No one could have written this book without having had experienced themselves this disturbing journey into a mental breakdown. Sylvia Plath's semi-autobiography in which she shares her pain is highly emotional, but brilliant.

Her book brings us back to the way women were treated in her day with any signs of mental illness - shock treatment. This was very prevalent during the fifties as I well know - my aunt having been in and out of McLean Hospital in Boston (Belmont) from age 15 till her death.

Quite eye opening was Plath's thought process regarding women's sexuality and suicide. Her attitudes and issues are very relevant today.

Look for Dr. Nolan, Esther's psychiatrist. Loved her way with patients.

With a wonderful drop-back of New England (I'm a Boston gal).

Everyone should read this book.

4 out of 5 stars.

This book thoroughly confused me. It started off great! It grabbed me right away - I loved that Esther was living in New York and it seemed all lovely and glamorous. I read half of the book in almost one sitting.

It was at this halfway point that things got weird. She went home to her mother and quite suddenly she was receiving shock therapy. Soon after that she was trying to kill herself and then she was in an asylum! I understood that in New York she hadn't had any good friends and she was unsure of what she wanted to do with her life, but there were no signs of depression.

The Bell Jar reads like two different books; one without an ending and one without a beginning. And once the second book started it became very dull and dreadfully depressing. I had to stop reading for a bit so I could get away from the terrible feeling that was seeping into my skin.

I could not understand why Esther had even started seeing a psychiatrist, let alone why she was put in an insane asylum. She seemed to be bored of her own depression. Like she couldn't even bother to kill herself because she was so indecisive about how to do it and the time never seemed to be right. And then there's this ridiculous moment where she feels she absolutely needs to lose her virginity and it's like, wait, what? Like she put her mental health problems on hold for a minute so she could get her cherry popped. And boy did it ever pop. She bleeds so much she has to go the hospital and the doctor says "I can fix that" and suddenly she's back at the asylum and we never really find out what happened.

I'm not really sure if the lack of detail was supposed to symbolize her mind going, but it just became rather annoying for me. It's not that I disliked Esther, I just was very bored and confused by her. I finished the book and felt like I had wasted the past two days of my life. There isn't anything to take away from this book but dissatisfaction and a bad feeling.

أكثر الكتب التي أحب الكتابة عنها هي تلك الكتب التي تؤثر بي بشكل خاص .. لم أعرف سيلفيا بلاث إلا منذ سنوات قليلة من كتاب جمانة حداد عن الشعراء الذين قضوا نحبهم بالإنتحار .. شاعرية بلاث وإرتباطها بهيوز وطريقة موتها بوضع رأسها في فرن الغاز عوامل ساهمت في شهرتها وتأتي هذه الرواية التي تحكي قصتها لتؤكد إبداع سيلفيا إلى جانب جنونها ..

استير فتاة متدربة في إحدى مجلات الموضة متفوقة تبدو كأن المستقبل يفتح أذرعه بإتجاهها تحضر حفلات ، تشارك في الحياة ، لكنها فجأة تبدأ بالقيام بتصرفات غريبة دون سبب واضح تنحدر شيئا فشيئا بسبب اضطرابها العقلي حتى تصل إلى الجنون

شاعرية بلاث وكل لحظاتها الجنونية سكبتها على الورق لذلك تتميز هذه الرواية إنها تأخذك لذلك العالم الجنوني من الداخل ، هذا العالم الغامض الساخر والذي تبدو فيه كل الأشياء مكشرة عن أنيابها ، العالم الذي أخل بحياة سيلفيا وانتصر على شاعريتها وقتل حيويتها ودفعها للإنتحار مرات عديدة حتى نجحت أخيرا !

كانت الصخرة الرمادية تسخر مني
وأنا طافية بسهولة كقارب نجاة ..
كنتُ أعرف نفسي حين أهُزم ..

