Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Sylvia Plath CHRISTMAS EDITION

by Sylvia Plath, Christmas EDITION

English language

Published Dec. 24, 2018 by Independently Published.

ISBN:: 978-1-7906-0341-1

(98 reviews)

The Bell Jar is the only novel written by American poet Sylvia Plath. It is an intensely realistic and emotional record of a successful and talented young woman's descent into madness.

110 editions

Joy101 reviewed The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

None

No rating

(not provided)

Tereza reviewed Pod skleněným zvonem by Sylvia Plath

O depresi nedepresivně

4 stars

Jediné prozaické dílo básnířky Sylvie Plath je autobiografický román, který sleduje čerstvě dospělou Esther na její cestě do a z deprese.

TL;DR ➡️ Autentická výpověď o cestě depresí, která skvěle zachycuje drobné nuance toho, kdy deprese přichází. Naopak odchod deprese bych si ráda přečetla trochu rozvinutější.

Dlouho jsem čtení odkládala, protože sama se s depresemi a úzkostmi léčím a zrovna jsem měla trochu horší období, ale nakonec jsem zjistila, že se není čeho bát. I přes těžké téma to je kniha vlastně lehká, autorka se dokázala na pro ni velmi osobní téma podívat s nadhledem, s odstupem, věcně.

Četlo se to velmi dobře, během pár dní jsem měla přečteno. Velmi pozitivně mě překvapilo, jak se autorce podařilo v první části knihy nastínit začínající depresi jinak v běžném životě dospívající holky. Zajímalo by mě, jestli to dokázali postřehnout i čtenáři, kteří sami s depresemi zkušenost nemají.

Naopak mě zklamalo, že když …

Jediné prozaické dílo básnířky Sylvie Plath je autobiografický román, který sleduje čerstvě dospělou Esther na její cestě do a z deprese.

TL;DR ➡️ Autentická výpověď o cestě depresí, která skvěle zachycuje drobné nuance toho, kdy deprese přichází. Naopak odchod deprese bych si ráda přečetla trochu rozvinutější.

Naopak mě zklamalo, že když přijde ta hlavní depresivní epizoda, tak nějak nechává čtenáře tápat, je to docela zčistajasna. Zároveň mě mrzí, že jsem se nemohla podívat víc do hlavy hlavní postavy. Ačkoli kniha působí velmi opravdově, přišlo mi, že to všechno sledujeme spíš zvenku.

schreiblehrling reviewed Die Glasglocke by Sylvia Plath

None

2 stars

Dieses Buch ist das einzige von Sylvia Plath. Es erschien posthum und bevor ich schreibe, wie ich die Geschichte fand: Man muss wissen, dass Plath ihr Leben lang an psychischen Problemen litt und am Ende Suizid beging. Für die Geschichte ist das deshalb von Bedeutung, weil sie mehr oder weniger vollständig autobiographisch ist.

Wie der Autorin selbst ergeht es in der Geschichte der jungen Esther Greenwood: Sie erhält ein Stipendium und kann ein Volontariat in New York machen. Dort fühlt sie sich nicht wohl, zieht es aber durch. Dennoch endet sie am Ende in einer Klinik für psychisch Kranke und wird auch mehrere Suizidversuche unternehmen. All das ist der Autorin Sylvia Plath ebenso gegangen.

Beeindruckend fand ich, wie das Abrutschen in die Depression beschrieben ist. Das kann eigentlich nur jemand schreiben, der das selbst erlebt hat. Dennoch, und das finde ich wirklich sehr schade, hat mich die Geschichte die meiste Zeit über nicht mitgenommen. Bei ein-zwei ihrer Suizidversuche war ich ziemlich angefasst, aber als es die meiste Zeit um ihr Erleben der Umwelt geht, ließ ich das Hörbuch einfach leicht gelangweilt an mir vorbei ziehen. Ich finde das sehr schade, denn wir wissen: Sylvia Plath hat ihr Leben hier rein geschrieben, oder dramatischer ausgedrückt, ihr Schicksal.

Vielleicht liegt es daran, dass das Buch aus den 60ern ist, dass ich trotz der inhaltlichen Nähe zur Geschichte dennoch keinen richtigen Bezug dazu fand. Die Beschreibung der Elektroschocktherapie war grausam und ihre Angst davor fürchterlich, und auch wenn ich zwischendurch mitgefühlt habe, so konnte sich diese Emotion nicht recht stabil halten.

Also: Ich gehe mit gemischten Gefühlen hier raus. Ich weiß einerseits, dass das Schicksal der Autorin sehr eng mit diesem Buch verknüpft ist und ich bewundere sie dafür, dass sie so ehrlich und schonungslos über die Depression berichtet, wohlgemerkt in den 60er-Jahren. Andererseits hat mich die Geschichte nicht für sich gewinnen können, was ich bedauere, ich hätte es mir wirklich anders gewünscht.

