Esther Greenwood is at college and is fighting two battles, one against her own desire for perfection in all things - grades, boyfriend, looks, career - and the other against remorseless mental illness. As her depression deepens she finds herself encased in it, bell-jarred away from the rest of the world. This is the story of her journey back into reality. Highly readable, witty and disturbing, The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's only novel and was originally published under a pseudonym in 1963. What it has to say about what women expect of themselves, and what society expects of women, is as sharply relevant today as it has always been.

 The Bell Jar is a modern classic set to remain at the forefront of fiction. Sylvia Plath wrote a desperate account of mental trauma which was consequently published only a few weeks before she committed suicide, making Esther’s troubles painstakingly real. This is a harrowingly deep and honest insight into the troubled mind and the journey towards breakdown. It would be a suitable A-Level text as it is technically well written and tackles a deep and personal subject. Studying this novel alongside her poetry would be an interesting perusal into the life and unique works of Sylvia Plath. I wouldn’t call this an enjoyable novel as it is, at times, hard to read due to the emotional subject matter, however it is an excellent and engaging narrative which deals well with the fragility of mental illness.

2008-08-10