Rating: 
Summary: I felt very still and very empty...
Review: Plath's only novel was published under a pseudonym less than a month before her suicide in her London flat. It's a thinly-disguised self-portrait, with virtually every person Plath knew when she was nineteen presented as a scathing caricature. The early chapters are the best: Esther Greenwood's account of her New York trip, which should have been the best time of her life, but wasn't, could almost be a novel on its own. Her description of how she deliberately broke her leg on a skiing trip to get back at her egotistical, phony boyfriend is also memorable. Obviously modelled after Salinger's Catcher In The Rye, it's not really on the level of that masterpiece, but Plath's wry, deadpan tone is well-suited to her increasing alienation from everyone around her, and finally, chillingly, from herself. Esther's slow descent into madness is recorded with detachment and understanding, because, after all, Plath had been there, and she was getting ready to return.
Rating: 
Summary: The Bell Jar was interesting
Review: I had to read the Bell Jar for my English class and write a research paper on it. To be honest, reading it was not one of the most joyous times of my life. The book maily focuses on the depressing parts of Esther and her monotonous life. All throughout the book she is falling down on her knees and has not stregnth not get back up and face the world. She continually hides from people and does not show the true person she is. Esther has no self confidence and wishes to seduce the first man who comes across her path. She is a desperate person with little self moral. But, on a good note, Plath writes about her depression so descriptively, you actually feel like you are going down with Esther. I would not recommend this book to the person wishing to read something for fun, but for the more serious and mature reader. Reading a book for fun is what Harry Potter is for. Hope this helps alot!
Rating:
Summary: Am I Caught in My Own Bell Jar?
Review: I read this book at the recommendation of friends and a book. I was guaranteed a modern masterpiece and a feminist one to boot. I got all of that. Every woman has a bit of Esther in themselves. We must follow a straight and narrow path in our lives and if we don't we face being branded much as Esther was. We question marriage and we're crazy because marriage has existed for so long. Sylvia Plath has even captured the feelings that many women feel about losing their virignity, the pressure and the fear. The ending is one of hope. She steps into the light, but we all know that there was no happy ending for Sylvia Plath. She died because she never escaped her bell jar and left behind a profound work on the experience of that bell jar. Is Esther really crazy? I can't answer that, but I can say that Esther(and Plath) were feminists and they questioned our society's customs. Despite the tragedy, we're fortunate to have this work. Read it when you're questioning yourself or authority.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely amazing
Review: I've read several books concerning young women who have fallen into mental depression or instability. Plath's book rose high above the rest, offering such an uninhibited insight a young woman's unsure world that I was blown away. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
Rating:
Summary: A sticky situation
Review: Sticky can't help but view poor Esther Greenwood as merely a product of that particular cultural milieu of New England in the 1950's. Asian influences were hardly prevalent and frankly a warm sticky rice as a comfort food was an anachronism and anathema to most WASPish tastes. Sticky believes that in this modern age Esther's problems could be easily solved with a few brisk slaps to the cheek and a steamer full of rice on the stove...
Rating: 
Summary: Important contribution to American letters.
