The Bell Jar

Sylvia Plath

1963

March, 2026

8/10

Every sentence in the book is a descriptive, expressive, emotional painting. It paints the picture of Esther perfectly, making it entirely possible to step into her mind and not just feel what she’s going through, but understand it.

The themes are of course very similar to Suicide, but the story is entirely different. And the story is told through the wandering, meandering mind which may at first seem a bit tangential but remains consistent enough to instead offer further insight and depth as well as making for simply an engaging and engrossing book.

The themes addressed are done so tactfully and brilliantly without any imposing. I wouldn’t call this a perfect book, but it comes very close. It reminds me of To the Lighthouse and even Ice to an extent, maybe because of the wandering storytelling. I suppose anyone who likes Anna Kavan or Virginia Woolf would enjoy this book. My one complaint is the language. Plath leaves out “simple” words like that rather often which sometimes came off as jarring to me, interrupting the reading flow. She also used a lot of language of the time period which is no fault but doesn’t leave an entirely timeless feeling. Minor complaints.