degree, actually.

Early in the book, she seems like the poster child for the so-called quarter life crisis, and (unsurprisingly) that's the part of the book where I really felt like I was over-relating to her. I actually had trouble getting through that section, and I wonder if it's because I found myself recognizing...more

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Lindsey rated it:

01/04/08

bookshelves: favorites

Read in January, 2005

"I liked looking on at other people in crucial situations. If there was a road accident or a street fight or a baby pickled in a laboratory jar for me to look at, I'd stop and look so hard I never forgot it. I certainly learned a lot of things I never would have learned otherwise this way, and even when they surprised me or made me sick I never let on, but pretended that's the way I knew things were all the time."

"If neurotic is wanting two mutually exclusive things at one and...more

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Lis rated it:

(review of isbn 0060930187)

05/14/07

bookshelves: 2007-reads

Read in April, 2007

recommends it for: Everyone!

As I said in another blog, after reading this book I felt like Christopher Columbus: I discovered something millions of people already knew, in this case Sylvia Plath. I didn't read it before because I assumed Sylvia Plath was only popular due to her suicide. I am not much into reading poetry books, not since junior high at least, but I immediately started ordering her other books. This is her only novel, and rumor has it she wrote another one but threw it in a fire in a fit of rage. If that is ...more

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