Reviews with content warning for Death - The Bell Jar

Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

473 reviews

sicksadlit's review against another edition

5.0

dark reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I would say that this book is about to become my whole personality but that would be wrong since I feel like it already IS my personality.

As a mentally ill girly, I rarely read any books that so perfectly encapsulate the experience of battling depression, anxiety, ADHD or even mania. But The Bell Jar practically reflected back to me the girl I was in my late teens.

I have never felt so seen and understood by a book before and when I learned that it was the one and only novel Sylvia Plath wrote before she took her own life in 1963, my heart broke because it so easily could have been me in 2011.

The slide from “normalcy” into complete and total breakdown was so insidious and accurately depicted, you can’t help but feel for Esther as she battles the dark recesses of her own mind. Anyone who has experienced a depressive episode or lives with chronic depression will see their experience written in the pages of this book. We may not all wind up in an asylum undergoing electric shock treatment these days but the events that led to it are still relevant today.

The one flag is that there is some ugly, jarring racism in this book with stereotypes, racial slurs and even assault. One scene in particular makes for harrowing reading and readers should take care. The fact that this book was published in 1963 does not excuse the awful content but it does offer some context as to the very privileged, very white, very racist world that Sylvia Plath herself was a part of.

Overall, The Bell Jar feels like the original My Year of Rest and Relaxation and for those who enjoy unhinged main characters, this one is the OG.

Content Warnings

sliceofghost's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

the girls who get it get it, and sylvia plath DEFINITELY gets it

Content Warnings

jarku's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

I am long past high school, but Plath's prose took me straight back. From the limited first-person perspective dealing Esther Greenwood's deeds and thoughts in explicit, untangled sentences to the smattering of antiquated racial slurs, The Bell Jar felt easy as I read it. In the aftermath, I'm trying to account for what I missed. Like early on, I decided Esther's interest in Doreen was purely platonic, and then I missed the actual gay bits. Or, more troublingly, I didn't discern any moments of relief in Esther's depression, the difference between the bell jar aloft or smothering.

So perhaps this is my failing as a 21st-century reader--I don't expect Elizabethan literature to reveal all its cleverness to me effortlessly, after all. But given the hindsight to frame ECT's effect as a kind of lobotomy-lite (alleviating malcontent by dulling the whole mind, or just torturing patients into pretending they were cured), and the difficult task of untangling Esther/Plath's idiopathic depression from everyday womens' oppression (of course our heroine should feel Not Good Enough against the impossible social standard), The Bell Jar didn't grip me as much as I was hoping.

That said, Obviously this book is Important. Plath does give voice to some feelings we tend to be too shy to admit. I'm just writing this note to help myself remember that this book didn't satisfy my craving for Oh My God This Book Speaks To My Depression like Idlewild, for example.

Content Warnings

veepopp's review against another edition

5.0

dark sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

eleishardavies's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

lauriereads_'s review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

moonysweaters14's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

goemonxiii's review against another edition

2.75

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

While I can appreciate The Bell Jar for what it is and what it's done for the field of literature, feminism, and mental health... it's not for me (which is fine). I'm not particularly enthusiastic about this book, there were parts that were difficult to get through, and I doubt I'll read it again. It's not terrible, and there were in fact parts that I liked, and I do like being able to say that I've read The Bell Jar, but other than that there's not much here.

Content Warnings