I had read several articles about Sylvia Plath's life and death over the last several years, having crept up on them slowly because the subject matter is so sad and I can be affected by the sadness of a person's life, in ways that don't feel healthy. I never planned to read The Bell Jar and I'm still a bit surprised that I did so but it was suggested as one of the books to read with members of The Traveling Friends Group and after looking it over, I decided to read it. I've never read Sylvia's poems and haven't ever been interested in poetry, but here was something that Sylvia wrote that might give more insight into her life and thinking and for that reason, the book called out to me.

Esther, the main character of the book, was a poor girl living in a rich society, making her way through her high school and college life, financing her education by winning awards and scholarships and working hard to earn money while making top grades, in contrast to the rich students around her who could party, travel, and live the high life while attending college, because they came from wealthy families. At the age of nineteen, she was able to be one of 12 young women who were chosen to intern for a month at a New York fashion magazine and this is where Esther's mental illness began to manifest itself.

This is the time in her life when she begins to think (and she is so very wrong but she is sinking into mental illness) that nothing she has ever done has been important, that the only talent she has (winning scholarships) has come to and end, that she can no longer even accomplish that feat anymore, and that all that she had ever wanted no longer interests her at all. She can't even remember why she wanted the things she wanted, she's lost all interest in life, the future, even getting out of bed.

We read her descent into madness and the treatment she gets from others (through her eyes only so what we see often may not be reality...but it IS Sylvia's reality) and the treatment she gets from the medical community. Because I know of Sylvia's life and death, and because this book is semi autobiographical, when the book ends, with Esther moving from the asylum where she was last treated, straight to her winter semester of college, after missing the fall semester, we are left with doubts about whether Esther is really going to be okay in the future.

I enjoyed Sylvia's writing and her sense of humor, which was there under the cynicism and despair. I don't know how anyone in her condition can be really helped, back in her time or in this time, because I haven't been in that state of mind and health and but my heart goes out to all who feel such despair and worthlessness. Sylvia Plath was a talented women who felt tortured by her mind and talents and this book gives us some insight into what it was like for her.

“because wherever I sat—on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok—I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air.”
― Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

4.5 to 5 stars

This was a very powerful and only partially fictional tale from Sylvia Plath. Perhaps the genre should be called autobiographical fiction (is that already a thing?). Because of this, I was very glad that the book included a short biography of Plath at the end to compare her life experiences and her experiences with writing it to the final product. While now it might only seem somewhat shocking and controversial, at the time I am sure it was a book that people may have had to sneak so that others did not realize they were reading it.

The first half focused a lot on the main character’s (Esther, and therefore Plath’s) experience with the questionable behavior of men in her life. I believe what she deals with is what would now be called “toxic masculinity”. The men she meets just treat her so very wrong and they don’t even realize it. It’s as if she is not even a person, just a personality-less flesh puppet to ply with drinks and “mansplain” things to. For those who watch the show Mad Men, I was reminded of the characters Peggy and Joan in the first few seasons who are trying to breakthrough to do the work the men do but are often talked down to as they are expected to be secretaries and housewives. I imagine if a traditional “manly man” in the 60s found his wife reading this he would have likely done something drastically inappropriate to her and thought nothing of it.

The second half of the book deals with depression, mental decay, and suicide. I felt so bad for Esther. She had issues, she needed help, and the help she received was so wildly inappropriate, it was infuriating. I was reminded of stories and movies from and set in that time period (Rosemary Kennedy and Angelina Jolie’s character in the Movie Changeling to name a couple) where the answer to a woman experiencing mental struggles in the 50s and 60s might be to nonchalantly toss them into a sanatorium or have them lobotomized. Men who had the same issues were not treated the same, even some that were truly mentally disturbed, while a woman battling with what might have only been mild depression or manic behavior might find themselves locked away and receiving shock treatment. If this part of the book doesn’t get you riled up, I would be surprised!

It should be very telling that Plath originally released this under a pseudonym because she was afraid of the response she would receive. If you have to hide reality behind a fake name and fictionalization, then I think that proves there is something very wrong with reality.

The Bell Jar is a must read. Some of the content may be hard to swallow, but it is a very powerful statement that will help humanity learn from its mistakes and avoid repeating them.

DNF at 50%. Just not my cuppa tea!
Found it to be slow and boring. I read a lot of reviews saying they loved the first half more than the second half, so since I disliked the first half, I decided to DNF it.
I am not going to write a full review since I didn't finish it and I am not going to rate a book I did not finish.

i am genuinely shocked and confused to why this book is averaging 4 stars. i went into this book knowing that this book is very loved and so is the author but i had no clue how problematic and blatantly racist this book would be, i assumed this would be a feminist book but this book is shitting on asian women and black people. for example “i looked as ugly as a chinaman” “smudgy eyed chinese woman staring idiotically into my face” “the *n word* kept grinning and chuckling in a silly way” this book is quite literally the definition of selective white feminism oh and let’s not forget the 10 paragraphs yapping about how she DESPISES gay people. if you like this book PLEASE do not talk to me

I hated almost everything about this book.

