

Loading... The Bell Jar (1963)by Sylvia Plath
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Female Author (12) » 89 more Female Protagonist (33) Top Five Books of 2013 (134) Favourite Books (357) A Novel Cure (19) Books Read in 2014 (78) 1960s (13) Readable Classics (25) Books Read in 2018 (217) Top Five Books of 2018 (373) Books Read in 2016 (1,976) Five star books (391) To Read (14) Elegant Prose (10) Overdue Podcast (78) SHOULD Read Books! (11) Carole's List (128) Women's reading list (23) Books Read in 2013 (685) First Novels (65) Books tagged favorites (327) E's Reader (22) le donne raccontano (108) Speculative Fiction (11) sad girl books (4) Books Read in 2021 (3,356) Women's Stories (35) New England Books (20) Teens (5) Best School Stories (20) Books About Girls (30) Summer Books (2) Unread books (917) No current Talk conversations about this book. Never has a book so moved me to and from the ideation of suicide. Whether that warrants 5 starts I am not sure, but the empathy induced is so strong that one cannot help but be there with Plath’s Roman-a-clef stand-in (whose name escapes me) as she navigates well… that which she does. ( ![]() I really liked this one! The first half of the book is somewhat "ordinary" as we are going through a life of Esther Greenwood who is later mentally falling apart. That second half of the book is (for me) the most interesting when Esther (Sylvia Plath) hits the bottom of her life and mind. Very graphical depiction! Sylvia Platt wrote from a frighteningly real viewpoint. As a person with depression, reading The Bell Jar was alternately terrifying and numbing. How could she get into my body? I kept asking myself. This book should be standard reading for anyone touched by mental illness. The Bell Jar is a masterpiece of confessional literature. It almost reads like a verbatim diary of the consciousness of a girl in the depths of depression. There's no filter, no censorship, no toning down of sensitive topics. I think that's why I related a lot with it. I think that's also why it can be a tough read for some. The way that issues are presented can be read as being sensational, but I don't think it was. I think it was just raw. If you had access to the mind of a girl at that age, at a time like that, I don't think it would be so far from Esther's narrative. The Bell Jar roughly chronicles Sylvia Plath's years in college including her internship at Mademoiselle Magazine in NYC, attempts at suicide, time spent institutionalized, shock therapy treatments, and various relationships with men and women.
Esther Greenwood's account of her year in the bell jar is as clear and readable as it is witty and disturbing. It makes for a novel such as Dorothy Parker might have written if she had not belonged to a generation infected with the relentless frivolity of the college- humor magazine. The brittle humor of that early generation is reincarnated in "The Bell Jar," but raised to a more serious level because it is recognized as a resource of hysteria. Belongs to Publisher SeriesIs abridged inHas as a studyHas as a student's study guide
Beautiful and gifted, with a bright future, Esther Greenwood descends into depression, suicidal thoughts, and madness while interning at a New York City magazine. No library descriptions found. |
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![]() GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54 — Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:![]()
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