Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - The Bell Jar

Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

222 reviews

motherpanic's review against another edition

2.75

dark emotional reflective 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

February 11th, 1963: Sylvia Plath is found dead at her home in England, at the age of 30 years old. Shortly before her death, her sole novel (a semi-autobiographical story) was published. And it is indeed difficult, impossible even to read The Bell Jar and not think of Plath, of that woman. She haunts the narrative, she is the narrative in spite of her absence. All of Esther's musings are Plath's own. It's eerie. There's hardly any comfort even when Esther is freed from the bell jar; in fact, it makes you ponder. Did Plath knew that, unlike Esther, she would remain a prisoner of her own bell jar? Or did she try to maintain some illusion, as she found herself spiralling down?

A mere 294 pages, Plath's novel is all about thoughts and perceptions, never feelings. Well-educated, and sharp as a needle when the need to be comes, Esther's musings are crisp and precise, often using words that one rarely hears spoken or even read. Yet, when she finds herself trapped underneath her metaphorical bell jar, they slowly grow and become unclear, blurry, which I believe is a clever way to showcase the protagonist spiralling down into emptiness, to the point where she contemplates killing herself with a kind of ease that's unnerving.

With such praises, you'd think I would admit to liking this book. Well... we all have an unpopular opinion, right? A beloved book we dislike?
This is mine. And yes, I have an explanation as to why this does not work for me.

Plath's presence aside, there is something else that you have to address when talking this book. Because it is everywhere and inescapable, particularly with pages 197 to 199 as its apex:
The rampant racism and homophobia.

The Bell Jar was written in the second half of the 20th century, in the midst of the Civil Rights movement. The March on Washington took place in the same year as this book's publication. Among legitimate intellectual and/or progressive circles of the time, this manner of thinking is grotesquely out of line. It seems especially absurd in the face of Plath's dogged dedication to the Rights Of Women. Feminism is important, of course, but reading about how the greatest social issue in Plath's eyes (or the eyes of Plath's self-insert protagonist) was women being able to be writers and editors with as much ease as they could be secretaries (as opposed to the several editors and writers there were) is difficult to understand, or sympathize with. Employment can be a crucial issue for women, for tons of reasons, but you ought to wonder about the limits of Plath's feminism, and how it can even be used to harm men of color, as well as other women of color.

And not only is it racist, it's homophobic as hell. And as a half-white, half-arab lesbian, you can imagine I did not have a good time reading this. It's well written, sure, and that fig paragraph does perfectly express depression, but this is like one of those cheap candies: pretty wrapping, disgusting taste.

All in all, would I recommend it? Unfortunately no, if only because it has terribly aged, and the rampant racism and homophobia making it a book I was happy to read but would never want to read again, for obvious reasons.

This was, once again, borrowed from the BANQ (Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec) in an attempt not to support the author, in spite of her passing many years ago. And while I wish I could say it was a long time ago, I cannot.
My grandfather was born in May 1934, two years after Plath herself. He currently is residing in Lebanon, in his family's home, spending his time reading and taking walks. And it puts everything into perspective for me.

I hate the whiteness of the 'disaffected woman' genre. I hate what this book represents. And if you think I'm talking through my hat, I suggest you read "The unbearable whiteness of the 'disaffected young woman' genre" by Heven Haile, which explains my thoughts better than I ever hope to, or could. Google it: you'll thank me later.

Content Warnings

curegraceirl's review against another edition

4.25

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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

Content Warnings

martinadr's review against another edition

3.75

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

chrisljm's review against another edition

3.0

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

how come no one told me she was racist

Content Warnings

kathshiroma's review against another edition

Content Warnings

daisy_may's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense 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: Yes

Content Warnings

clare072's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

Content Warnings

ryan_rajp's review against another edition

2.5

dark emotional sad medium-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

Content Warnings

marissasa's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

I'm glad I finally got around to reading this classic, as it has the best and most realistic description of depression I've ever read. It was alarmingly realistic with how much I could relate to Esther's feelings, mental illness, and sentiments about her future, especially in the beginning of the book, but makes sense when you take in the context that this is a roman a clef with mostly true occurrences from Plath's life. Even the small things, not just the obvious existential dread and depressive outlook, were so relatable and accurate to being a mentally ill and directionless young woman in her 20s. The way Esther walked 40+ blocks back to her hotel alone in the dead of night because she didn't want to pay for a cab and because she didn't care if anything happened to her, was genuinely something I did multiple times in college for the same reasons. The main character is flawed and sometimes even a bad person, but she is nuanced and complex just as struggling women are in real life. The things she goes through are harrowing and tense, but we do get to see the progress from her descent into mental illness to her eventual improvement and potential release from the psych ward, and I think that was a meaningful decision that only further humanizes her. In addition, the prose, imagery, and overall writing is beautiful. I specifically loved every metaphor and simile Plath used to describe her bleak outlook on her future: "I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story", "I saw the years of my life spaced along a road in the form of telephone poles, threaded together by wires", and "I saw the days of the year stretching ahead like a series of bright, white boxes, and separating one box from another was sleep, like a black shade." Similar to other poets who have written novels, you can just tell how they have such a masterful command over the language and can string together words into the most beautiful sentences. The only thing stopping this book from being a 5 star read for me is the fact that there are some racist comments and slurs that were typical of white people in the 50s (and frankly today too, sigh). While I recognize that it was a different time back then and that certain things seen as wrong today were unfortunately normalized, I think it's important to not ignore them completely and still factor in those things when you are critically reading, rating, and reviewing a book.

Content Warnings

emma_michelle's review against another edition

5.0

dark reflective sad 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

I love this novel. Esther is a morally dubious character who I don't like, bit the writing style captures you (and in my case, the fabulous narration of an audiobook really swept me in).

I fell in love with Sylvia Plath's prose style, because this book is a masterpiece.

Content Warnings

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