There are 2 good quotes but so much racism, fatphobia and I apparently DNFed it before the homophobia started. I don't get the hype at all.

It made it to my worst books of 2024: https://youtu.be/8-WrZCY8qfo?si=GOv_n...

Okay, I know this is a classic, well-written, etc. My rating is not based on the writing, but solely on how much I enjoyed reading the book…and I didn’t enjoy it at all. From the very beginning, even before her breakdown, I found very little to care for or associate with about Esther. She seemed cynical, disdainful, self-important, and manipulative. I just flat out didn’t like her. So when she really began to have some trouble mentally (actually, even before that) I, as a reader, wanted to close the book and get away from her rather than keep reading and see her through it. When I did finish the book, it felt more like a relief than an accomplishment. This is not a story I ever want to revisit. There is much talk of suicide in The Bell Jar and it vividly describes what it can be like to experience a descent into depression. I admire it for what it is but it's just not my cup of tea. It left me feeling gloomy and unsettled.

In the same vein, I would recommend Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen. I felt more involved with that one and felt like I learned a good bit about the subject matter.

|| 3.0 stars ||

This wasn’t bad, but I don’t quite understand what all the fuss is about either.
I get that this was likely a very progressive and revolutionary entry for female mental health fiction in the 1960s, but compared to modern books on the subject this is by no means anything extraordinary or special. If anything, I mostly think it stands out for its historic value; it’s interesting to see how mental illness was treated in the 50s and 60s, and also to see what was considered as feminist back then.

Although still not perfect, mental health prevention and treatment has progressed immensely, and the creepiest part about this book for me really was the casual use of electrotherapy. And the fact that this book actually makes it seem like it worked...? Yikes. I mean, it was obvious that our main character didn’t like the shock treatment, but in the end, she does get better because of that. So, the book kind of makes it seem like a necessary evil? Which, obviously, it’s not. It’s absolute bullshit. But yea, they didn’t seem to think so in the that day and age.

I found it quite annoying that the feminism in this book mostly meant that our main character hated every single woman she encountered. She judged everyone and everything, but meanwhile she had no idea what she wanted either. She didn’t want to get married, but she didn’t really have the drive to become a careerwoman either... She was in limbo. She felt pushed in a lot of different directions, which eventually meant she had no passion to truly take any of those directions for herself. I suppose the book is trying to tell us that the pressures and expectations that are put on women can be very damning and can make it impossible for women to succeed. Which is a good point, but I don’t feel like the ‘hating every woman’ approach is the best way to show that.

All in all, this was an okay read (for the time it was written), but I’m not a big fan or anything. It doesn’t stand out to me at all.

i kept putting off this book, because i’m not really into classics, and i thought it would be super banal, but i was pleasantly surprised at how invested i became in esther’s story. i believe the bell jar’s cultural stronghold is well deserved, as it was truly ahead of its time. it contains excellent themes of gender roles, existentialism, and psychiatric treatment (particularly the barbaric and apathetic practices of the 1950s). it’s interesting to read early “feminist” works, since we’ve come such a long way that a book like this would seem rudimentary in the grand scheme of feminist lore. i found myself relating to this book quite a lot, and it made me extremely contemplative. the beginning is pretty boring, as well as the end, but the really deep stuff lies in the middle. like most classics, this book has a handful of racist moments, and i’m glad that we live in a world that now denounces ignorance in literature. the bell jar felt almost eerie to read because of the context in relation to the life and death of sylvia plath—the book is mostly autobiographical, and she killed herself just one month after its publication. this novel helped catalyze the larger conversation surrounding mental health and feminism, which in my opinion, makes it worthy of a read and of its praise.

Warning: this review contains major spoilers for the movie Melancholia

The paradox at the heart of The Bell Jar is that Esther, the narrator, comes across as an engaging and indeed admirable person. She's smart, funny, perceptive and seems to have everything going for her. But she feels less and less connected with life, and in the end just wants to kill herself. Evidently, there must be something wrong with her. Perhaps she would have been okay if only she'd been prescribed the appropriate kind of pills?

I thought of The Bell Jar earlier this week when we watched the new von Trier movie, Melancholia. The central character, Justine, who's brilliantly interpreted by Kirsten Dunst, has a fair amount in common with Esther. She's beautiful, successful in her work, and just about to marry a charming man who adores her. We meet her on her way to a fabulous wedding, joking and laughing with her soon-to-be-husband in a white stretch limo which amusingly gets stuck on a narrow road.

