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This book is semi-autobiographical. Having finished the book I am left uneasy, bewildered, with more questions than answers. I am left with the feeling that I have traveled with the author along her own path toward suicide.... and it is for this reason one can expect neither answers nor solutions. This is a book that takes you on a journey, and the point isn't the end or the attainment of clear conclusions; one who commits suicide isn't one with answers. It is instead a window into another perso
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*Feb: 8th time for me to do a reread and annotate soon I'm thinking.*
Great book, I love flow of the writing. ...more
Great book, I love flow of the writing. ...more
By describing the story of Esther Greenwood, certainly the author reflects her own personal history. And unforgettable and magnificent book.
Free download available at Faded Page.
From BBC Radio 4;
Sylvia Plath's haunting and only novel is fifty years old and is broadcast for the first time in celebration of the anniversary. The novel tells the story of Esther Greenwood, a talented girl with a prestigious internship on a magazine in New York in 1953. With dreams of becoming a writer and an impressi ...more
Free download available at Faded Page.
From BBC Radio 4;
Sylvia Plath's haunting and only novel is fifty years old and is broadcast for the first time in celebration of the anniversary. The novel tells the story of Esther Greenwood, a talented girl with a prestigious internship on a magazine in New York in 1953. With dreams of becoming a writer and an impressi ...more
I think she captures the perfect storm of a nervous breakdown. A series of dismissals and sexual traumas built on a platform of blame and chastity lessons... Being given freedom and intellectual cookies in the form of excellent grades, and having it ripped away in the form of criticism dealt within a system that makes it cruel. I've heard The Bell Jar compared to Catcher in the Rye, but I think they're flip-sides of the same coin. Where Holden dismisses the world he feels alienated from as "phon
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I realize that this is a kind of contemporary classic, and many people loved this book. I found that I wanted more out of it. I didn't get the transitions. Maybe if it had been a longer book?
03/14/2021: Although I can say that I liked this book more with the reread, I still felt that the transitions were too abrupt. I reread this because I am reading Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, the new biography.
The Bell Jar is the story of Esther Greenwood, a brilliant college stu ...more
03/14/2021: Although I can say that I liked this book more with the reread, I still felt that the transitions were too abrupt. I reread this because I am reading Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath, the new biography.
The Bell Jar is the story of Esther Greenwood, a brilliant college stu ...more
This is a memoir-type book of Plath's time in college while she was 'put away.' Plath's use of the bell jar itself is fantastic, and she is an excellent writer. I specifically enjoyed her descriptions of Doreen. It's a shame that she took her own life so young, but I'm thankful for what she contributed - she had excellent, innovative, evocative imagery.
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Powerful, intelligent, moving and unforgettable.
![★ K ★ [In a slump but still here!]](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1740712564p2/718640.jpg)
Nov 10, 2012
★ K ★ [In a slump but still here!]
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