Reviews with content warning for Suicide - The Bell Jar

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Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

2223 reviews

nik_banz's review against another edition

3.75

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: N/A

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

kiiroreads's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

komiification's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional funny reflective 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

Whilst starting off as a seemingly meandering, disjointed story, The Bell Jar demonstrates how seemingly random events can have such a defining, negative toll on one's mental health.

Whilst I at first felt that the story was disjointed from Esther's time in New York to her eventual mental decline at home, looking back and understanding Sylvia Plath's own struggles with mental health, which would lead to her suicide, demonstrates how there is not one singular turning point for a person, but the piling on of events. Esther struggles with

her negative relationships with men, her insecurities with being a virgin, her resentment of being a mother or having to tie herself to one man, her unexplained father's death and her strained relationship with her mother,and so-forth

. It leads the novel to be more of an episodic-style tale: each chapter could be it's own story, but the whole picture deconstructs Esther and, of course, Plath herself.

It's unfortunate the novel is held back by it's rather dated portrayals of Black people, and the more consistent racist caricatures of contrasting Esther's bad appearance to Asian nationals. You can argue that Plath was 'of her time', but it's reasonably understandable why these depictions would make the average reader, particularly readers of colour, uncomfortable.

However, if you can acknowledge these depictions and decide to continue reading, you will see a very interesting slow-burn demonstration of a woman's mental decline.

Content Warnings

emilyacv's review against another edition

4.0

It’s dark, unapologetic, raw. It’s also a product of it’s time in ways that don’t age well (racist language…) Other aspects transcend time… the experience of a woman who comes to mistrust her own mind. Major stand out is the fig tree analogy, which has always hit close to home:

I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.

Content Warnings

bumbleburr's review against another edition

2.75

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

yoshitha's review against another edition

4.0

dark sad

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Tender and tragic. A thread of unresolved or unresolvable sadness underpins the whole book, especially when contextualized in Plath's biography. Yet, there is something in her existentialist inquiry that rings particularly true in this day - the story of the fig tree especially, which describes the tyranny of choice so beautifully that I refer to it frequently in conversation.

Also very interesting insights into a lived experience perspective of mental healthcare of the past. Working in the field now, it's interesting (and heart breaking) to see how much has changed (medications, person centered care, ECT using anaesthesia and briefer pulses with less side effects) and how much has not (the paradox of restrictive care and care for people at risk of s*cide, misogyny etc)

Content Warnings

onangiri's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark emotional sad slow-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

This read was intense for me. Be aware that The Bell Jar contains many delicate topics, like self harm and mental health. My feelings are mixed, while I found some of the book to be crude and outdated, I also believe it is an accurate depiction of how one might see the world through a 'bell jar' of depression and mental illness.

I think that Plath was an extremely talented writer, and she was able to bring me through the complex thought processes behind such a stigmatized subject.

The first half of the book was a bit harder to follow, Sometimes it felt unclear if we had jumped ahead in time or were in a flashback. I didn't always relate to the main character but I found her extremely compelling and full of depth.

I think this book is a wonderful read if you're able to handle heavier topics. Regardless of my personal enjoyment of the book as a whole, I am glad I read it. I felt as though I was able to connect and listen to a brilliant woman as she went through a formative and traumatic time. I also appreciated the print edition that I read which had an extra segment explaining a bit about Plath's life and how deeply personal this work was for her.

This book, and Sylvia herself, have touched my heart forever, and I will never forget this read.

Content Warnings

smartcatlady's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

Dark and witty, love the writing style and the atmosphere. The book captures the feeling of depression and feeling like an outsider in a patriarchy very well.

Content Warnings