The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Bell Jar
Book Review: Jarring book! (I really said that didn't I?)
Summary: 5 Stars
I wouldn't consider myself an expert in literature, although I am a bit of a writer myself, I find the bell jar to be an excellent and honest modern novel. An autobiography of sorts, the Bell Jar reports a particularly bad time of transition in Plath's life. For anyone else, being an honor student on scholarship and given the chance to be an intern at a fashion magazine in New York would be an amazing experience. But she is unimpressed and seems disenchanted by the whole thing. She has no idea what she should do with her life. She hates the thought of being tied down to one profession when there are so many to choose from. Things get worse when the internship is over and she moves back in with her mother. She cannot sleep and no longer desires food. Taken to a doctor for her insomnia, she is referred to a shady psychiatrist who subject her to crude shock treatments. Things only get worse and she becomes suicidal, always seeking out a new method of knocking herself off. She almost succeeds at one point and is taken to an asylum where she begins the process of rebuilding herself. This book remains a very honest look into the mind of troubled young girl. Interestingly, Plath never really gives a reason why she feels the way she does in the book, she just seems to be spiraling into madness with no more knowledge of the reason than the reader possesses.Book Review: Loved The Bell Jar
Summary: 4 Stars
I read this book over the summer for school and I really loved it. I usually don't enjoy AP list books but I decided to give it a try because I needed a quick read. It was better than I expected and extremely well written. Some parts were a bit slow, but overall it was very good, and the ending was great.Book Review: Maybe I don't get it.
Summary: 2 Stars
The other night A&E Classroom ran an excellent biography of Sylvia Plath. I was very moved by the story of this brilliant woman who died so young and so tragically. I knew of her name from long ago having grown up just down the road from Smith; however, I never read any of her work. I just read The Bell Jar. While I will never forget the tormented story of Esther Greenwood, I would not rate this as a masterpiece of fiction. Perhaps the real talent is in her poetry.Book Review: My new favorite book
Summary: 5 Stars
I started reading this book about three years ago(at age 16) and I could not get into it for some reason. It is a book I have always wanted to read because it is a classic and I am so glad that I finally did. There is a lot of stuff in it that I would not have fully understood if I had continued to read it at age 16...
I sort of compare this book to She's come undone by Wally Lamb; about a young girl going through life "crazy". I would really recomend both of these books.
Book Review: Not Exactly Enjoyable
Summary: 3 Stars
I read this novel for a psychology class. On the whole, I can't say that I liked the novel very much. The beginning was interesting, and I did enjoy Plath's method of story-telling. But, it got very difficult to read once the novel progressed into the part where she starts to feel depressed. It was slightly disturbing to be in someone's mind who is descending into insanity. I would not recommend this book for the faint of heart.