All the same, it soon becomes clear that Justine isn't enjoying things. Her sister Claire, played by Charlotte Gainsbourgh, keeps telling her to be sensible. Claire's fears are well-grounded. As the evening progresses, Justine behaves more and more erratically. She walks out of her own reception, gratuitously insults the boss who's just given her an unexpected promotion, has random sex with a stranger. Her new husband abandons her as a bad job before the marriage is even a day old. But Justine doesn't seem to care at all.

What she's really worried about, we discover, is the mysterious blue planet Melancholia, which is heading towards Earth at an enormous speed. It becomes larger every day. Claire is worried about it too, and sneaks off every now and then to look things up on the Web. Her husband reassures her that scientists have done the calculations. It seems scary, but Melancholia is going to miss us. We'll be fine.

Justine knows it won't be fine. She's had a dream where various signs appear. At the end, Melancholia collides with the Earth, destroying both worlds. The prophetic signs have begun to turn up, and she is certain her dream will become reality. The knowledge paralyses her. After the disastrous wedding reception, she moves in with Claire, who does her best to look after her. Justine is clinically depressed. She can't even summon up the willpower to get into her bath, despite Claire's coaxing. Claire makes her favourite meat-loaf. Justine, weeping, says it tastes of ashes.

Melancholia comes ever closer, and is now a monstrous shape in the sky. It's finally obvious to everyone that things are not going to work out. Claire goes to look for her husband, hoping he'll once again find words of reassurance, and discovers he's taken an overdose. She is beside herself with fear and grief and runs around hyperventilating, clutching her small son to her. But, to her surprise, Justine has lost her lethargic air. She's full of a grim new energy.

With impact now just hours away, Claire does her best to summon up some dignity. She suggests to Justine that they should go out on the terrace with a couple of glasses of wine and wait peacefully for the end.

"So we should have a glass of wine?" asks Justine.

"Yes," says Claire, completely helpless.

"How about some music? Beethoven's Ninth? Perhaps some candles?" continues Justine remorselessly.

"I just want to do this right," whispers Claire.

"You know what I think of your plan?" says Justine. "I think it's a piece of shit."

Needless to say, there is no huge blue planet on a collision course with Earth. And if Esther had only been given the right kind of pills, she would have been fine.

3.5 "descriptive rather than insightful" stars !!

I told my GR friend Ann that I meant to read this since age 16. All the girls I had crushes on at the time were reading this book with their pencil skirts and Smiths Tshirts. I read some Plath poetry that I enjoyed but never got to this novel.

I spent a good deal of time reflecting on Esther...the heroine in this modern classic. She is a fascinating study in female narcissism that mistakes herself for being misunderstood, special and superior to men, lesbians and those of other social classes and ethnicities. She is raised by a working class widowed mother whom Esther feels a great deal of disdain and hostility towards. Esther, however, continually struggles for her independence, dealing with her suppressed libido and I suspect significant lesbian tendencies of her own. None of this is unusual in late adolescent females who consider themselves both world weary and special.

Unfortunately Esther suffers also from unprocessed grief, school disappointments and a traumatic event that bring out her biological vulnerability,in her case, either very severe depressive psychosis or more likely a schizoaffective disorder that render her non-functional, at times delusional and severely suicidal.

This book is her journey from confused spoiled brat to a young woman with a horrendous mental illness and her journey back to the living world. The book is very adept at describing the moral and the social roles of white middle class Northeastern men and women as well as the hypocrisies of that time period. At times the book is hilariously funny despite being about a young woman's immense psychic suffering.

This book did not reach four star status however. I found much of it fragmented, unfinished and the prose (unlike her poetry) rather pedestrian more than inspired. I also found that although I found the character most fascinating I was not able to empathize or understand to the degree that I had hoped for.

***Accurate representation of mental health/major clinical depression***


I was just watching the character like a silent spectator as if I was her shadow following her everywhere and her every thought.

She didn't let me think about anything else but just observe her and let me get more involved in what she was getting into.

I was the one struggling here to actually let her know I was there while she was just struggling trying hard to accept and come out of what she was going through.

Help, treatment, support and care she got and she was accepting it but me and her, we knew it wasn't easy.

She's someone you want to love but she's someone you would love to not like. She was very judgemental at times and negative and unapologetic but I just had to be there for her.

Mental health discussion
Depression.
Suicidal thoughts.
Suicide attempts.
Painful treatments (during those times).

These were represented so well.
An almost autobiographical fiction of the author.

I liked how it ended

I only had to read it once. I never read it for or with pleasure. I prefer childbirth.