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Summary: poetic language and character make this novel a classic
Review: this is a wonderful novel. the language is beautiful and poetic which is one of the ways that it is a different story than catcher in the rye. esther greenwood typifies a lot of 19-20 year olds in the fact that at times we all feel alone and trapped in a world that we look at through a "bell jar". even if this wasn't based on plath's life, it is not a far fetched story and the descriptive and poetic elements really bring this novel to life.
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Summary: Still relevant after all these years
Review: Sylvia Plath made a significant contribution to the understanding of mental health with the publication of this book in 1971. She describes the mental health care that was offered in the 50"s through her novel, The Bell Jar. It is widely acknowledged that this was more than a peak into her personal struggle, but a real reflection of how mental illness comes down on you, like a bell jar, where everything looks the same outside but there is pure confusion inside. This novel of such personal intensity explores the stages of the disease and the treatments that were available to her. It is far more in depth than Girl Interrupted. Both novels take on a difficult subject and give it the exposure it needs, which is what is really important. A poignant book worthy of continued success.
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Summary: Amazing
Review: I have read this book and it was really amazing - I felt I was going mad together with the girl and then I recovered with her. Great, unique atmosphere, a kind of book you remember all your life.
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Summary: If SHE'S crazy...
Review: The Bell Jar is a first hand account of the mistakes and misgivings of psychologists in the 1950's. Any writer or future writer ought to read The Bell Jar and find in it a reason to write.
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Summary: The Bell Jar
Review: "The Bell Jar." What is a bell jar anyway? This is what I asked myself when I picked the book off the shelf. The dictionary's definition of a bell jar is a bell shaped container or cover made of glass used to keep gases, air, or moisture out. This relates to the book because Esther feels as though her insanity or mental instability is causing her to be shut out from the rest of the world much like the bell jar shuts out the air. Esther feels almost suffocated by her own insecurities and on her road to psychological recovery she says that the closer she becomes to being cured, the more the bell jar is lifted and she can finally breathe. The book is an autobiography on the troubled author Sylvia Plath. In the book you can definitely see the parallels between Sylvia and the main character, Esther. The book opens with Esther sympathizing with the Rosenbergs who had just been executed for espionage. Esther says she wonders how it would feel to have her nerves fried like the Rosenbergs had. This offers the reader an example of foreshadowing. Although Esther has not said anything about suicide yet, this does show that there is some what of an interest on this topic that has not yet surfaced. Esther is very bright and is in New York working at a New York magazine. She is there on a scholarship she had won. She temporarily lives in a an all girls hotel. She has two close friends in New York, the first being a southern belle named Doreen. Doreen was very audacious and a definite rule breaker. Esther felt as though she shouldn't be hanging out with Doreen because of her bad habits but being with Doreen always provides a fun and adventurous time. The other of Esther' s friends is a slender blonde named Betsy. Betsy was very proper and sophisticated. She was the opposite of what Doreen was. Another person in this novel which really plays a large role in Esther' s life is her "acquaintance" Buddy Willard. Buddy has Tuberculosis and lives in a TB sanitarium, Although we are introduced to Buddy as just an acquaintance we later find out Buddy actually had a relationship with Esther. Esther then learns of an affair Buddy had over the summer. In an attempt to even the score with Buddy she tries to sleep with a man, (Constantin) she had met. This plan falls through and they just fall asleep. Buddy then invites Esther to the Yale Junior Prom. Buddy also "reveals" himself to Esther and she asks him if he really did have an affair and it proves to be true. This shatters Esther's dream of the two being together. Although he later asks her to marry him Esther declines. Esther then starts to feel a little depressed and this is when Doreen sets Esther up with a Peruvian woman-hater named Marco. This is the man that in my opinion will change Esther' s life forever. At first he dazzles her with a diamond but he later expects something in return and he tries to rape her. Esther then goes back to the hotel and in a rage throws all her clothes off the roof. I took this incident as a metaphor for her throwing her life in New York away and sadly returning to her grief stricken life at home in Wellesly. She leaves New York that night to head home. Upon her return home she learns that the summer course she had hoped to take at Harvard did not accept her. This will start her first and worst summer at home. The tuning point in the story is when on top of her failure to be accepted to the Harvard course, she learns that Buddy is falling in love with a nurse at the TB clinic. This presses the bell jar's edges tightly against the ground. Knowing this crushing news she goes to the pharmacist and has her sleeping pill prescription increased. Esther is sent to Doctor Gordon a psychiatrist who suggests electro shock therapy. After experiencing the treatment she wanted to commit suicide. She wasn't able to slit her wrists so she takes a multitude of sleeping pills and locked herself in the basement. Her attempts didn't work and she awoke in darkness. She couldn't see and was told she would eventually meet a nice blind man. Esther breaks a thermometer and a ball of mercury lays on the floor in a few smaller balls and she pushes them together, and they fuse back into one. I think this represents her breakdown, only I don't think her emotions can be put together as easily as the mercury was. She is then moved to a private hospital where she gets a female doctor. Esther gets injections three times a day to begin her treatment. From Caplan she is moved to Belsize which is a step closer to recovery. Dr. Nolan, (her new psychiatrist) resumes the shock therapy and Esther recovers more rapidly. Esther begins to gain more privileges and her recovery was almost complete. Esther then loses her virginity to a man whom she had met on the steps of a Harvard library named Irwin. She was dropped off at her friend Joan's house after hemorrhaging from intercourse. Joan re-enrolled in Belize, (being a former patient.) One day Joan wasn't home by curfew and Esther was asked if she knew of her where abouts. Esther didn't know and later Joan was found in the woods.....dead. After being convinced Joan's suicide was not Esther' s fault, she is interviewed to be released back to school. Thus showing that Esther was finally cured. The feeling that I got from this book is overall depression. The book is sad because Esther's life is full of many hardships and many things to over come.
