This book proves Plath to be an undeniably talented writer. Her prose is honest and haunting and very addicting to read. She is obviously patient 0 for writing these indulgent, unhinged, unlikable women. I can see why people say this is a book for women in their 20s to read. There’s something so painfully relatable about Esther trying to figure out what she’s going to do with school and writing and the rest of her life. I appreciated the book for what it was as a classic and an important book in the “sad bitches against the void” genre that’s so popular now. 

But unfortunately, Plath was also extremely racist and homophobic and both of those elements popped up throughout the book, seemingly for no reason. If I was rating solely based on quality of the writing/story, it’d probably give it a 4 or 4.5, but based on my subjective enjoyment, I can’t give it anything higher than a 3 due to the pervasive problematic elements.