Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

2197 reviews

kittenjen03's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional reflective fast-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

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A brilliant description of depression as a young woman

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Lesbophobia

meganxwillis's review against another edition

5.0

dark sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I feel so seen and understood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt

gveach's review against another edition

2.0

challenging dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt

sheersha's review against another edition

4.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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

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never have felt so seen.
also the ultimate sad girl book lol
Sylvia's language is such a treat, so lyrical, rolls of the tongue so breathtakingly.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship

slightlytranslucent's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content

grzybekolaf's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, Suicide attempt

abbiet01's review against another edition

2.5

dark emotional reflective sad 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

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I was a little disappointed in the novel because there were some racist and homophobic comments made that I wasn’t expecting. I also understand that it was written in the 1960s, but I still expected it to be more progressive especially because of the Civil Rights Movement and authors that were writing about those issues at the time. It came off as very self-indulgent since the main character was like “I’m a marginalized person, but I’m not going to care about these other marginalized people.” At the same time, Plath’s novel paved the way for the stigma around mental health to be eradicated. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia, Racism

tamara_joy's review against another edition

2.75

challenging reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt

Moderate: Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcohol

Minor: Body shaming, Drug use, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Classism

divyaaaa's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

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It gives me a new perspective on mental illness. It's challenging yet relatable at moments. 

I find Girl, interrupted and The Bell Jar similar to each other in terms of the plot. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Classism

m00dreads's review against another edition

4.0

dark reflective 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: Complicated

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Raise your hand if you’re a ‘gifted’-kid turned burnt-out clueless self-loathing mentally-ill adult. 🙋‍♀️

I’m a good handful of years older than Plath’s autobiographical protagonist, but wow I couldn’t have chosen a better time to read this book. Talk about maximum effect.

Forced levity aside (sorry guys, it’s the Tumblr-raised 90’s teen in me), The Bell Jar is a poignant account of what happens once the fever of constant perseverance towards exceptionalism finally breaks: a bitter sort of hollowness; which, for Esther Greenwood, was carved deeper by the suffocating trappings of 1950s American society and a clinical propensity to mental illness. Fortunately, under Plath’s steady and masterful prose, the grim, painful truth of it all is never rendered trite or sensationalized.

Subtracting one star because I refuse to condone the racism. “But the novel is a product of it’s time” yadda yadda yes yes I know. That doesn’t mean I was comfortable with it or that I didn’t find it utterly distasteful.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Suicide