Reviews with content warning for Lesbophobia - The Bell Jar

i chose to read this for an assignment in my ap literature class. i usually enjoy books with mental health as a major theme and i definitely enjoyed this.

Content Warnings

carolinacortez's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

Me tarde sigloooos en acabar este libro, y es que la verdad si es complicado de leer, sobre todo la primera mitad del libro, muchas veces no entendía que estaba pasando, ni entendía los brincos en la historia que daba Sylvia (ahora uqe se un poco más del contexto en el que fue escrita la novela, puedo entender un poco mejor), eso sí Esther (la protagonista) es super relatable sobre todo al momento de tratar la crisis que tenentra al acabar la prepa y el que vas a hacer con tu vida, la segunda mitad del libro que es en la que se trata la salud mental, es la parte más fuerte y, en mi opinion, la mejor parte, esta se lee con más agilidad y más fluidez.

una de las cosas negativas que le vi a la novela,es el racismo enorme por parte de Esther, para la página 10 ya había varios slurs, y conforme iba leyendo cada vez se me hacía más incomodo, así que eso es algo que tener en cuenta.

Content Warnings

amradio's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I will fully admit I asked for this book because it's the book Heather Chandler reads in Heathers
That being said it is actually a pretty good book I was afraid I'd find it boring as it's not the usual kind of book I read
Of course the book is old so some subject matters are quite dated in the aslyum and whatnot
But for what it's worth it's pretty good
Personally I have a few iffy feelings on the asylum parts so it's not a full 5 star read but it was really close

fully wasn't expecting Joan to die at all and I was very shocked and a little saddened at that

Content Warnings

bill369's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I saw a video about Sylvia Plath and so I read her only novel.

My favourite character is Doctor Nolan, she helped Esther and seems like a nice person with good intentions. She was more of a side character, therefore I don't know that much about her, but she is bright, open-minded and professional.

It was interesting to read about someone with mental health issues from that period, it helped me make a better picture of what it was like back then. I liked the descriptions and Esther's thought process. It just all made sense. It amazed me how well the author managed the transition from an ambitious and quite lively woman to a suicidal, numb, rather careless and tired woman. It all happens slowly and so it all blends in well. Reading this book made me feel more literate.

The part of the book I liked the most was when Esther was in Belsize, however, there are lines throughout the whole book which I would like to share. On page 54 are lines that hit a bit too close to home. There's nothing else needed to be said.
There I went again, building up a glamorous
picture of a man who would love me passionately the minute he
met me, and all out of a few prosy nothings. A duty tour of the
UN and a post-UN sandwich!

On page 77 Plath compares her life to a green fig tree.

From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig,
a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a
husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a
famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and
another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig
was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was
Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers
with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was
an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these
figs were many more figs I couldn’t quite make out.
I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree,
starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind
which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one
of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I
sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go
black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.

On pages 123 and 124 Plath describes how insomnia made Esther tired of living.
I saw the days of the year stretching ahead like a
series of bright, white boxes, and separating one box from
another was sleep, like a black shade. Only for me, the long
perspective of shades that set off one box from the next had
suddenly snapped up, and I could see day after day after day
glaring ahead of me like a white, broad, infinitely desolate
avenue.
It seemed silly to wash one day when I would only
have to wash again the next.
It made me tired just to think of it.
I wanted to do everything once and for all and be
through with it.

On page 141 Plath shows how pressured Esther felt by the world.
I summoned my little chorus of voices.
Doesn’t your work interest you, Esther?
You know, Esther, you’ve got the perfect setup of
a true neurotic.
You’ll never get anywhere like that, you’ll never
get anywhere like that, you’ll never get anywhere like that.

On page 177 we can see how numb Esther became.
I knew I should be grateful to Mrs. Guinea, only I
couldn’t feel a thing. If Mrs. Guinea had given me a ticket to
Europe, or a round-the-world cruise, it wouldn’t have made one
scrap of difference to me, because wherever I sat--on the deck
of a ship or at a street cafe in Paris or Bangkok--I would be
sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour
air.

I usually dislike the open ending, but in this book I welcomed it. It felt right. I hope she will only be better from that point on.

The book is well written and all, but it's not a five star for me. I didn't cry and I didn't connect to the characters. That probably isn't the author's fault. The book is just old. I did like it quite a bit though.

Content Warnings

xbernadette's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

ilovebarbie12dancingprincesses's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-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

4.5

For the first half of this book I felt like I connected with the story and character of Esther but the blatant racism of Plath really just ruined the immersion for me. While this is not so bad in the second half, there is still a few occasions I feel would have greatly benefited from her simply not being racist.

Aside from this, TheBell Jar is a beautifully written story on mental illness and the terror of the unknown in both Plath’s era and contemporary society. From the first page Plath creates a horrible sense of anticipation, then dread and then what felt like almost a

sense of acceptance with Plath’s final few words of her singular novel. Ones of fear at the prospect of her reintroduction to society, at how easy it is to heal and ‘become whole’ again only to shatter against the hard surface of depression, as seen in the novel itself, with Joan’s suicide, but also Plath herself’s tragic end.

Content Warnings

v_o's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective

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

5.0

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