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Summary: Book Review for The Bell Jar
Review: The Bell Jar, written by Sylvia Plath, is an extremely insightful autobiography that reveals Plath's inner turmoil through her thoughts and actions. The plot of Plath's story begins with her winning an assignment on a New York fashion magazine, which was a dream come true for her. This dream soon became raveled up in Plath's distress and became one of the many pieces of the puzzle of Plath's life, which soon transformed into a living nightmare. Due to her illness and her mental breakdown, Plath, or Esther, as she is known in the book, had to go to a psychiatrist and even had to be treated with electric shock therapy. Plath took a very immature approach toward dealing with her turmoil and mental breakdowns by attempting to kill herself several times. Although she felt this was the way out of her despair, she never had the will or strength to go through such a drastic measure of coping with her problems. Plath eventually found inner peace and satisfication in her life. I believe the theme of The Bell Jar is that depression, frustration, and hardship come in everybody's life at one point or another and we all must know how to handle it properly and not to turn to a rash solution such as suicide. Several small elements such as tone and symbolism actually play a big role in the depth of this novel's true meaning. This novel has a factual tome in the very beginning, but as the story progresses, it becomes one of despair and suspense. Also, the title has very powerful symbolism in it. The title of The Bell Jar refers to a cylindrical glass vessel with a rounded top and an open base used to protect and display fragile objects or to establish a controlled atmosphere or environment in scientific experiments. Most likely, the meaning behind this symbolism is that throughout her stay at the mental hospital, Plath felt as if she was in a bell jar because she was fragile and liable to break at any time. This feeling developed through her stay at the hospital because she knew she was quite ill and in a way felt trapped in the hospital due to her illness. Plath probably also felt as if she had no way out and she may not be able to live a normal life again. The Bell Jar has a very influential and positive social significance. This book probably can relate to how many people might have felt at least at one point of their life. People who have felt that way and have read the book before most likely can share their depression and despair more easily with others and learn to cope with their problems seeing how Plath managed to get through her despair. Therefore, this novel has great meaning and purpose on society because the fact is that more people you may think consider suicide. I can honestly say this novel, The Bell Jar, written by Sylvia Plath, is very enjoyable, and depressing at the same time, to read. It offers a chance to see how life can be so depressing sometimes, yet there's always a reasonable solution; you just have to be very determined to find that solution.
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Summary: A must read
Review: I read this because it is on a list of the 150 most influential books of this century. It is a book that should be read, tho its subject matter does not fail to disturb. It is flawlessly written, and very smooth reading. You will not regret having used the small amount of time necessary to read this classic work on the descent into madness.
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Summary: The Bell Jar
Review: In the novel "The bell Jar," by Sylvia Plath, we have the wonderful lifestyle of the character Esther Greenwood, torn apart. This compelling novel by Sylvia Plath does not only express early sparks of feminist vibes, but also leads the reader to a thorough understanding of depression and suicide. Throughout the book there are constant references to men and their importance in society. The setting is in the 1950's, but the female reader most likely knows enough about life in the 50's to relate to the setting. Many things in this book are based on gender. At about the middle of the novel, we have a prime example of this. Esther is at a maternity ward, with a "boyfriend" no less, and is told that she should not watch a birth that is going on in the room. As a female, I must say that this scene did indeed make me cringe; but why should it be made a general assumption that all women would? Also during this scene, Esther is shown the dead fetuses that have been kept for observation. This is yet again- not something that she is asked to see, yet also not something that bothers her. As said throughout the novel- Esther herself would not be happy as a wife, let alone a mother. I was given the impression that she looked at being a mother and a wife as being a slave. "This seemed dreary and wasted life for a girl for a girl with fifteen years of straight A's, but I knew that's what marriage was like, because cook and clean and wash was just what Buddy Willard's mother did from morning till night, and she was the wife of a university professor and had been a private school teacher herself." Esther was trapped under the bell jar- locked away from all else in the world...why would she want to increase this distant feeling? There is a portion of this book that I felt to be very symbolic that no other reviews have seemed to touch upon- that being the metaphor about the fig tree. Sylvia stated that "From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and wrinkled." All of these figs were different routes in her life that she could take- a plethora of opportunities before her that began to tear her apart. Yet again- there is references to the trapping of her soul inside of her own brain and thoughts. Inside the bell jar. As the denouement approaches, Sylvia's character of Esther is sent to an asylum for a depressive mental breakdown that has been foreshadowed to the reader through out the book. Here she remains in a world that is new to her- a world of electroshock therapy, various asylums, and an increased state of self-dissatisfaction. This book took the reader on a real life journey through the life of novelist/poet Sylvia Plath- from her odd obsession with the Rosenbergs, to the last lines of her 'note on the book' "to the person in the Bell Jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world it self is a bad dream."
