Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Bell Jar

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

221 reviews

carlota00's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

sofipitch's review against another edition

5.0

dark reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

One of my favorite books of all time, not just bc it captures what it is like to have depression but the logic of it, how your arguments feel logical bc the world sucks so why go on? This was my 3rd or 4th reread

Content Warnings

frankahilde's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Even though this is a great book, it was very challenging for me and it took me very long to get through it.
It is beautifully written and in my opinion is an amazing example of the concept „show don’t tell“. We know exactly what is going on with Esther’s psyche just from the way she acts and thinks and also (what I found the most fascinating) through the writing style. The pace changes along with her mental state so the reader feels as confused and dazy as Esther does.

It is really heartbreaking that not soon after the novel was released Sylvia took her own life, it made the entire book feel very emotional for me since you get the feeling that it is almost as if she wanted everyone to know what she was going through before she ended it all.

Content Warnings

marthapasa's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective 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

jaiden_grey's review against another edition

4.25

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

If I didn’t relate to the main character as much and didn’t think my future is any way tied with how she lives her life, I might’ve given this book a lower rating. I feel like Esther didn’t change as much in this book as I would have liked her to. I didn’t really feel a solid direction in terms of the plot, which is fine but I think the book would have benefited from something like that.

Content Warnings

bluewaterlily's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

laikkamac's review against another edition

Almost from the very beginning, something about this book made my skin crawl. It was unsettling and I overall got a bad feeling from it. Then I came across the first racist (and completely unnecessary) comment about “yellow skin like a China man” and I basically couldn’t continue much after that. Based on other comments/reviews, apparently the book is full of homophobic, racist and antisemitic parts. I just don’t have the patience and refuse to slog through something like that. And no, I don’t care that it was written awhile ago… in the 1960’s. Where all of those things were at the forefront of political and social conversation and movement. I also get the feeling as though her views are actually ironically misogynistic. Sylvia Plath is one of those people that I get a really bad vibe from (that doesn’t happen often for me) and I won’t go near any of her work again most likely. It’s unfortunate that she’s considered to be such a feminist because I really don’t think this probably does any justice to actual feminism.

Content Warnings