The Bell Jar
Ratings657
Average rating3.9
Bare with me as i try to find the right words to describe the way this book has touched me. I normally stick to my easy breezy romance reads for the simple fact that they are relaxing and fun. This book challenged me to look at depression in a different way. I have a background in psychology so it was extremely refreshing to read about the struggles that a person goes through with this disorder on a real level verses an applied science level. I enjoyed this is a 5 star read for me.
“Her thoughts were not my thoughts, nor her feelings my feelings, but we were close enough so that her thoughts and feelings seemed a wry, black image of my own.”
I wasn't as emotionally involved as I thought I would be, but the prose is so beautifully written, and Plath portrays her own experiences with mental illness so vividly and harrowingly that I can see why it's regarded as a classic
the way this took me way too long to read.....but also like 8/10 kinda was bored during some of it but also really pulled in during other parts, definitely would read it again. it was interesting how mental illness was portrayed throughout.
Some people say novels should be about story or about characters, but The Bell Jar is a prime example of why prose quality matters, as well as a useful reminder why you shouldn't sleep on poets.
Yes, it's a harrowing depiction of mental illness. Yes, it's a searing look at the limited options open to women (even relatively privileged white ones) during the middle of the 20th Century.
More importantly, the book is fucking beautiful. I found the pages slipping by, while also finding myself pausing to savor a turn of phrase or striking image. Plath's mastery of language is breathtaking.
so disappointed by all the praise for this book when it has a lot of racism in it
4/5
“I wondered what terrible thing it was that I had done.”
“I remembered everything...Maybe forgetfulness, like a kind of snow, should numb and cover them. But they were part of me. They were my landscape.”
This was a great book with a great peek into mental illness with the perspective of the 1940s. There was a lot of fluff in my opinion that seemed pointless to the plot, but an amazing book nonetheless.
Sylvia Plath is a mastermind of descriptive writing, especially when it comes to suicide and mental health. It shouldn't surprise me as she killed herself, but the way she describes Esthers depression and attempts is so ruthless. The entire book is meticulous in how it builds up to the end. There are some moments where I couldn't quite tell if what I was reading was happening in that moment of the book or if it was a flashback, and I think that helps tie into Esthers feelings of loneliness and numbness. I recently had the option to chose this book for my english class but I would've had to wait another month before finishing it and I just couldn't. The book just pulls you in and you don't want to look away because every little detail has a meaning in here. “I am, i am, i am.”
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“To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself was a bad dream.”
I listened to the audiobook for this one. I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more had I been able to listen straight through. My main beef was the “chapters” were in such odd locations that it made it hard to set down and pick back up again.
meh i didnt think it was bad i just didnt get it and probably had to high of expectations going in
First reading: I should not have read this book when I was sixteen.
I'm not sure anyone should read this book when she is sixteen.
It was dark and despairing and bleak and reading it left me feeling dark and despairing and bleak.
Nevertheless, The Bell Jar was the truest picture of teen depression I've ever read.
If only someone could write a book that good that would help teens find their way out of depression.
Second reading:
Did reading The Bell Jar at sixteen drop a bell jar on my head? Or was it already descending?
I was Esther as a teen, in many ways. I was competitive about academic achievement to the exclusion of everything else, and when all the prizes I'd worked for didn't come my way, I found myself lost and depressed and alone. Esther's experience provided no solace at sixteen; it only increased my pain.
Reading The Bell Jar as an adult who has scrambled to find ways to fight depression all her life was a different experience than reading the book as a teen. I saw how Esther isolated herself rather than finding people who could offer help. I saw how Esther plummeted rather than responded with resilience when her plans did not work out. I saw how the psychiatrists of Esther's time did not have the knowledge or the treatments to effectively help her.
The Bell Jar should be a book that is read and reread, with much to offer readers of all ages.
Terrifying to admit but Sylvia feels the way I do and expresses it the way I wish I could.
