From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath

Start date: October 1, 2010

Finish date: November 1, 2010

Discussion: Classics Corner

Discussion leader: Sherry

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What Members Thought

Mar 13, 2010 Gaijinmama rated it really liked it

Shelves: classics, fiction

I have conflicting feelings about this book. On the one hand, it deserves its place as a classic if only for the author's keen sense of observation and way with words. She also had a sense of humor...Sylvia Plath, who knew!!

On the other hand, that's the tragedy. I was almost too pissed off to finish. What a horrible waste of a gifted writer who was actually an interesting person. I am left sad and angry, just absolutely furious that Plath lived at a time when a woman with her skills was not appr ...more

17 likes · Like · see review

Sep 23, 2010 Laura rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 1000-guardian, american-fiction, health-issues, mtbr-challenge-2016, e-books, fiction-20th-century, read-2016, modern-classics, 1001-books-you-must-read-before-you, gutenberg

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

8 likes · Like · see review

Aug 13, 2012 Linda rated it liked it

Shelves: ill-chcpl, book-discussion-read

I first read this book decades ago. I don't think I liked it then, but I was young. Now that I've experienced my own issues with my mental health, I relate. I was more empathic towards the author and the protagonist and her life struggles. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Feb 13, 2008 Carrie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I love reading Plath when I feel dramatic and depressed.

1 like · Like · see review

May 16, 2009 Jessica rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir, psychology, 1001

While often cast as a book about mental illness (and it is certainly that), what appeals to me about this one is the everywoman quality of Esther's anxieties - even as she spirals into a place most of us fortunately avoid, her essential humanity holds the novel together. That relatable quality makes me understand why this has endured. ...more

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Mar 12, 2008 Clackamas rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: college-lists-and-classics

This was a 2 star read when I was 17, but its a better to me now. I might have been too close to mental illnesses myself on my original read. I do remember feeling like Esther was such a whiner who needed to be more grateful for the opportunities she had. I was personally offended by her decisions. Lol

This time, I liked it a lot better. It was a very fast read, hard to put down. She is still ridiculous, but it is clearer to me now that Esther has reasons for the way she is.

I don't understand at ...more

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Mar 03, 2008 Jenn rated it liked it

The last time I read this, I was just out of high school ,moody, wrote a lot, and thought "nobody understood me". So obviously I loved this book. I need to re-read it and see if that feeling still stands. ...more

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