لا تبدو هذه الرواية سوى سيرة ذاتية وإنسانية للشاعرة الأمريكية سيلفيا بلاث .. وهي إنعكاس لما طرأ عليها من تغيرات على طبيعتها وعلاقتها بالحياة والأشخاص بنظرة سوداوية نتيجة لإصابتها بمرض عصابي ..
قامت بلاث بتغيير الأسماء وبعض الأحداث حافظا على مشاعر أقربائها .. وقدنشرت الرواية في حياتها باسم مستعار ثم أعيد نشرها بعد وفاتها ..
( أن أيّ أحد بنصف عين سيلاحظ أن لاعقل في رأسي )

كان الهم الذي يشغل بلاث هو الكتابة ... وبدا عجز استير عن اختيار طريق واحد يوصلها لهدفها أبان وقوعها تحت سطوة تلك النوبات سببا رئيسيا في مراجعتها للأطباء والمصحات النفسية
فهي مرة تريد أن تتعلم الألمانية ومرة أخرى تريد أن تصنع الخزف ومرة تريد أن تكمل دراستها الجامعية إلخ
كما تقول استير الأفكار تزدحم في راسها وتقفز كعائلة من الأرانب ..
إلا أن هذه العائلة كانت مصابة بالشلل فاستير لا تفعل شيئا إنها تقف مليئة بالحيرة

من الأمور اللافتة في هذه الرواية قضية العفة والتي كانت توصي بها والدة بلاث ابنتها .أن تحتفظ بعفتها لزوجها بل إنها كانت ترسل لها مقالات تذكيرية عن الموضوع لذلك عندما أحبت استير بودي كانت تعتقد أن موضوع العفة سيكون بالمقابل متوفرا عند رجلها المختار لذلك أصيبت بالصدمة عندما اعترف لها بودي بكل بساطة إن حياته لم تخلو من علاقات .. لذلك تحولت صورة الوسيم طالب الطب المثالي إلى شخص منافق .. لذلك اقترن اسمه طوال صفحات الرواية بالمنافق وهنا ظهرت بلاث بقمة براءتها وعفويتها حين تصورت أن الأمر سيكون متبادلا بين حبيبين ..

تجمع الرواية بين تعقيد الشخصية وبين البساطة والشفافية وتتميز بالرشاقة في التعبير كون الكاتبة شاعرة بدت كلماتها حية صادقة وإن كانت الشخصية ذات جوانب معتمة وأنانية لامبالية في كثير من الأحيان بمشاعر الآخرين .. لاحظوا اضطراب الشخصية إلى أي حد وصل :
أزعجني هذا الصوت الأقرب إلى صوت الحنزير ..ثم خطر ببالي أن الطريقة الوحيدة لوقف هذه الضوضاء هي أن أمسك العصب والعضلة معا حتى تقع أمي هامدة بين يدي ّ !

استير تنظر للأشياء بنظرة مختلفة تفسرها بطريقة أكثر إختلافا .. تلتقي بالغرباء تقيم علاقات من باب الفضول أحكامها تميل للتطرف للإشمئزاز وللإزدراء إلا إنها حملت شيئا ساحرا هو تلك الدهشة الطفولية خفة الدم وتقلّب المزاج والذي أظن أنه ربما تقاطعت فيه مع شخصية هولدن بطل رواية الحارس في حقل الشوفان لسالينجر إضافة للطبيعة المتمردة وحالة الضياع التي كانت تعيشها استير بينما ما ترغب به ومالا تستطيع القيام به بسبب وقوعها أسيرة ناقوسها الزجاجي والذي حكم عليها بحالة من الإكتئاب أدت في مرات عديدة لمحاولات الإنتحار ثم محاولات إنقاذها وبلاشك تجاربها الرهيبة مع الصدمات الكهربائية ثم دخولها مصحة الأمراض النفسية ..

حين أزفت الساعة بدا جلد رسغي شديد البياض ، بلا حول ولا قوة
فلم أتمكن من فعل ذلك ..
كما لو أن الذي رغبتُ في قتله لم يكن في ذلك الجلد أو في الشريان الأزرق الرفيع الذي ينبض تحت إبهامي ..
بل في مكان أعمق
أكثر سرية .. ويصعب الوصول إليه ..
يلزمني القيام بحركتين الرسغ الأول ثم الآخر
ثلاث حركات لو أخذنا بالحسبان نقل موسى الحلاقة من يد إلى أخرى
ثم سأنزل للحوض وأتمدد هناك ..

