Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
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
Whenever I sat—on the deck of a ship or at a street cafè in Paris or Bangkok—I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air
To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream
How did I know that someday—at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere—the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn't descend again?
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think I missed the vibe when this would have been peak for me. I don't know (or remember) much about Sylvia Plath in my school days, so I'm sure fans of her other work will be more affected by this writing and the story. Reading it now, Esther came off a bit annoying, though very descriptive in a beautiful way about food lol. And there were many racist/fatphobia comments too, something "it was the times back then" should not excuse. I think it just missed the mark for me as a "sad gorl" story.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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
This book is best if read at a certain point in life, and I was at that point in life when I read it, so it had a powerful impact on me. I understood the main character, and I understood what was going through her mind, and it made me realize that throughout time, other people have had these same thoughts, and its not just something that plagues me. It made me hopeful, and happy that I am alive now.
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am not sure if I would have liked this book as much as I did had I not known what Plath was talking about, but this book I find is amazing in the sense that it is able to recreate...(?) the feelings you have when you are depressed. Esther is a woman desperate for love, while at the same time believing that it will never come (themes of hopelessness). I also really liked her description of cutting (or, trying) because Plath was able to put into words what I (and most of us, probably) couldn't. Look at this:
If you've had experiences with mental illness and believe that reading a book about suicide won't be triggering, go ahead and read this! It's great!
"I thought it would be easy, lying in the tub and seeing the redness flower from my wrists, flush after flush through the clear water, till I sank to sleep under a surface gaudy as poppies.
But when it came right down to it, the skin of my wrist looked so white and defenseless that I couldn't do it. It was as if what I wanted to kill wasn't in that skin or the thin blue pulse that jumped under my thumb, but somewhere else, deeper, more secret, and a whole lot harder to get at."
If you've had experiences with mental illness and believe that reading a book about suicide won't be triggering, go ahead and read this! It's great!
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes