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Bell Jar

(P.S.)

By Sylvia Plath

(264)

| Paperback | 9780061148514

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Book Description

The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under--maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completContinue

The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under--maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experiece as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.

Critics

  • 'The Bell Jar' by Sylvia Plath

    I first read Sylvia Plath's one and only novel, The Bell Jar, as a young 20-something, when I was hugely unsure of my place in the world. Indeed, I'd graduated but my career prospects were thwarted by a massive recession (it was 1991) and I was makin ... (read full critics)

    readingmatters published on Tue, 28 Sep 2010

  • The Bell Jar By Sylvia Plath

    Sylvia Plath, a wonderful, highly acclaimed poet, committed suicide in 1963. Her admirers were saddened but not surprised and "The Bell Jar" (3 hours), her autobiographical novel offers insights into the private hell she sought to escape. In what has ... (read full critics)

    bookpage published on Wed, 15 Sep 2010

13 Reviews

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  • 3 people find this helpful

    Awful book. I longed to read it for ages, since I read a short passage on my anthology book in my second year at junior high.
    Sadly, I have to say this book fully disappointed me, and Esther really irritated me.
    I would have wanted to slap her hard in the face for being so dull. At one poi ... (continue)

    Awful book. I longed to read it for ages, since I read a short passage on my anthology book in my second year at junior high.
    Sadly, I have to say this book fully disappointed me, and Esther really irritated me.
    I would have wanted to slap her hard in the face for being so dull. At one point I really hoped for her to succeed in her suicide attempts.
    I want to state that I know what depression is, having experienced it myself but, seriously, the character of Esther has no real reason for being depressed.
    She is just a spoiled girl who has grown up surrounded by people who continuously tell her how clever she is (although I cannot believe an intelligent person would really get surprised to discover that studying English literature from Beowulf to present days is compulsory to be an English teacher... what a surprise, isn't it?), used to win prizes for her writing...
    She does have no father nor much money, but I personally know more than one person in the same situation and I cannot truly believe this to be a state which leads to committing suicide.
    I simply hated Esther, although I have to admit S. Plath's prose to be very good.
    Hope she wasn't as stupid as her character.

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    Miss Piggott said on Aug 29, 2007 | 2 feedbacks

  • 1 person find this helpful

    I like the image of the bell jar, separating you from the world out there. I've never felt a jar, but a glass pane that would keep me a step away from reach of what was going on around me.

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    fran_ces said on Oct 10, 2011 | Add your feedback

  • 1 person find this helpful

    The one and only worthy heir of The Catcher in the rye. Much better than it, actually.

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    Ais Quin said on Jan 22, 2010 | Add your feedback

  • The first time I read this book I hated it.
    The second time around I understood why. This book speaks of a slithering disease that affects many of us in its silent, shameful way. Back then it whispered to my heart unwanted truths and I refused to listen.
    It's a deep journey in the miserable condi ... (continue)

    The first time I read this book I hated it.
    The second time around I understood why. This book speaks of a slithering disease that affects many of us in its silent, shameful way. Back then it whispered to my heart unwanted truths and I refused to listen.
    It's a deep journey in the miserable condition of a young woman fighting to survive. It's truthful and scary, at times, and full of sorrow and hope.
    It gave me so much in the end I still hold it as one of my favourites. Yet... I wouldn't recommend it to anyone suffering from depression, especially a girl. Reading your own feelings so well depicted on the page is a difficult experience and knowing a bit of the writer's biography doesn't help.

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    Sourcreamandonions said on Jan 9, 2011 | Add your feedback

  • Tedious, boring. After more than 100 pages where really little happens in the protagonist's boring life, I just decided to put the book to rest for good. Not my cup of tea.

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    Lilyofthevalleys2000 said on Oct 13, 2010 about the Others edition | Add your feedback

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9780061148514 Paperback $16.99 $12.23 bn.com
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