Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

104 reviews

karlo's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Mental illness, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Medical trauma, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Alcohol

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

sylvia plath. wow. her poetic imagery fits wonderfully in this novel. it’s so personal and real that i don’t even feel like i have a right to critique it on anything. it was a beautiful read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Vomit

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

Minor: Sexual content, Alcohol, and Death of parent

h0neybear's review against another edition

challenging dark funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed it. Preferred the second half. Definitely a very clever book, but I think I was a bit too dumb to understand some of it. I reckon I will at some point though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Sexism, Confinement, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness

Moderate: Medical content, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Racism

Minor: Alcohol, Incest, and Sexual content

esimplicity's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Medical content, Pregnancy, Death, Sexual content, and Racism

plantdog30's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book as someone whose had mental health struggles, but even in a normal state there are things I relate to. It's easy to empathize with the emotions Esther feels because the writing is so immersive. Generally, this book is interesting as it has insight into how mental health was treated at the time as well as simply the experience of a young woman faced with an undetermined future. I would've given this book 5 stars but there are times the main character is just irritating and plain racist, with the n word being said numerous times in a single chapter. Overall though, it was definitely intriguing and captivating, especially with such great writing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Confinement, and Mental illness

Minor: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Racism, and Fatphobia

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

DISCLAIMER -  I read this text as a set text for university meaning I did not pick this up for myself. It does not fit my usual reading selection so my review may be rather biased. 

Despite enjoying this book, it was slow at times and I found it too triggering to read at this point in my life, despite checking the trigger warnings. Additionally, I also ran out of time to read it as I could not finish it with all of my other university texts.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Self harm, Suicide, and Sexual content

j4mes's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Blood, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Cursing, Self harm, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Death, Gore, Grief, Terminal illness, and Sexism

Minor: Body shaming, Racism, and Suicide

thefigtree's review against another edition

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

feels like a book version of that game where one person draws a head and then folds the paper over and someone else draws a torso and folds that over until you've got a really bizarre miss-matching person

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racial slurs, Alcohol, Eating disorder, and Racism

Minor: Vomit

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

i really wanted to love this. however, some parts of the book felt unnecessary to the story and Esther was just not a good person which made this so unenjoyable for me. despite her mental illness there was no reason for her to be so incredibly nasty to everyone around her. and her character targeting and physically abusing the only person of color and calling them slurs… for what? there was absolutely no reason for all of her rude actions especially considering how privileged she was. it did adequately portray the mental unraveling of a women in her early adulthood but it outshined by how awful her character was in my opinion. i was so disappointed :((( 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Cursing, Alcohol, Classism, Death, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Blood, Drug abuse, Dysphoria, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

insidious_toxins's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Self harm

Moderate: Alcohol, Rape, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Blood, and Grief

Minor: Racial slurs