M.Duritz reviewed Campana de Cristal / the Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Sí pero no pero sí

4 stars

A ver: entiendo porqué es un clásico y no puedo decir que no haya disfrutado de la lectura. Pero me la ha enturbiado el hecho de que la protagonista me ha parecido insufrible. Por otra parte, sé que está muymuyMUY basado en la vida de la propia Silvia Plath y creo que parte de la insufribilidad del personaje de Esther se debe a lo realista que es el discurso interno, y eso me parece una virtud. De hecho, las escenas me parecen tan originales que me lo creo si me dicen que todo pasó exactamente así. Otro pero: la nula transición entre escenas me ha sacado de la historia muchísimo. Sin embargo la continuidad del mensaje, desde spoiler la electocución de los Rosenberg hasta la terapia de electroshocks fin del spoiler, y la claridad de las causas->consecuencias de su derrumbe es perfecta. Y así podría seguir y seguir. En …

isa reviewed The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (Faber paper covered editions)

"Darkly Funny" is apt

4 stars

Content warning Mentions of depression and racism

Esther is an interesting but (in my eyes) unsympathetic character. She has a certain manipulative streak that unsettles me. But she makes up for it by being quite humorous at times, intentional or not. Sometimes I can't quite tell if she is self aware enough of herself.

Plath, however, is completely self aware. She inserts humour in unexpected places. She makes acute observations about the characters. She is a little cynical. It's evident that Plath is in a precocious place in her psyche. And she turns it into a beautiful work of art.

It would be remiss to praise Plath but not address her racism in this book. She continuously uses "Chinaman/woman" as descriptor and an insult. She writes a grotesque caricature of a Black man in one scene. It did not wholely take me out of the reading though, since it seems very in line with Esther's character, but it is something that should be taken note of since Esther is practically an avatar for Plath's own psyche.

As for how I felt about this book... I enjoyed it. There were a lot of moments where I inwardly cringed at Esther's behaviour. But I still found her character completely compelling. It was dark, yes. An accurate portrayal of depression, yes. And an interesting look into how mental health and women are treated in the 1950s. I feel like the end kind of went over my head and will need to read this again at one point.

Stephanie Jane reviewed The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (Faber paper covered editions)

Surprisingly matter of fact when describing horror

4 stars

I am lucky to have read The Bell Jar by choice, borrowing a copy from a friend who also loved the book, rather than having to read it for school and I think these different approaches significantly influence how people feel about Plath's semi-autobiographical novel. At the very beginning I was reminded of Rona Jaffe's The Best Of Everything which was written around the same time and also examines the lives of young women in New York. However it is Plath's rejection of society's restricted expectations for women which, for me, made The Bell Jar an interesting novel and The Best Of Everything seem somewhat vacuous.

I was surprised at Plath's matter-of-fact language, especially when describing some of the horrors of what passed for mental health care in 1950s America. I think it is this removal from herself which was the strongest symptom of her breakdown, but it made it difficult for me to get under the skin of her writing. I am used to more overt emotion. I found myself wondering how much of The Bell Jar was actually fiction and how much truth. Being always aware that Plath did commit suicide shortly after the book was first published coloured my reading of it, especially in scenes where Esther feels herself blocked from following her dreams due to her gender and where the opposite applies and she meets role model career women - writers, doctors, psychiatrists - but does not recognise the potential of their example, locked away as she is in her metaphorical bell jar.

Artem reviewed Sırça Fanus by Sylvia Plath (Can Yayınları 197)

Yazarın Kendi Hayatından Bir Parça

3 stars

Sylvia'nın kendi hayatını anlattığı bu roman, benim için ırkçı ve homofobik cümlelerle dolup taşmasa hayatımın merkezinde yer alabilirdi. Keza hala benim için önemli bir yere sahiptir bu kitap. "Sırça fanusun içinde ölü bir bebek gibi tıkanıp kalmış biri için, dünyanın kendisi kötü bir düştür."

Wolfie reviewed The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Review of 'The Bell Jar' on 'Storygraph'

No rating

After finishing reading I found out that it is a semi autobiographical story and that makes it difficult to rate because it is so introspective and personal

BOOitsnathalie reviewed The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Review of 'Bell Jar' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

My favorite book of all time. Bleakly funny, beautifully penned, a wonderful and horrible companion through so many years.

Erin reviewed Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath by Sylvia Plath

Review of 'Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

There was a lot I really enjoyed about this book. I think if I hadn’t known multiple people with depression, I’d be more annoyed by this book. I used to be far more impatient with depression, like most uninformed people are. I think Esther could easily be frustrating to read and unlikeable without some context.

One of the main problems with this book is some racism. I didn’t expect it, though I should have. It’s random, not constant, but it’s there. She’ll use other races or ethnicities as ways to describe ugliness or sickliness, unfortunately.

Esther has an interesting journey. It’s a slow descent, brought on I think by some quarter life crisis thoughts. She notes that she expected to not get into this writing course, which her future goals depended on. You get the sense that she told herself she was going to get in, was planning for it, but perhaps deep down felt it was unlikely and didn’t want to face that. But as her time in NYC passes, she has to start thinking about it.

I related to her feelings about doing well in school. I was a straight A student in undergrad. Once I got to grad school I had a realization that straight As don’t matter. No one’s going to care. My effort dropped. But in my case it was more a relief, less pressure on myself as I moved toward the finish line. In Esther’s case, it leads to her questioning whether anything matters. She’s sort of awakening to the emptiness of her goals, or the difficulty in achieving them, and it takes her on a downward spiral.

I was glad to read her come back out of it. She’s not suddenly a wonderful person

anka.trini reviewed Die Glasglocke by Sylvia Plath

Review of 'Die Glasglocke' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Mich hat Die Glasglocke in ihrer Erzählform und dem Stil stark an Romane wie Unterwegs von Jack Kerouack oder Der Fänger im Roggen von J.D. Salinger erinnert. Alle Protagonist*innen in diesen Büchern sind egozentrisch und unerträglich, aus heutiger Perspektive rückständig.

Nicht mein Fall.