Reviews with content warning for Sexism - The Bell Jar

Hmmmm. I do think it's well written and some of the lines hit so hard but! Its racist and homophobic and hurtful and triggering af and why does no one talk about this??

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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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

5.0

"The Bell Jar" is a contemporary classic that follows Esther Greenwood and her gradual spiral into a mental breakdown. Esther is an incredibly talented and intelligent woman who is invited to New York for a summer program for women writers. As she progresses through time, her fragile mental state slowly deteriorates, and she finds herself completely lost to her own mind.
"The Bell Jar" is my all-time favorite novel, and it has been a long time since I reread it, so I was elated to dive back into this story. Sylvia Plath is one of my favorite people, and I love analyzing "The Bell Jar" and seeing how although it is a story of fiction, it does mirror a lot of Sylvia's own life and experiences. This novel provides excellent commentary about how women were and still are perceived by men, and especially how mistreated woman who suffer with mental health issues truly were. This novel was written around the same time as "The Yellow Wallpaper" and I think both stories together paint the perfect picture of what it meant for a woman to have a breakdown. Mental health was not talked about and was really not understood.
This book is a classic for a reason, and I think everyone will gain something from reading it. We wall want to believe we have come so far in the past 50 years in regard to how we talk about and treat mental health. Although we as a society have made leaps, we have so much farther to travel.

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noahfence's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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

4.75

overall, the bell jar is a really amazing view into the way 1950s society dealt with women’s mental health (and women in general).

i had a vague expectation of what i was going to read in the bell jar, and, of course, those expectations were easily defeated and topped.

i thought the prose was beautifully yet unforgivingly sharp and efficient, which was very successful in subtly communicating the characterisation of esther, the main character. i also thought that plath’s continuous exploration around the troubles of childbirth and maternity really came through in this book, of which i always find very poignant. the sense of despair that emanates off of esther throughout the entirety of the novel is all-consuming and very affecting… it’s very hard to not feel dragged along with esther in her tumble into darkness.

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faerieevee's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

merretrix's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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