Book Review: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

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Synopsis:

Working in New York one hot summer, Esther Greenwood is on the brink of her future. Yet she is also on the edge of a darkness that makes her world increasingly unreal. In this vivid and unforgettable novel about the struggles of growing up, Esther’s world shines through: the wide-eyed country girls, her crazed men-friends, hot dinner dances and nights in New York, and a slow slide into breakdown.

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My Review:

“I was supposed to be having the time of my life.”

The Bell Jar is an honest and powerful novel by Sylvia Plath. This book has been on my reading list for a while since I read Ariel when I was in college.

The novel follows Esther Greenwood, a smart girl who wants to be a writer. She’s invited to be a guest editor for a magazine in New York but is disappointed when it doesn’t live up to her expectations and she later despairs when she is turned down for a college programme, she had her heart set on. This story is written from a first-person perspective, so we see her descent into depression, and it sheds some light on the psychiatric practices of the 60s.

Plath’s writing is poignant and it’s hard not to see what she was personally going through in this novel. There is helplessness within the words of the novel that draws you in. I enjoyed Plath’s poetry and I was not disappointed that this was transferred to her novel.

This is a difficult book to review because it’s semi-autobiographical of Plath’s life and experiences. My rating of three stars is no reflection on the brilliance of the writing or the story that Plath has given us, but it isn’t a novel that I would read again.

The Bell Jar is packed with difficult topics and dark humour and teaches us that the sorrows experienced are part of being human. This isn’t a book that should be read lightly, and it’s not an easy read, but it’s a book I think should be read.

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