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A review by teavani
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
4.0
3.8
read in 2 days
i strongly advise anyone to review the content warnings before reading this book! it evokes many emotions, some of which are quite haunting. the bell jar is also a work that you have to read critically. it’s important to be aware of overt racist and fatphobic sentiment behind the text.
some of the other themes have to do with the interrelationships of religion, sex, and purity and gender. this book is set in the 50’s so there’s also some societal themes that i can’t fully understand.
i will say, the first 1/3 or so of the book is kind of a drag. it’s hard to get through and hard to get used to. there isn’t much dialogue throughout the book, so even though it’s not a long book (<300 pages), i found it more dense to get through. the first person POV is really necessary. as we follow her mental deterioration, esther details her environment with such precision. the text isn’t always explicit about what’s going on, so you do have to pick up on context. with that said, there are some beautiful sections of prose and analogies. the fig tree metaphor is probably the most famous one, and rightfully so. it’s a book i don’t see myself forgetting.
read in 2 days
i strongly advise anyone to review the content warnings before reading this book! it evokes many emotions, some of which are quite haunting. the bell jar is also a work that you have to read critically. it’s important to be aware of overt racist and fatphobic sentiment behind the text.
some of the other themes have to do with the interrelationships of religion, sex, and purity and gender. this book is set in the 50’s so there’s also some societal themes that i can’t fully understand.
i will say, the first 1/3 or so of the book is kind of a drag. it’s hard to get through and hard to get used to. there isn’t much dialogue throughout the book, so even though it’s not a long book (<300 pages), i found it more dense to get through. the first person POV is really necessary. as we follow her mental deterioration, esther details her environment with such precision. the text isn’t always explicit about what’s going on, so you do have to pick up on context. with that said, there are some beautiful sections of prose and analogies. the fig tree metaphor is probably the most famous one, and rightfully so. it’s a book i don’t see myself forgetting.