من أكثر الأشياء المأساوية في هذا النص حديث سيلفيا عن الوسائل المثلى للإنتحار دون ألم دون قسوة لكنها اختارت لموتها إحدى أكثر الطرق بشاعة
..
من داخل ناقوسها الزجاجي تأتي بلاث
متوحدة مع ألمها الخاص
مع جنونها
عارية تماما من كل زيف ..

No tengo palabras para expresar todo lo que siento justo ahora. Solo puedo afirmar que leer este libro fue simplemente maravilloso.

•

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 4 ⭐️

The Bell Jar was a bit of a head scratcher for me. It was not what I had expected based on its renown in the literary canon of feminism. I experienced it as a rather depressing novel about a young woman's struggle with mental health, with only a slight undertone of feminism.

What was perhaps the most disturbing, yet realistic aspect of the story was that the protagonist, Esther Greenwood, despite crying out for help on countless occasions and exhibiting clear signs of depression was not taken seriously by her mother or doctors until it was nearly too late to save her. Eerily, this is something that sadly still happens to this day even when people show clear signs of mental distress.

What I enjoyed most about The Bell Jar, apart from this true-to-life unravelling of Esther's mental health was the colorful, at times poetic prose that Plath used in her description of auxilliary characters and scenes in New York and Boston, in which the narrative unfolds.

However, there were a few aspects of the story which somewhat diminished my enthusiasm for The Bell Jar. I found the development of some of the male characters quite flat and one-dimensional, almost bordering on unbelievable. This may arguably be a reflection of Esther's warped state of mind linked to her depression, which is further constrained by her naivete and limited life experience. Many of the unfortunate situations she finds herself in with various men, seem to arise at least partially due to her innocence and unsophistication, as opposed to the male patriarchy and sexism. Indeed, Esther's interactions with some male characters (Marco and Prof. Irwin in particular) seemed unnatural and weakly credible. I found it perplexing that Esther, despite instinctually having misgivings about these male characters, recklessly overrode her gut instincts which ultimately led her to be exposed to harm. Another quibble that I have with The Bell Jar is Plath's use of openly racist jargon when describing various characters and also Esther's antagonistic interaction with a Black orderly when she was in hospital. Admittedly, this may reflect the pre-Civil Rights era in which The Bell Jar was written, when racial slurs were acceptable in mainstream American society.

In summary, I would recommend The Bell Jar to anyone who is open-minded and interested in expanding their literary horizons. My only word of caution is that this is not a light "happy go-lucky" read. So, I would suggest reading The Bell Jar when you are in a suitable mood.

I felt compelled to read this. Almost like I had a moral duty to listen to what she had to say, knowing how it ended for her.

You can definitely feel Plath's angst coming out of this book. There's a sad, disjointed, hopeless chaos to it.

“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.”

“I didn't know why I was going to cry, but I knew that if anybody spoke to me or looked at me too closely the tears would fly out of my eyes and the sobs would fly out of the throat and I'd cry for a week.”

“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one’s head, and listen to silence. To have no yesterday, and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.”

Cóż.. ekspozycja nie była najlepsza, te początkowe strony wydawały się zmierzać donikąd.

Jak się później okazało, miało to oczywiście swój sens. Patrząc na datę publikacji tej książki, nie da się zaprzeczyć jej niezwykłości.

Oczywiście najbardziej zachwycam się aspektem historii psychiatrii i to jakie metody leczenia zostały nam przedstawione. Ciekawostka jest taka, że nadal używa się terapii elektrowstrząsowej!

Ocena: 4,0.

Sylvia Plath makes going crazy sound so rational! I loved Esther (or Plath), I love how she never seems to lose her sense of humour even in the worst time.

The Bell Jar first came to my attention via TV and films. I feel I can remember more than one sitcom where a character (usually a girl in high school) signified her sadness by reading The Bell Jar. Their problems were typically trivial, resolved by the end of the episode, their mental health perfectly sound. I don't think is an unfair portrayal of many people who read this book, but the laughter and eye rolls from the 'seen it all before' adults did give me a false impression of the book itself. That it was lightweight.

