The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar. This was the only novel that Plath published, which she did under a pseudonym back in the 60's. She was an excellent poet but is largely known for her largely-autobiographical novel. Her real-life persona in the book is Esther Greenwood; a woman in the 60s who has won a contest and is spending the summer at a New York magazine; she has many inner conflicts within herself, she increasingly finds herself suffocating in a bell jar of depression and cynicism, with a distorted view on the world and being unable to communicate effectively out of the jar. This gets too much for her and she ends up being hospitalised. The book is ...  Read the complete review

This novel was passed on to me by my beloved, who had told me how brilliant it was, but I had not believed her. Mea culpa, indeed. My perception of this novel was that it was for girls, but what I realised is that if that was true, then Catcher in the Rye is for boys. I’m sorry, I really am – I realise now what a silly, stereotypical notion it was. I do think, in fact, that Esther Greenwood’s story and Holden Caulfield’s story make a fascinating pigeon pair. Both are about the teenage to early adult mind, and although one is told by and about a girl, and the other a boy, both hold true for everyone. The novel begins in New York ...  Read the complete review

Who amongst us has not had at that awful ‘closed in’ feeling during stressful or depressing times in our lives when all we would like to do is run away, far far away? The title of this book by Sylvia Plath is a metaphor for just that. The Bell Jar represents that feeling of claustrophobia depression can bring on. You’re stuck inside it feeling as though there is simply no way out. The book charts the course of Esther’s (Plath’s) depression which leads to a nervous breakdown and her subsequent treatment and recovery. It is loosely autobiographical; Sylvia Plath suffered from manic depression thoughout her life. ...  Read the complete review

I found this book rather harrowing to read, its overall theme being human suffering. The author explored themes related to this, such as the human mind, struggle, suicide, and young women's positions in society during the 1940s and 50s: more specifically, how this society refuses to take women's aspirations seriously. However, the general theme and certainly the best explored idea of this book would be human suffering and madness. The author explores this well, probably because this was an autobiography. Sylvia Plath obviously understands at the deepest level the theme of this novel; it being a theme in her own life. First Plath explores how suffering ...  Read the complete review

This is a novel obviously written from the heart. Sylvia Plath describes the nervous breakdown of a nineteen year old girl and her subsequent treatment and struggle to recovery. I know that I have made this novel sound really sombre and black now, and you've probably been put off for life, but there are some lighter moments and the story is told with a sensitivity and honesty that is really refreshing. I would thoroughly recommend that you give it a go! Sylvia Plath has a style of story-telling that I have never before encountered and that is certainly effective. The so-called 'bell jar' that the title of this novel refers to is a ...  Read the complete review