Review by folkloreatbest - The Bell Jar

folkloreatbest 's review for:

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

3.25

emotional reflective sad slow-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

The Bell Jar was a book that I wanted to love. I read this in just a few days, but it was far from being a page-turner. It certainly had its strengths, such as strong metaphors, realistic representation of mental health struggles, and thoughtful reflection on the expectations that were placed on 20th century women.

The fig tree and bell jar metaphors were beautiful and relatable. This book is as relevant as ever because choosing a path in life feels impossible to young people in today's world. Sylvia Plath had it right. Those choices can feel paralyzing.

Esther is a perfectly realistic young woman... but she is also impossible to like.

She's casually racist, entirely self-centered, and, honestly, dull. Is it a representation of how her depression manifests? Sure. However, it mostly feels representative of the faults of the author herself.

I understand the value of an unlikeable protagonist in a book, but I had absolutely no feelings towards Esther, neither positive nor negative, which made it hard to connect with the book.
Another reason I couldn't connect was because the book doesn't seem to have any semblance of a plot, at least for the first half.

Esther goes about her life for the first half of the book, and then it suddenly transitions to graphic descriptions of suicide methods fast enough to give me whiplash, which I wish I had been prepared for going in. The dullness of the first half and the intensity of Esther's decline are accurate to how mental illness impacts many people, but that didn't mean it made for enjoyable reading.
Some chapters were comprised of multiple short segments, weaving between single events, memories, or thoughts. These segments often felt as if Esther just trailed off or lost focus in the middle of her narration. Honestly, the narration felt like dissociating, but I couldn't tell if it was intentional or if Plath simply couldn't be bothered to expand on certain events. However, I did find value in the fact that certain things were briefly mentioned early on that ended up becoming relevant to Esther later.

Finally, I appreciate Sylvia Plath's unfiltered account of mental illness during a time when it was far less talked about than it is today. Knowing that this story was representative of the life experiences of Plath, whose suicide was weeks after this book was published, makes the narrative feel more real and more haunting.
If you like character-centered books and don't care much for a strong plot, or simply enjoy reading narratives about mental health, this book is certainly worth reading once.

Content Warnings