From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath,

Frances McCullough (Foreword)

Start date: December 30, 2014

Finish date: January 2, 2015

Discussion: 2015 Challenge Prompts

Why we're reading this: I never read anything from Sylvia Plath.
[close] I never read anything from Sylvia Plath.

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2015 Challenge Prompts

Prompt 25: A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't
By Ann · 67 posts · 992 views

last updated Jan 17, 2023 03:51PM

Prompt 39: A book with magic
By Ann · 48 posts · 446 views

last updated Jan 02, 2019 05:46AM

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What Members Thought

Dec 05, 2013 Sarah rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: american-fiction, young-adult-fiction, fiction, classics

I thought I would like this book better. And I did enjoy reading it and wanted to follow the story. Pros: I appreciate the focus on mental health; we still have far too big a taboo around talking about mental health. The novel is also avowedly-feminist, and my favorite scenes in the book were often focused on various forms of physical and structural violence against women. The books's partly- (or mostly-?) autobiographical nature also made it compelling to read, even for a avid fan of fiction. B I thought I would like this book better. And I did enjoy reading it and wanted to follow the story. Pros: I appreciate the focus on mental health; we still have far too big a taboo around talking about mental health. The novel is also avowedly-feminist, and my favorite scenes in the book were often focused on various forms of physical and structural violence against women. The books's partly- (or mostly-?) autobiographical nature also made it compelling to read, even for a avid fan of fiction. But, cons: For a novel known for its focus on mental health, it was disappointing that the best scenes - with a few exceptions, like the scene in which Esther learns about her second round of ECT - focused on her identity as a woman (and that's coming from someone who strongly identifies with feminism). It was also disconcerting that by implication, the novel seems to link societal pressures on women with "madness" in some literary sense, and I'm not sure we need any more linkage of all things female with "hysteria." (Although I know that perhaps my reaction on this particular theme is ahistorical - but that's what makes literature classic, no? Continued relevance over time. If it ceases to be contextually-appropriate, it falls out of the canon, or at least that's what we hope happens.) Finally, even after narrating several very frightening incidents or relationships - not just the ECT, but also the attempted rape, as well as her relationships with both Buddy Willard and her mother - Esther's circumstances and voice still sound very privileged to me. Scholarships, New England, New York, internship at a prestigious magazine illustrate one aspect of this privilege, but the repeated, racist comments are hard to ignore. Given the time period, especially - the 1960s - it's hard to excuse that piece of it, and it made it difficult for me to empathize with Esther at a lot of points in the book. I'm not sure if knowing that the book is autobiographical should make me feel better or worse about some of these issues I have with it. ...more

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Feb 22, 2017 shalini rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Synopsis:
Bell Jar traces the life of Esther Greenwood – a brilliant, gorgeous and intelligent young woman who lands herself a summes to slowly spiral into depression. She struggles to fit into the life of glamour and behave as the society deems apr internship at a prestigious magazine in New York. But the life of a young debutante barely enchants her and she startpropriate.

Her life story is punctuated by her interactions with the various people she happens to meet including her school days frien ...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Christina rated it it was amazing

Pro tip - if at all possible, do not read this book all at once. I read it in two sittings over a weekend (because the library wouldn't let me renew it again) and came out feeling distinctly wobbly. However, if you start reading it, it may not be possible not to gulp down the whole thing. It's that good.
It's hard to say I liked it - it wasn't easy. But it sucked me in entirely. When Esther first started running into trouble, I felt annoyed with her: why can't you just get things done, woman? Whe ...more

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Jul 19, 2012 martha rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: year-2004, 5-star-favs

[Review from 2004.] I really liked this. I'd only read Plath's poetry before, and loved it, but this was different and great. Very Salinger-esque, actually. A fast, wonderful read. ...more

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