A review by mawar12
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

  probably  one of the first books I added content warning to. the main character is kinda an asshole. she is so rude to her mom who is coming just so she can have her daughter a present. do you know how many mom's don't even care about their daughters mental health and just dismiss it? her mom's a hero. not perfect but she did what she can.

then she judges buddy for what he did in high school. like c'mon now. 

MC also was so negative that it's so draining to read this book. I get it, that's what happened with people with depression. but that doesn't mean that everytime a good thing happened and my heart was filled with hope, the MC had to say something to view it as negative. it doesn't make for a good reading experience to me.
every person that came and visit her was viewed negatively, every kindness and people asking her to go out with them was framed negatively. I think the only person kind to her that the MC actually loves and gave it right back was Doctor Nolan.
MC also didn't care when she wanted to steal diamond from someone , told Joan rudely out of nowhere Joan made her puke. it's like she judges people that are rude to her but apparently she can also be rude to people tht aren't that rude to her first.

The shock therapy was shockingly scary and im glad that kinda wasn't a huge thing anymore. 

also im surprised people still use telegram in 1950s to early 1960s.

Joan's death is shocking because look perfectly fine the day before her death.


some of the mental health facilities were pretty nice in the book , it's like a hotel with nurses giving you food in your room.

I'm glad that the MC is able to get better but still have questions and she didn't just magically be like all is well, which is pretty accurate for mental health patients.

Her trying to off herself was really triggering and I hate when Buddy asked who wanted to marry her now that she's been in a mental health facility. I know that the MC also has been rude to Buddy because she wrote a rude letter to him while he was suffering with TB, but still tqhat rude of him.

quiet sad that the friends of MC in earlier part of the book weren't as mentioned anymore later in the book.

Overall it's an okay book I like how the writing takes you into the story. can be quiet overdescriptive for me at times. But the MC being so negative was so draining. at least with 'Catcher in the Rye' or cPerks of being a wallflower' they have something else that can keep the tone more fast paced. it just feels like you saying something positive but a person will say something negative back so much so it drains you. But honestly I feel like the book is over hyped. I get the feeling the reason it being hyped was because it agrees with the 'popular' views of some of the western world today. which is the negatives of marriage, how 'women don't need no man' and 'religious people bad and judgemental'.  it hardly is the greatest book ever. it's okay but definitely not great.

some opinions too on MC's thoughts:


First of all, you need to understand why people that defend chastity think the way they do. and you have to look at all angles and met with more people. if you judge people that chose chastity by what one Organisation says then of course you're going to have a bad view of it. think for yourself, is it factually correct and is it proven by data and experience that guarding chastity was actually good?

second of all the girl didn't even hang out with the right person. sure you can be chaste but obviously if you are around toxic men that's hard. hang out with people that think like you or positive people. why do you join people having parties if you want to be chaste? s*x is a beautiful thing that can create life so why waste it on people you aren't serious with?

just because one guy is being fake doesn't mean all people who think chastity is good think like him.
like how not all atheists think like Karl Max.

this also applied to religion. often times this book frame religious people as having less appealing characteristics and even generalized Catholics. which is surprising why so many like this book. I'm pretty sure if the word catholic was changed to the word 'LGBT' the TikTok algorithm wouldn't have hyped this book but would burn it to the ground. the treatment of religion in this day and age is horrible. I know many good religious people that are both good and religious but these people didn't seem to exist in the book.

I also don't like it when it tried to simplify marriage as  'women cool men work'. these husbands and wives do so for their kids and for their family, not just because society told them to. you must understand why things happened and why people think that way and if it's more right for the  society and yourself. if not, you would spend time judging Catholics based on one organization you came across or basing whether you want to keep virginity or not on whether what one  guy does with his.this is what's wrong with the MC's thoughts.

exploring other religion other than Christianity may also help and learning about them rather than just basing it on one view. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings