The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (2013-11-07) Hardcover – 23 Oct 2013

This is a hard book to review. I'd wanted to read it for ages but shied away because of my own mental health problems. Seeing the film Sylvia on tv recently and documentary curiosity finally got the better of me and I ordered the kindle version.Uplifting it certainly isn't and disturbing, I found it so in places but I did read it in a couple of days as I felt I needed to get to the end.Honestly it left me cold. Had Sylvia Plath lived would she be the icon she has become in death? I'm not sure. She could certainly write and of course Esther really is mostly living Sylvias own life experiences. They say write what you know and Sylvia Plath certainly did that.I wish I could give this book a more positive review and it may be cool to idolize Sylvia Plath but it wasn't really for me nor do I consider it suitable reading for young vulnerable people struggling with mental health issues.I'll go back to my chick lit and period dramas and keep MYSELF relatively sane.

A precious record of an era. The neat suited, fine gloved , high heeled and hatted fashion victims who aspired as much to the perfect family scenario as to a n office based career, give way unexpectedly to young women in psychiatric limbo fighting ultimately for their lives. Anyone familiar with the author's biography will recognise many of the characters for it is a pretty true bill account of her own experience but beautifully voiced as an innocent abroad albeit a bold sometimes precocious one. Even under treatment for her peculiar psychosis she retains that bright wit and gives a classic account of the doctor patient interdependence and the chasm between them while passively dismantling the whole Freudian development based psychology cum early brain science that she was pitted against. She seems to recover parallel to rather than through treatment and at the end , what many see as an optimistic finale could be read as a detached .almost querulous approach to the next day and the next... But ultimately Plath's underrated humour shines thru this startling account of 1950s 'normality'.

THE BELL JAR offers a unique insight into the unravelling of a fragile mind. It is a breathlessly authentic and ultimately readable ride into the darkest places someone can go. The book is made all the more distressing by the fact the main character of Esther seems so obviously Plath herself; we are the ultimate voyeurs as she cuts herself off from everyone around her. With hindsight we can guess at how Plath's own suicide came about, after the multiple failures of her loved ones to understand what she was going through; plus the system's own failure to treat her and many others like her via ECT, insulin shock therapy, lobotomies and more barbaric practices. But perhaps most striking is Plath herself: her seemingly paradoxical thoughts are so well drawn. Her desire to be heard, yet also to hide; her desire to be comforted, yet also shook up; plus her cries for help, versus her spite and even cruelty illustrate how misunderstood depression is, even four decades later. This is required reading for anyone who's ever had to suffer from mental health difficulties, or known someone who has - basically, every one of us.

There’s not much about this book that hasn’t already been said. It’s amazing how relevant this book still is when it comes to what women want for themselves, what society expects from and wants for them, and the confused state this leaves them in.Esther’s not quite feeling happy and satisfied since the beginning of Plath’s only novel, and the very ominous “I was supposed to be having the time of my life” immediately creates a feeling of unease. Her descent into depression is honestly depicted and brutal; it creates a knot in your stomach because it is so personal and relatable.The struggle with herself and her reluctant, but fiercely human survival instincts (“[…] my heartbeat boomed like a dull motor in my ears. I am I am I am”), the expectations, the desire for independence, the frustration and the eventual numbness is not other-worldly. Instead, it is intimate and honest.The road to recovery is slow, and Esther’s suspiciousness towards her support system and her own self is masterfully portrayed by someone who has clearly been through the experience. “How did [she] know that someday […] the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn’t descend again?”I wish I had studied this book at uni, so I could write essays on Plath’s masterpiece and its themes of feminism and depression. But, then again, I would not have been mentally or emotionally ready for it.

I hated this book until I think half way through...Before then she was horrible. Nasty to everyone and judgemental. After a horrible event, the nasty judgemental comments calmed down and the focus went to her sanity. It went dark but I loved it. It was fascinating and I was hooked. I have depression myself so I could relate to the pain which I think helped me empathise with her more. I just wish the first half had been shorter.

I decided to read this wonderful book after coming across Plath's unkempt and neglected grave in Heptonstall churchyard, and I was immediately drawn in . This is prose writing at it's absolute best, and however distressing the content of the book may be , you can't fail to be impressed by the masterful use of English by this unbelievably gifted young woman. I went on to read Sylvia's journal, and at that point it became obvious that you can substitute the name Esther for Sylvia - they are one and the same. I've felt compelled to read much of the other prose and poetry she wrote in her tragically short life and can totally understand why she's regarded as one of the greatest writers of twentieth century literature.