The Bell Jar

“It was a queer sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” The first sentence itself gives a glimpse into her thought process which hooked me to the book.The book goes through the experiences of the protagonist Esther Greenwood while she is working as an intern in a fashion magazine in New York during the summer and how she views people around her. After she completes her internship, she moves back to Boston but her life does not turn out the way she envisioned it to be. And then slowly but surely, she falls into depression and ultimately takes help.The book also deals with how the protagonist faced critique from the society as she decided to focus on her career rather than getting married and settling down. The book also gives a glimpse into New York of that time.Coming to the title, the bell jar is metaphorical to depression. The protagonist felt trapped inside a bell jar and she could see everyone around her and how they were behaving and they could see her perfectly normal externally. She wanted someone to come and save her but nonetheless no one could see what she was going through internally.The book deals with the complexities of the human mind, the protagonist trying to find her place in the world, societal expectations and taboos on women, depression and suicide. I felt the book was quite ahead of its time since it was set in the 1950’s and navigates through the mental health journey of the protagonist.I found the writing style quite intense and gripping. It was extremely difficult for me to continue reading the book as it became quite overwhelming at times. The book was moderately paced for me.I will treasure reading such an honest portrayal of the author’s life experiences making the book semi-autobiographical. However, I won’t suggest this book for beginners or anyone going through anything difficult in their life becz this book is quite disturbing and it can trigger u.

Iam lost at words at how relatable,how deep emotions this book can evoke,uff..sylvia plath,the literary magician she was,the hypocritical standards imposed on women,her humour in the beginning of book😂this book is an intense portrayal of mental health, and how the protagonist slowly finds herself losing to it.the fig tree analogy in this, that is the best part, anyone can find it relatable.The ending was saddening,depressing,raw reality of life(not going to spoil it)Coming to quality of the book , it didn't had proper binding and the pages might come of easily ,if not handled delicately.reducing one star fo this only not for the content.

Supur

Beautiful CoverGood SpineQuality of print is good and Pages are kinda yellowBut that's okayy. Yellowish tint is giving vintage vibes to book.Totally worth it reading.Must buy!

There’s a certain breeziness in the beginning—The Bell Jar opens like a tale of a young woman chasing ambition in the city that never sleeps.Sylvia Plath’s novel centres on Esther Greenwood, a bright college student navigating New York City in 1953. While others seek the glamour and excitement of the city, Esther’s experience is far from seamless. She encounters unsettling behavior from men and views other women as if they belong to an entirely different world. Her inability to meet the rigid standards expected of women only deepens her unprocessed grief and disappointment, slowly unraveling her mental health.The second half of the book shifts into something far more internal. Esther’s ambition and her persistent feelings of inadequacy begin to fracture her once-strong image. Though others see her as successful, she feels hollow inside. The cracks in her identity widen as she returns home and is pulled into the frightening world of psychiatric care.Plath captures Esther’s descent into confusion and madness with subtlety and grace. The language is restrained but powerful—no dramatic outbursts, just a slow, haunting unraveling. We feel her alienation deeply, and we come to understand that the world she’s been trying to belong to was never really meant for her. Esther is imperfect, conflicted, but deeply relatable.The Bell Jar is a semi-autobiographical novel—Plath’s only one—and it’s a work that pits a young woman’s mind against the void. I had wanted to read Plath for a long time, and as expected, her writing is absolutely beautiful. She has an incredible gift for imagery, turning even the mundane into poetry.That said, I found myself losing interest in the second half. Perhaps intentionally disorienting, it left me feeling distant and disillusioned by the end.