Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - The Bell Jar

This book had been on my tbr for so long and I’m so glad I finally got around to reading it!
Overall, it’s a very interesting book, very self-reflective and empowering (her will for independence is at times very inspiring), but I do think it will be a one-time read for me because some parts were just too hard to read through. The first half was very interesting for me, Esther is such a multi-faceted character who I found super odd at times, but super relatable at others. Side note, I loved Sylvia Plath’s description of food haha.
But in the second half it got slower and a lot darker which made me step away from the book for a while because some aspects were too touching.
Nevertheless, I feel the ending wrapped this whole book together, and made me appreciate the story and the MC. I feel like everything was wrapped well, and we get a clear ending on everything.

I guess what I’m trying to say is although Sylvia Plath is an author I observe from afar because she triggers me, I appreciate her work so much, especially this as it is her only novel and it is considered to be semi-autobiographical.

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dmackreads's review against another edition

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1.0

Frances McCullough’s Foreword at the beginning of this book is the most interesting part of it. Personally I think he should have left it where he found it.

The reason I didn’t dnf this is because the author is dead (actually by suicide) and I thought it quite rude to do so. Now some may say my rating is rude but I suffered through 244 pages of something that I should have, in fact, marked off as a dnf because this is my first ever 1★ rating. Of course I also was trying to see what everyone else was seeing, that maybe I wasn’t, to warrant over a million reviews, over 3 million copies sold since it was released, and an average rating of over 4★s. I just didn’t find it.

The writing is subpar at best. The synopsis says, “Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the readers in” I’m sorry, who and how? I felt zero connection to the characters or the story. I understand it follows a very dark, heavy, sad, emotional topic and that’s about the only thing that kept any ounce of my interest.

I read 154 pages of what felt like “fluff” to me. There is far too much unnecessary information and I say that because it either tells me absolutely nothing of importance or doesn’t do its job to draw you in or connect you to the characters. This book is only 244 pages long and it took me until I was 65% of the way in for something to trip me up into feeling anything at all. Personally I feel if you are going to write a book like this and it’s a short book, you need to captivate a reader within 20 pages or less. Not only that but the last 50 or so pages where there was the most happening at once, is what needed to be drawn out the most. Something would happen or be said and then 2 pages later it was like I missed a step because we jumped from point A to point B so quickly that it was a missed opportunity to really get us feeling something and deeply attached.

I’ve come to the conclusion that you can be manipulated by an author to believe a book is good if it’s about certain topics. This is one of those books. Because of course the topic is sad and you feel compelled to think it’s good.

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chaidolls's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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