This is not an ordinary book. And the moment you pick it up, you agree that you will play by its rules - to believe completely and unbiasedly to what the narrator has to say. And to keep in mind that after all what one thinks or feels or says, no matter how true it may seem to them, doesn’t have to be real. The Bell Jar is a very psychological novel with an amazing grasp of detail. You have to really pay attention to those little things that you are told in order to comprehend the importance of the whole book. It is considered semi-biographical, as Sylvia Plath herself has been through some of the events described in it, and this is only another reason to really appreciate it.
There is an obvious story line - the rise, fall and redemption of the main character and narrator, but what I find fascinating is the way everything is told - with a painful but very honest simplicity that can almost mislead you to underestimate the importance of the events. And sometimes you can’t really understand the character or why she’s telling you this exact story from her past until it finally makes sense in a crucial moment and your heart clenches because you know what’s coming, but you can’t prevent it. And you can’t pity her either because she won’t let you, because she likes to think of herself as storng and independent even as she’s about to kill herself, and because she wants you to think that what’s happening to her or what’s happened to her is not important. And it’s amazing how you start playing by the rules of this made up character who lets you see everything but allows you to evaluate it only in her way. And you know that what happens is wrong but she makes it appear insignificant, and it almost does.
The broader picture that this book illustrates is also spectacular. The idea of the bell jar or the private world everyone lives in is fantastic. And little by little you start to see that this extraordinary story with events that wouldn’t happen to everyone is actually applicable to everybody, including you, no matter how different you consider yourself to be from the character.
The Bell Jar is a thoroughly fascinating read. I would recommend it to anyone who has something for psychology or painful idealism.
There is an obvious story line - the rise, fall and redemption of the main character and narrator, but what I find fascinating is the way everything is told - with a painful but very honest simplicity that can almost mislead you to underestimate the importance of the events. And sometimes you can’t really understand the character or why she’s telling you this exact story from her past until it finally makes sense in a crucial moment and your heart clenches because you know what’s coming, but you can’t prevent it. And you can’t pity her either because she won’t let you, because she likes to think of herself as storng and independent even as she’s about to kill herself, and because she wants you to think that what’s happening to her or what’s happened to her is not important. And it’s amazing how you start playing by the rules of this made up character who lets you see everything but allows you to evaluate it only in her way. And you know that what happens is wrong but she makes it appear insignificant, and it almost does.
The broader picture that this book illustrates is also spectacular. The idea of the bell jar or the private world everyone lives in is fantastic. And little by little you start to see that this extraordinary story with events that wouldn’t happen to everyone is actually applicable to everybody, including you, no matter how different you consider yourself to be from the character.
The Bell Jar is a thoroughly fascinating read. I would recommend it to anyone who has something for psychology or painful idealism.