I had never read this before, but after reading [b:The Barbizon: The Hotel That Set Women Free 54304210 The Barbizon The Hotel That Set Women Free Paulina Bren https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1612105261l/54304210.SY75.jpg 84737476] and learning that some of this book was based on Plath's time at the Barbizon Hotel (here called the Amazon) I got interested to read it. I'd heard this described as [b:The Catcher in the Rye 5107 The Catcher in the Rye J.D. Salinger https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1398034300l/5107.SY75.jpg 3036731] for girls, which is like, sure diminutive and disprespectful but like not wrong I don't think...anyway like Catcher I think it's dated in some (BIG) ways and in some ways speaks to some ~eternal emotional truths and I DEFO get it being influential in its moment. anyway if like me you have reached adulthood without having read The Bell Jar yet, like, honestly you're probably good imo but on an abstract level I get why people love this book
“The silence depressed me. It wasn't the silence of silence. It was my own silence.”
5/5
Lo que en un principio parece la descripción de una vida cómoda, se va desarrollando como la depresión de la protagonista hasta (prácticamente) la locura.
La Campana de Cristal relata la historia de Esther Greenwood, quien refleja la vida de la autora. Empezamos la novela descubriendo que Esther se ha ganado un concurso y pasara un mes en New York trabajando junto a otras ganadoras para una revista en los años 50. A medida que avanza su estadía conocemos los anhelos más profundos de la protagonista en cuanto a su futuro profesional y personal, y cómo estos se ven obstaculizados llegando a ser prácticamente objetivos inalcanzables dado su contexto social.
Frustrada regresa a su hogar en Massachussets, con nada claro en su cabeza, cansada de su vida aparentemente sin rumbo. No puede dormir, no puede comer, pero aun mas importante no puede escribir. Piensa que lo único relevante sobre si misma le ha sido arrebatado, que, sin la escritura, cuál sería su propósito en la sociedad sino ser un estorbo.
Es remitida a un psiquiatra y entre sus consultas empieza a tener alucinaciones derivadas de sus profundas desesperaciones. Duerme en el delirio y sueña con escapar, morir, liberarse.
Luego es enviada a un centro donde recibe un tratamiento de electrochoque que le causa gran dolor y decide no volver a hacerlo.
Después de varios intentos y planes fallidos de suicidio, decide robar un frasco de unas 50 píldoras y tomárselas en un lugar escondido del sótano, queriendo dar fin de una vez al sufrimiento. Es encontrada por su madre un par de días después aun con vida y hospitalizada para luego ser trasladada a un manicomio peculiar, un lugar más especializado, donde optan por métodos más ortodoxos.
Al principio no se notan mejorías en su estado de ánimo, continúa con planes calculados para lograr su propósito, se mantiene apática, pero al final no puede evitar su deseo por compañía. Una antigua amiga ingresa al centro y reconectan aun con Esther tratando de resistirse a cualquier tipo de avance.
Termina uniéndose a otras chicas en el mejor pabellón del lugar, donde se hospedan quienes se encuentran en las mejores condiciones y tienen mas libertades para salir a pasear. En su estancia aquí, Esther recuerda sus tiempos en la escuela y contempla las implicaciones de reinserción en la sociedad. Agradece las amistades que ha hecho a lo largo de su estadía, vuelve a sentir algo de esperanza en el Sol que la despierta cada mañana y espera poder retomar sus estudios, aun con todos los retos que le esperan.
Siente que la campana de cristal asciende y le da movilidad, deja entrar el oxígeno y ya no se ahoga con su propia respiración.
I started getting quite bored. Maybe if I was younger this would have hit me more. But I really just wanted to move on.
I had resisted reading this for a long time, a little turned off by the idea of being inside a suicidal person's head. But someone gave me a copy and well, I felt I needed to read it because hey, great American literature!
Well. All the feels. Really, all of them. I think at this point in my life I somehow identify with Esther even more than I would have at 20 years of age. The fear of the descending jar is palpable, her despair so real...and then the timid sweetness of relief. Not without scars, but strong.