Book 40 - Sylvia Plath "The Bell Jar"

[jazzy_dave]

Sylvia Plath "The Bell Jar" (Faber & Faber)



Esther Greenwood is an intelligent, promising young woman who might seem to have everything going for her. But, overwhelmed by her choices for the future, stifled by the realities of her present, and trapped just on the wrong side of the sexual revolution, she finds herself becoming detached and suicidal.

It's a dark story, examining depression, self-hatred, and the inability to integrate into our flawed culture. Plath was able to write about the epidemic we have today with widespread depression and suicide, well before it became a major problem.


It is maybe a little surprising that i have gone this long without reading the paperback, after a year or so languishing on my to be read pile. I am glad to have done so now. It is well-written and the characterization feels deeply realistic. But I have to admit, I had to keep almost forcing myself to pick it up. It was just entirely too depressing for the current beautiful weather. I feel like I should have saved it for the depths of winter.