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The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath

Start date: December 1, 2013

Finish date: December 31, 2013

Discussion: Dec 2013 - The Bell Jar

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Dec 2013 - The Bell Jar

"The Bell Jar"
By Jeane , Book-tator · 8 posts · 145 views

last updated Apr 21, 2018 03:34PM

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May 04, 2013 Beth (bibliobeth) rated it really liked it

I have been eager to read this book for some time, and on finishing it am glad that I have done so, however it has left me feeling ever so slightly disturbed. The fall of Esther Greenwood into madness slotted quite easily into the realms of possibility, and felt incredibly real to me as a reader as we seem to understand and descend into insanity with her. Some of her descriptions of her depression and resulting emotions, are harrowing at best, as it seems to parallel Plath’s own mental breakdown I have been eager to read this book for some time, and on finishing it am glad that I have done so, however it has left me feeling ever so slightly disturbed. The fall of Esther Greenwood into madness slotted quite easily into the realms of possibility, and felt incredibly real to me as a reader as we seem to understand and descend into insanity with her. Some of her descriptions of her depression and resulting emotions, are harrowing at best, as it seems to parallel Plath’s own mental breakdown and suicide attempt.

“To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is a bad dream.”

“The trouble about jumping was that if you didn’t pick the right number of stories, you might still be alive when you hit bottom.”

Like her character Esther, Sylvia Plath interned for a fashion magazine in New York, was intelligent and successful, and was then admitted to a psychiatric hospital following a suicide attempt. Knowing this as a reader, it only serves to make statements like the above quotes more poignant and haunting. All her life, Esther seems to be searching for a father figure, as she describes when she last felt happy – at nine years old just before her father died. This is why she seems to have such trouble with men, no-one being good enough, or feeling that she was not good enough for them. There are echoes of her self pity and self-hatred throughout the novel as she comes to terms with the fact that she does not want to live.

This is a book with such beautiful imagery and use of language that it will stay with me for a long time, and I would now love to read some of Plath’s poetry and compare it with this, her only novel. For anyone suffering with depression, or those that don’t really “get” depression, I highly recommend this book. For the former, it is perhaps a sort of comfort knowing that you are not alone, for the latter to understand and respect this distressing and debilitating condition.

Please see my full review at http://www.bibliobeth.wordpress.com
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Jan 22, 2013 Seth rated it liked it

Sylvia Plath is an approachable, sincere writer. She feels like a real person, and she's very good at letting you know how real she really is. That said, she frequently sacrifices meaning for just doing whatever she wants: an unfortunate choice that makes a potentially great philosophical work into a lot less. ...more

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Jan 03, 2014 Alexia rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

You can tell the author is a poet from how she writes. The prose can be quite beautiful. The first half is the weakest part of the book although it's just there to counteract what comes later.

A book about mental illness in the 50s, and the experience of it.

It's a story that doesn't try to be moving or shock. It just is.

It is easy to see why this became a classic, and easy to see why there was so much resistance to publish it as she isn't insane but just ill. ...more

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