Today I finally finished The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, originally published in 1963. I must admit that my personality makes loving Plath and her works very easy. Either way, if you like to read and you are a college student, I would recommend this book. Not only is Plath’s style of writing fantastic, but I felt completely connected to Esther and her experiences (even though I don’t exactly think of myself as a suicidal poet). The story also takes the reader through some pretty awkward and funny scenes, including a first kiss, making friends in an asylum, and a few failed attempts at seducing men. Esther is a very recognizable character despite her descent into insanity.
This is a pretty common photo of Sylvia Plath but I really like it so I’m including it anyway.
There are definitely many ways to interpret this book. I read it with a feminist lens. The main character, Esther, seems to realize that her world and her surroundings aren’t exactly fit for her (or possibly her gender). She sees after a while that she cannot “have it all” in her society the way she thought was possible, then decides she’d rather be somewhere else, namely wherever people go after they die. The book of course is much more complicated than that simple interpretation and lends itself to a lot of dissecting, which I invite everyone to do! I would recommend this book to people who like stories about mental health, suicide, and asylums. I would also recommend this book to people who feel complicated or torn or lost a lot of the time. The Bell Jar won’t make you feel less lost or crazy or weird but it will definitely provide you with a cool lady with whom you can identify. I’m glad I didn’t read this book in high school and I definitely think college students are a good audience for the book, maybe because the main character is a college student herself.
There are sad, funny, confusing, and beautiful moments in The Bell Jar. Plath describes the feeling of isolation perfectly and even though Esther needs help getting back on her feet, her actions and feelings are defended and understood. I also enjoyed the book’s lack of resolution or hope. That’s not to say that there aren’t happy, positive moments in the novel. I just found Esther to be a very recognizable, human character and I found her story to be touching and true.
When reading this, I tried not to compare the events in the book with actual events that happened in Sylvia Plath’s life, but it’s very difficult not to if you’ve read about her. Either way, I think you should read this book and then find me to discuss it because I definitely found it complicated and full of potential dissection. If you liked this book I suggest you read Plath’s poetry. A personal favorite activity of mine is to read “Lady Lazarus” out loud in a very ominous, loud voice until my friends have “had enough.”
My rating: 8/10
Play It as It Lays, by Joan Didion, follows Maria, an actress in Hollywood struggling to escape the tangle of pointlessness that her life has become. I enjoyed this novel, published in 1970, because Maria is by no means a likable character, but her internal journey became so important to me that I was desperate for her situation to improve. Though Maria tries to escape the mundane and oppressive reality that her Hollywood life becomes, blackmail and engrained societal norms within her stop her from making progress. The book can be a bit confusing at times, but it contains many striking images that left me thinking for a while. The fact that Maria resembles a washed out skeleton of a person really drew me to her more because she really doesn’t seem capable of fixing her situation. This is a book I plan on reading again. The book’s style makes it a quick read, but I found it easy to miss specific details.
(Actually) Lost in Translation 