Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book. It is a little depressing but very fascinating to go into the life of someone who is going mentally insane. Couldn't put it down.
Helpful Score: 1
A haunting story - semi-autographical - of a woman's decent into madness and recovery.
Helpful Score: 1
I love books about psychiatric hospitals or mental illness. Sadly, this book was very dry and just a very slow read. I found myself having to force myself through the book.
Helpful Score: 1
A wonderful read but a slow one. I felt the narrator's pain, who was essentially the author, and connected with her. However, the story itself was slow to take off, especially in the beginning. Additionally, the end just left me with a dull ache of, "Really?" However, it is realistic; life doesn't always have a clear 'happy' or 'sad' ending, but I think there could have been a better place to end it or way to. I did really enjoy it though.
Although this was a rather short book, it took me many sittings to finish it. The story just did not capture me and I thought the 'climax' was rather weak. It was disappointing, especially considering the hype.
A good read, but not nearly as good as I thought it would be.
Great book!! Absolutely riveting.
Emotional and endearing look into the main character, Esther's, mind and experience at a crucial time in her life.
One of my favorite books, and the only novel ever written by the tragic Sylvia Plath, "The Bell Jar" is surprisingly autobiographical as it details the life of its main character and her slow, yet sure, descent into what is essentially insanity. This is a very readable book that captures the time period pitch-perfectly, and you'll find that while the main character's actions and thoughts can be a bit disturbing at times, your predisposed ideas about mental illness and sociology will be challenged and possibly changed. I could certainly relate to the young woman, and I think anyone, even mentally healthy people like myself, will find realism and understanding within these fantastically-written pages. A true American classic that should be read by everyone interested in serious literature.
Another book read for a book club. Definitely a classic and one that I wouldnt have probably chose to read of my own accord. Definitely a book worth reading.
The story follows Esther Greenwood a brilliant, talented and beautiful college student in the early 1950s. The story opens in June 1953, the month the Rosebergs were electrocuted for treason, with Esther at an exclusive month-long internship working at a New York magazine. She is given her own room at a New York hotel as are all the other girls and she works as an editors assistant at a New York magazine part of the day and is taken to plays, fashion shows, shopping trips, etc. the rest of the time.
As the month of her internship draws to a close, Esther will have to go back home and begin her life again as a scholarship-based college student. We see her begin to behave strangely but we also know her thoughts and her behavior just seems to be that of a young woman who knows she has a lot of talent and is facing the pressure to succeed.
As the story progresses, her behavior definitely becomes that of someone who is experiencing an extreme mental breakdown in a time where mental illness is shunned and the treatments are none or barbaric.
The story is beautifully written and is a semi-autobiographical account of the authors life as a young woman. As I read it, I was heartbroken with how little was known about mental illness and how horribly the people who suffered from mental diseases were treated by the people they knew and often by the people in medicine.
Her life under the bell jar and eventual, if temporary, escape from the bell jar is riveting.
The story follows Esther Greenwood a brilliant, talented and beautiful college student in the early 1950s. The story opens in June 1953, the month the Rosebergs were electrocuted for treason, with Esther at an exclusive month-long internship working at a New York magazine. She is given her own room at a New York hotel as are all the other girls and she works as an editors assistant at a New York magazine part of the day and is taken to plays, fashion shows, shopping trips, etc. the rest of the time.
As the month of her internship draws to a close, Esther will have to go back home and begin her life again as a scholarship-based college student. We see her begin to behave strangely but we also know her thoughts and her behavior just seems to be that of a young woman who knows she has a lot of talent and is facing the pressure to succeed.
As the story progresses, her behavior definitely becomes that of someone who is experiencing an extreme mental breakdown in a time where mental illness is shunned and the treatments are none or barbaric.
The story is beautifully written and is a semi-autobiographical account of the authors life as a young woman. As I read it, I was heartbroken with how little was known about mental illness and how horribly the people who suffered from mental diseases were treated by the people they knew and often by the people in medicine.
Her life under the bell jar and eventual, if temporary, escape from the bell jar is riveting.
Some say this book is depressing, i felt that it was not depressing but eye opening. To have an understanding of what someone whos having a breakdown is experiencing. There were alot of funny part which surprised me. I enjoyed it and finished it quickly
Facinating story into the life of a woman whose path closely paralleled the authors. Not an uplifting read but insightful.
Feeling a little lazy so I'm just copying the info here:
"This extraordinary work--echoing Plath's own experiences as a rising writer/editor in the early 1950s--chronicles the nervous breakdown of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, successful, but slowly going under, and maybe for the last time."
I've heard the name Sylvia Plath for ages, usually in hushed whispers from kids wearing too much black eyeliner and facial piercings. And that's just the boys. So when I was writing for a character of similar tastes, I decided it was time to delve a little deeper and see what was the appeal.
Esther Greenwood is a reflection of Sylvia Plath. She should have been blissfully happy, with intelligence, education, wealth, and her college sweetheart proposing to her, but instead she feels numb, stifled. The societal expectations is for women to only pursue husband and babies, stopping any other ambition once a match is made. Her boyfriend tells her as much, saying that once she has a baby., she won't want to write poetry. Not want to write? Seems like a miserable life. And Esther shrivels.
As someone who has struggled with depression, I could relate to the feeling of the bell jar, allowing no air to circulate, no thoughts or feelings to progress. I've felt that way. It's a difficult experience to explain and Ms. Plath captured it rather well.
"This extraordinary work--echoing Plath's own experiences as a rising writer/editor in the early 1950s--chronicles the nervous breakdown of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, successful, but slowly going under, and maybe for the last time."
I've heard the name Sylvia Plath for ages, usually in hushed whispers from kids wearing too much black eyeliner and facial piercings. And that's just the boys. So when I was writing for a character of similar tastes, I decided it was time to delve a little deeper and see what was the appeal.
Esther Greenwood is a reflection of Sylvia Plath. She should have been blissfully happy, with intelligence, education, wealth, and her college sweetheart proposing to her, but instead she feels numb, stifled. The societal expectations is for women to only pursue husband and babies, stopping any other ambition once a match is made. Her boyfriend tells her as much, saying that once she has a baby., she won't want to write poetry. Not want to write? Seems like a miserable life. And Esther shrivels.
As someone who has struggled with depression, I could relate to the feeling of the bell jar, allowing no air to circulate, no thoughts or feelings to progress. I've felt that way. It's a difficult experience to explain and Ms. Plath captured it rather well.
I enjoyed this book...a very easy read and insightful.