Review: This special novel passively sat on the bookshelf in my study for sometime. Over the months, occasionally, it would wink at me... I would pick it up, thumb through its pages, read the odd line or two, and place it back on the shelf. On a Sunday morning last week, I read the beginning line for the first time:"It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. I'm stupid about executions." Needless to say, I read ~The Bell Jar~ from start to finish, and have had a suspicious and disturbing dark cloud hanging around me ever since. This dark cloud mingles with intermittent light, but the shadow of the novel's themes moves into my vicinity like a suspected stalker, waiting in the corner, seemingly ready to pounce without warning. This may well sound a tad too dramatic, but their are novels out there that have the power to influence your state of mind in profound ways. This novel, for me at any rate, turned out to be one such book. The story is a realistic account of a young American girl's descent into madness. Similar to many great American writers, her prose style is deceptively simple. Plath's writing is extraordinarily translucent, enabling the reader to vicerally connect with her inner most thoughts and feelings. This aspect of the novel was highly enjoyable rather than the actual story itself. Sometimes reality is difficult to look at... As a poet, Plath is acutely sensitive to the world, and as sensitive people are forced to do, they create social masks as a defence mechanism against the vulgarities of existence. This reminded me of the Aestheticism of the Irish writer and poet, Oscar Wilde: the poet's task in life is to be a seeker of beauty - the art of life, or the life of art, the aesthete or poet equates with a form of purified ecstasy that can flourish only when removed from the vulgarities and sterotyped world of actuality. In the case of the novel's protagonist, Esther Greenwood, it was a confrontation and eventual withdrawl from the vulgarities of 'male culture'. The mask she created revealed itself as an unkind, almost flippant attitude to the people around her. Because she must be true to herself, (as poets must be) her actions or inactions with the people around her caused tremendous guilt, thus the vicious circle begins: an acute sensitivity to the world and self; the creation of a false mask as defence; the inevitable guilt for not being true to oneself, leading to eventual self destruction. There are no knights in shining armour in this tale. Sir Galahad riding over the hill on his trusty stead to save poor Esther Greenwood from herself and others. On the contrary, most of the major male characters in ~The Bell Jar~ (apart from her father who is dead) are pathetic losers: coarse, insensitive and self absorbed. ~The Bell Jar~ Plath's only novel before her tragic suicide, thrust her directly into the feminist arena, making her a feminist 'icon' in American culture. This accolade is well deserved as this book is a major contribution to the cause, exposing male dominance and oppression, (more so then, fortunately, than now) and illustrating that women are not simply baby machines, cooks, house cleaners, and mere objects for male sexual gratification. After finishing this book, I couldn't help making a comparison to Viginia Woolf's modernist masterpiece, ~Mrs Dalloway~. In this novel, similar themes are explored: male vulgarity, the arrogance of the medical profession, and madness. This is an important book for many reasons, least of which is its literary contribution to American letters. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Exquisitely Painful
Review: The Bell Jar has been on my "to read" list for years, now I finally know what all the fuss is about. This matter-of-fact story about a young woman's descent into the depths of depression is nothing short of brilliant. I watched a close friend suffer for years with the demon of clinical depression, and always wondered why someone with so much going for them would fall prey. The answer I now know after reading this novel is that there is no answer, it just happens. Although I believe that someone who does not suffer from depression can never fully understand what it feels like, reading The Bell Jar will likely take you as close as you can bear to come.
Rating:
Summary: The Bell Jar
Review: I chose to read "The Bell Jar" for my junior year term paper book. It appealed to me, because, scarily enough, I could really relate to many of the thoughts, dreams, and aspirations that the book's heroine, Esther Greenwood, had. I found it to be a story that, while sometimes a bit slow-paced, really took you on the heroine's journey with her. I read one review of this that compared this coming-of-age novel to a female "The Catcher in the Rye". Honest, and realistic, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Lucid Portrait of Mental Illness
Review: When I was sophomore in college, a classmate was a nice, articulate, bright, and beautiful young woman, who
commited a suicide few months later. I always wondered
what would drive a privileged young person, with such
bright prospects, to kill him/herself. Ms. Plath's
book finally gave me a startlingly and shockingly clear
portrait of the gradual spiral of despair that culminates
in the ultimate act of self-destruction. Such mental
illness strikes across all social, econmic, racial, and
religiouls boundaries, but rarely has any author been
so candid and courageous in chronicling his/her own
humiliating and agonizing experiences. It's worth noting
that Ms. Plath died by suicide at the age of 31. I cannot give it five stars, which is reserved for the
likes of Edith Wharton's "Age of Innocence", but it's
a gripping and harrowing must-read for anyone who ever
wondered about the experience of mental illness.
Rating:
Summary: A Glimpse Of A Mind
Review: Bell Jar underscores the fact that some of us, regardless of intellectual, financial, or social status, simply cannot find our own link to life. This inner inability to connect with the world manifests itself as disenchantment. It may ultimately result in depression, addiction and untimely death, self-induced or otherwise. Although categorized as fiction, this book provides excellent insight into a recurring problem in our society.
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