Reviews - The Bell Jar: A Novel

37.2k reviews for:

The Bell Jar: A Novel

Sylvia Plath

4.06 AVERAGE

linnweine's review against another edition

4.0

I loved the poetic wrighting style and the way Esther’s emotions were described throughout the book.

jenniferpemberton8's review against another edition

4.0

I can’t say that I enjoyed this book, but I’m not sure it’s meant to be enjoyed. As a psychotherapist who has worked with clients with depression, the reading of this book actually feels like flat affect. The writing is brilliant. Some of the content is so far ahead of its time, at least what would be acceptable for women to openly share. I might need to read it again in a few years.

laurenfstr's review against another edition

3.0

emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Really great writing but I struggled to see past all of the issues with this book (e.g., racism, homophobia). They felt overdone, unnecessary (even considering the time the book was published), and overall bled bitterness throughout the rest of the work. I think if it was any longer I would have DNFed it after about 50 pages.

I did find myself connecting with Esther at points but then was completely lost at others. I liked her as the female lead, and I thought the rawness and gruesome honesty of her inner monologue was something I enjoyed a lot about this novel. I do love a book with a questionable female main character.

I think the fig tree analogy has been massively overrated. Instead I preferred the telephone wire and bell jar analogies, as I think they had much bigger punches. Though maybe this is because I had already heard about the fig tree on BookTok, which probably ruined it as it does a lot of things…

I had put off reading this book for years because of all of the hype I’d seen, but I don’t think it was worth the wait. I feel really mixed overall, like something was missing and the negative parts about this book are fighting with the interesting female lead and really great writing 🤷‍♀️

kenzis_bookshelf's review against another edition

3.0

dark medium-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 ⭐️

I try to avoid the critique of “i don’t know why this is a classic”, but this book falls into that category.

This is supposed to be a feminist classic but the “feminism” in this is very superficial. The MC is a very well educated and independent career woman in the 60s which is a great feat! Also, she’s not in a rush to get married and cherished her autonomy. However, other than that she’s an awful person. She has very rude/belittling mental commentary about her peers and is racist.

I was expecting more in regard to her mental decline. As in showing more of the mental turmoil and decline. This book instead showed more of her treatment and her actions (lack of sleep, suicide attempts, etc.). I was wanting to see more of her internal mental battle and how her thoughts spiraled out of control. That would have made the book more interesting. Instead this book was rather boring. If it hadn’t been so short I would have DNFd.