There are people who declare they had the flu, when in reality they most likely had a cold. Certain people seem to do similar things with words like depression or phrases like panic attack. You've probably met them! They don't seem to comprehend the difference between feeling anxious in a stressful situation (which is typically healthy and normal) and having an actual anxiety disorder. They casually say they are having a panic attack, but they aren't - if they actually did have one, perhaps they would speak with a touch more care. Anyway, that's the type of person* I associated this book with. But while it may be popular with a reader who merely has a cold, the book is definitely influenza.

I found it a strange book to read. I related to it in many, many ways, even though so much of doesn't fit with my actual experience of my own mind. Perhaps that is why it has resonated with so many people over such a long period of time -- you can find familiar parts of yourself or it articulates something you have felt but hadn't known how to express. This may also be why many people actively dislike it, but that's just a theory!

What's especially interesting (and sad) about it is I think that for the most part, it is still so relevant. The doctor might not smoke in your hospital room anymore, and there are more treatment options available, but so much of felt like it could have been written recently, especially the emotional side of it.

I thought a lot about this review and ultimately struggled with what exactly to say. It's such a known book that there seems little point in typing out yet another review! I would suggest thinking carefully about reading it if you are currently working through mental health issues, though I also think each person is different. What some might find triggering, another might find cathartic.

*Also, I just wanted to note that I am aware that depression etc is complex, that some people are able to function seemingly as normal with it, so appear fine etc. I'm more referring to that melodramatic but very surface type of thing that is usually temporary and easily resolved. Still, as this book makes clear, it isn't always as trivial as it may seem.

---I'm leaving this earlier note here at the end of the review, since it was my initial reaction.---
I will probably attempt to write a review later this evening. Usually I write my reviews fairly quickly after finishing the book, to capture my immediate thoughts. I don't over think it or spend too much time on them, otherwise they could all to easily end up taking up large chunks of my reading time! But I'm not sure what to say about this one just yet.

Many writers pull from their own life experiences to create their works, and many people believe that you cannot write about life unless you have lived it to the fullest. Sylvia Plath understood first hand when it came to how people feel under the pressure from the society. Plath is intensively expressive in her novel and wishes to show the reader the torment she and others like her have gone through. Plath did not hold back when she wrote her novel The Bell Jar but instead let every emotion flow from her soul onto the pages. Her own experiences and every obstacle she faced gave her the voice to write such an accurate view of her character's feelings. A great deal of novel concerns the expectations that others have for Esther with regards to behaviour and her future, as well as the expectation that Esther has for others. Esther feels that people around her are causing her to break down, she decides that if she was untouched and confined, she would be normal again. Isn't that's how we feel most of the time?

I don’t get it. Lol. It felt like an episode of Seinfeld, entertaining yet there’s no rhyme or reason.

“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.”

Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, talented and successful, but she is slowing going under - possibly for the last time.

Unfortunately I did not fall head over heels in love with The Bell Jar as I had hoped to, but I HAVE fallen for the writing of Sylvia Plath - and even Plath herself. My Pinterest board has recently been covered with her quotes, and I even bought a copy of her unabridged journals following a recommendation from @yleniareads That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy The Bell Jar, I really really liked it, it just wasn’t as life-changing as I had perhaps anticipated.

I resonated with Esther in a lot of ways - I lost my father at a young age and, without sounding entirely egotistical, I also have achieved a lot of academic success in my life, which ultimately leads to me expecting more and more, afraid of failure. The expectations I place upon myself are high, and my mental health will suffer when things don’t go as planned. So it was easy for me to relate to some of the feelings Esther has. And that’s always nice when we read!

Plath’s description of the bell jar itself is genius - that our protagonist feels suffocated, as if she has been placed under one. And every now and again she has moments of clarity, when the bell jar is lifted. Of course there are a lot of parallels between Plath and Esther, and I found it hard to dissociate the two at times. Reading this knowing Plath’s fate is almost uncomfortable, it feels as though you are reading her diary. It just made me feel sad at times :(

It’s a beautifully written book, sprinkled with little moments of dark humour. Some parts were less intriguing or interesting than others. I probably preferred the second half over the first, where we really witness Esther at rock bottom.

Overall, I may not have absolutely adored it, but the memorable quotes and imagery will prevail. I’m glad it has introduced me to the talent that was Sylvia Plath. 4 stars.