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Summary: I've always felt this book is misunderstood.
Review: Frequently, when I read about The Bell Jar, reviewers caomment on the parallels between Esther, and the author. Then they proceed to describe the book's harrowing descent into madness. I almost hate to burst the bubble, but after reading the book, I find it to be widely misinterpreted. The book is not about Esther's problems, but the problems of the world about her. When Plath wrote the book, she did so under a pseudonym. Not only, (as many suggest,) to avoid the ire of her friends, whose loosely drawn chariactures pepper this book, but also because of it's biting censure of her male oriented society. I have NO DOUBT in my mind that when Plath wrote the Bell Jar, she had no intentions of killing herself. I think the work should be viewed in that light, and when one does, it takes on a different, and far more profound meaning. Plath still needed to work in her time, so (In my opinion,) she wrote the Bell Jar to attack the restircted role of a woman in society, and she conveniently provided an out for any harsh critic, anmely, that the main character is insane. To read it now, and interpret the main character as an insane, or unreliable narrator does a great disservice to what Plath intended for this work. Plath, like Esther, was perhaps the smartest woman in America during her time. She won countless scholarships, and like Esther, a guest editing slot at Mademoiselle. Now a woman of her talents would be at Harvard on a full ride, but during her day, Esther, and Plath could only hope to someday become the editor of a glamor mag, forever telling women how to tell if their lover is cheating. Not much of an existance for a bright young woman. Plath vents this frustration in the Bell Jar. Esther sees men all about her that will always be accepted, that will not be held back if they desire to become something irrational, or take on large career goals. I'm thinking specifically of the birth sequence in the middle, when Buddy and Esther watch Mrs Tomolino give birth to her child. A fat intern says that women shouldn't be allowed to watch a birth, otherwise there'd never be any children. (I am paraphrasing.) Implying their unfitness to be a doctor, (while his own obvious physical limitations are of course, ignored.) What a ridiculous notion. The men assume that Esther will not be able to stand watching the birth but she does well, noting the use of the drug. When she is told that it doesn't kill the pain, but only makes the woman forget it, Esther thinks that this is a perfect example of a man's drug. One that allows the pain to exist, but shuts it away in a dark tunnel, where someday it will rise to swallow the woman. (Again with the paraphrasing.) Other signs of this exist throughout the work. In fact, one can go as far as to say that every time her life is on track, or Esther is suceeding, the event is derailed in actuality, or symbolically, by man. (I've checked, and it is so.) The image of a bottled baby arises again and again, and Esther later states that she hates the role of mother, because of the restrictions it implies. To give in to the maternal impulse is to chain yourself to a child, to trap yourself, to become the bottled baby. Esther remarks that it is almost as if nature knew about the restrictive world of men, and it agreed, conspiring against her biologically as well. I think that perhaps the single most telling line in the book is delivered by Buddy, whom I saw as a representative of men in Esther's life. When Esther, and Buddy's earlier girlfriend both end up committed, Buddy asks if there is something about him that "drives women crazy. " If you read carefully, you'll note that Esther's doctor refutes the question, and dismisses it as a sort of casual "Of course not." Esther simply pushes some foam from the edge of her cup back into the coffee, and says nothing. Not because she agrees with the doctor... Else she would add her comments, but because he speaks the truth, and she knows affirming this will keep her in the asylum. There is much much more that the enlightened reader may discover on his or her own, and I recommend that everyone who has read this book in their adolescent fits of suicidal fantasy, should return to the work with an eye towards its social commentary. I think you'll find the work to be stimulating, and still (sadly) relevant today. I only wish that Plath had found the strength to live though her troubles. We would still be reading her book, and revering it as a classic, but uncolored by her own experiences, the book could be freed of our society's focus on Esther's suicide attempt, and more on the conditions that created it, which definitely were NOT in her head.
Rating: 
Summary: OK
Review: It was interesting and sad. I was expecting better becase I had heard so much about it. I loved all of Sylvia's metaphors and similes, the book is very well written, but it left me looking for more, for some kind of resolution.
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