Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Bell Jar

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

1760 reviews

vikart's review

emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.0

"The Bell Jar" has been one of my most confusing reads as of this year. The entire time of reading I felt as if I were on an acid trip. It is a story about a girl by the name Esther who, unfortunately, finds herself falling into suicidal thoughts.

Although, I cannot say that I hated this book, I also cannot state that it was one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Therefore, I will sperate my pros and cons into some bullet points.

Pros:

The main character had opinions that stemmed from her upbringing. They place very good questions upon the societal norm of women and men, and their roles.
I noticed a line that, if my memory serves me correct, appears within the book "Cozy" by Isabel Gillies. The line in question:
"There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them."
This isn't a big pro, but it did put a smile on my face.
The comparisons within this book came out as very unique to me.

Cons:

It felt as if some of the actions that the main character took were completely illogical even when you compare it to her state of mind.
Scene changes felt confusing at times. It'd take you a minute to realize that a new scene has set into place. This made me reread a lot of parts.
Although the main character is placed in different places to get help the book does not illustrate her getting any legitimate help from anybody.

Other notes:

There's a contradiction between the beginning and end.
Within the beginning of "The Bell Jar" Esther mentions that she cannot gain weight whenever eating food. She can eat as much as she wants, however near the end of the book she is shown to put on weight.

That's all. Thanks for the read. A lot more can be analyzed and discussed about this book, but I doubt anybody will have the time to read all that, so if you did read all of this: you are magical.

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archiedh's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.75

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matcha_cat's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? It's complicated

3.25

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katanai's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

i think the last quarter of this book really boosted my rating. honestly, there were several times i put this book down & considered placing it in DNF. the racist remarks were something that i was utterly unprepared for & they had no place in this book. it was just odd how racist & homophobic plath was. anyway, besides that, the first half of this book was quite boring, & i felt as if her descent into madness was a little out of nowhere. but then, sometimes, that's how madness happens, unfortunately. i did tear up at some points during her stay at the mental health institutions but i think i just got triggered due to personal connection to people who have been at institutes. also, the protagonist was just... unlikeable & not in a good way. i can see why it's a classic, but at the same time, i think it is a little overhyped. glad to just finally be done.

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