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A review by venusinlove
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
i feel like for so many people this book is groundbreaking but i was more lost than entertained while reading it. for more than half of the book i wondered why am i reading this? what's the point? where is this plot taking me? then i realised the answer was nowhere. this book is the epitome of "no plot just vibes" to me. and that's not necessarily bad but it wasn't what I'm looking for in a book, I'm sorry.
also the fast that everywhere in the reading sites it says that The Bell Jar is literally is kind of misleading because i found out in the middle of the book that a big portion of it is actually autobiographical??? now, what the fuck? that revolution literally saved the book for me (and the last third of the book itself too ngl). but i swear, this pretty little book almost put me in a slump and i had to start other books to avoid that. it was really slow and i'd say quite boring. the language was magnificent, i loved it but the way it was interpreted was not that good. i found it messy and really confusing which messed up my reading process simply because i didn't know what i was reading and why, really!
i usually don't need that much from a book to satisfy me, especially from classics - i try to give them sort of the benefit of the doubt, i know writing now has improved a lot so I'm doing my best in being tolerant. however, here it is a question of a timeline and maybe some more description of the characters? i don't know why i didn't like it so much. i feel bad for giving it a bad review but i cannot give it a higher rating.
plath will always have my respect, especially after reading this book and realizing that it was her as the protagonist(!) but I'm basing this book on overall vibes. it was a fascinating book from the point of a mentally unwell person. i really appreciated that and i think it's actually quite hard to put out such a book - it's really person if not anything else. i hope everyone who hurt her suffered. :) i think that's all i have to say. i have much respect for miss plath, she's an icon and i'll forever be grateful to her for inspiring taylor swift, too. lol.
I'm having trouble rating this book, ugh. I'm trying to decide if it's closer to 4* or 3* and i think i know my answer. I'm reading books so i could have fun and this one was not fun at all. :(
also the fast that everywhere in the reading sites it says that The Bell Jar is literally is kind of misleading because i found out in the middle of the book that a big portion of it is actually autobiographical??? now, what the fuck? that revolution literally saved the book for me (and the last third of the book itself too ngl). but i swear, this pretty little book almost put me in a slump and i had to start other books to avoid that. it was really slow and i'd say quite boring. the language was magnificent, i loved it but the way it was interpreted was not that good. i found it messy and really confusing which messed up my reading process simply because i didn't know what i was reading and why, really!
i usually don't need that much from a book to satisfy me, especially from classics - i try to give them sort of the benefit of the doubt, i know writing now has improved a lot so I'm doing my best in being tolerant. however, here it is a question of a timeline and maybe some more description of the characters? i don't know why i didn't like it so much. i feel bad for giving it a bad review but i cannot give it a higher rating.
plath will always have my respect, especially after reading this book and realizing that it was her as the protagonist(!) but I'm basing this book on overall vibes. it was a fascinating book from the point of a mentally unwell person. i really appreciated that and i think it's actually quite hard to put out such a book - it's really person if not anything else. i hope everyone who hurt her suffered. :) i think that's all i have to say. i have much respect for miss plath, she's an icon and i'll forever be grateful to her for inspiring taylor swift, too. lol.
I'm having trouble rating this book, ugh. I'm trying to decide if it's closer to 4* or 3* and i think i know my answer. I'm reading books so i could have fun and this one was not fun at all. :(