The Bell Jar: A Novel by Sylvia PlathMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This one is a reread, the first time was pre-Goodreads. I picked it up the second time because my ERTBM group chose it as a monthly selection and it checks off a box on the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.
I feel like I should say something profound but I'm stumped. Sylvia Plath's first (only?) novel is the story of a young woman's descent into madness. Esther Greenwood has a bright future ahead of her until mental illness creeps in and she becomes suicidal. In the beginning, Esther is in New York working for a prestigious magazine. Things are going great until they aren't. Which I imagine is how mental illness (is it bipolar disorder here - it never really says) works. Esther has suicidal ideations and then attempts to kill herself but is found by her mother and institutionalized. Treatment consists of shock and insulin therapy. In the end, is she cured or isn't she? We never really know and given that the author committed suicide at an early age and the novel is judged to be at least semi-autobiographical I would say not.
The result is a very sad, poignant, and haunting story that isn't without humor. Plath handled the subject incredibly well.
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