Book Review: THE BELL JAR by Sylvia Plath
FACTS ABOUT THE BOOK
Title: The Bell Jar
Author: Sylvia Plath
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Price: £8.99
Pages: 234
Genre: Novel, Mental Illness, Feminism
Year: 1976
BACK OF THE BOOK
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
"I was supposed to be having the time of my life."
When Esther Greenwood wins an internship on a New York fashion magazine in 1953, she is elated, believing she will finally realise her dream to become a writer. But in between the cocktail parties and piles of manuscripts, Esther's life begins to slide out of control. She finds herself spiralling into depression and eventually a suicide attempt, as she grapples with difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women's aspirations seriously.
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath's only novel, was originally published in 1963 under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The novel is partially based on Plath's own life and descent into mental illness, and has become a modern classic. The Bell Jar has been celebrated for its darkly funny and razor sharp portrait of 1950s society and has sold millions of copies worldwide.
(source: Amazon)
"The Bell Jar" was published a few weeks before the author's suicide.
MY THOUGHTS ON THE NOVEL
I found Esther, the protagonist and narrator of this story, to be an incredibly relatable and likable and fascinating character. She felt so modern and tangible. I was really surprised by that because the novel is relatively old (1963) - especially concerning the status and role of a woman.
The cover of my edition also suggested a rather old-fashioned novel, with rather old-fashioned women, so I was completely blown away by the modern feeling of "The Bell Jar".
I really enjoyed reading Sylvia Plath's writing style, since it was very easy and interesting to read. She gave the reader a huge inside into her protagonist's mindset, which made it very easy for me to bond with Esther.
I could relate a lot to the protagonist and was constantely surprised by the details that she revealed that I have in common with her.
For example, I adored the passage in the book that was spent on describing Esther's love for baths. I could so relate to that. I felt generally very understood by the book.
Here's the passage I was talking about:
Since I've just been in New York not too long ago myself, I was very pleased that this book was set there.
There were so many - actually unnecessary - anecdotes in this that fascinated me. For example the way that Esther got herself out of Chemistry class - that felt quite random but also very fresh and modern and identifiable.
I also found it weird that a novel from the 60s would have a main character in it that talks about avocados the way that everyone talks about them nowadays - as if time hasn't evolved at all.
This book definitely felt very relevant and reading it justified it as an important read for me.
About halfway through, the story suddenly changed abruptly. Esther became more and more depressive. Unfortunately, that change had been too quick for me. It felt like I had sort of missed the turning point and Esther just acted completely differently from one sentence to the next.
Sylvia Plath managed to write Esther's downward spiral into depression extremely realistic - the fact that Plath killed herself only weeks after this novel got published always dawned at the back of my head and made the whole novel even darker for me.
The more Esther became depressive, the more the whole book became depressive to read. It was suddenly very hard and exhausting and saddening to read this book.
In hindsight now, I must applaud the author for achieving a slightly similar feeling to the main character in the reader aswell. But during the read, I just wanted to have it over with, to be honest.
Fortunately, I enjoyed the last pages more again. I was extremely fascinated by Sylvia Plath's ability to write Esther's thoughts so differently depending on Esther's mental heath/illness.
CONCLUSION
It's definitely a disturbing novel, a novel that forces you to pay a lot of attention to it, a novel that absorbs your happiness in its second half, a novel that gives you a lot of insight into a depressive mind. "The Bell Jar" forces its reader to question it, to question society and the general idea and prejudices concerning mental illnesses, and the ways to treat it. I'd also call it a very demanding novel, and one that won't leave your mind too quickly.
I loved how opposed to marriage and how interested in sex Esther was throughout the whole novel. She felt like a very modern, very strong-minded and open-minded young woman, and I could identify with her most of the time.
The novel definitely had a grim undertone to it since its author killed herself only weeks after the publishing of this novel. I found it so strange and disturbing to read a novel about a character being depressed and thinking about suicide and getting "treatment" in asylums when its author went down a similar path that ended in her own suicide.
CAN I RECOMMEND THIS NOVEL?
Yes. I would especially recommend this novel for everyone who is interested in women's rights, in mental illness and in a darker and more psychological read.
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