Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

366 reviews

alyssams884's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Body shaming, Blood, Racism, Sexism, and Death

Minor: Vomit, Sexual content, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Medical content

_meganrose's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The fig tree analogy is one of the most beautifully depicted things I have ever read.

Beautifully written and to know this was heavily inspired by her life is absolutely chilling - probably why she was able to paint such painful things so accurately.

Could have done without the blatant racism in this and the fatphobia. In many ways, this book was ahead of its time. But in those ways? It absolutely was not.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gaslighting, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Drug use, Medical content, Death of parent, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Body shaming, Grief, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Violence, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Racism, and Physical abuse

haileyeh's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Blood, Suicide attempt, Violence, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Sexual content, Misogyny, Vomit, Sexism, Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Fatphobia

ennyl's review against another edition

challenging dark funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Iconic. I wish I had read this earlier, in my late teens or early 20s.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Blood, and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual assault, Death of parent, and Suicide

samcsmith's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Medical content, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Misogyny, Racism, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Gun violence, Alcohol, Body shaming, Vomit, Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

jdrosario_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

amazing book, spectacularly crafted. absolutely love sylvia plath, totally tragic though. i was also expecting

her to kill herself at the end but she didn’t?!?!?

that was surprising. it actually felt a little bit unofficial that she didn’t but no complaints. i felt so connected to esther throughout it, you really see and feel what she’s feeling. highly recommend :))

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Content Warnings

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

emabled's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

sylvia plath has an incredible grasp on imagery and metaphor. like, there were moments some of her similes were so out there and obscure, but the image in my mind was so vivid. esther is a very unreliable narrator, her own distrust projected onto everything she encounters. of course, this era of writing has its insensitive language and general ignorance for minority groups, so i think it's important to be mindful of that. but overall, this book was a great read. it only took me so long because university likes to suck up all my time.

there are parts of esther that reflect the ugly parts inside of a lot of people, those parts we refuse to acknowledge. there is also a false sense of anachronism i place on women from the before the 21st century where i conceive them as entirely sentimentally different from women today. this book proves me wrong. insufferable as esther was at times, her (sometimes) feminist perspectives, particularly on men, was relatable. her rawness of her mental illness was incredibly effective. her humanity was so important. esther depicts the kind of internal monologue that makes me think she externally seems like a man entirely different girl. in that, i see myself, and i'm sure many other readers do too. again, she's horribly rude and intolerable at times, but what an interesting character that makes!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicide, and Self harm

Moderate: Blood, Sexual harassment, Gore, and Death

vonnibel's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

the fig tree….me too sylvia….

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Self harm, Blood, and Mental illness

isabezza's review

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

It is astonishing that a novel about mental illness and the position of women in the 1950s spoke to me so deeply as a reader in 2023. Perhaps I should not have read this book as someone who has experienced suicide in the family and been admitted to hospital for mental illness, but ultimately I have never read a book which represents that experience so explicitly. I am grateful the systems have changed and the horrors Plath and others may have faced in the name of psychology are devastating to think of. Yet her writing described their society so eloquently that I could not put it down. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Torture, Medical content, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Suicide, and Death

avawetherall's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Rape, Misogyny, Suicide, Mental illness, and Sexual assault