The Bell Jar
Nov 2008 · Faber & Faber
4.4star
118 reviewsreport
eBook
240
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About this eBook
'A modern classic.' Guardian
'A near-perfect work of art.' Joyce Carol Oates
I was supposed to be having the time of my life . . .
Working as an intern for a New York fashion magazine in the summer of 1953, Esther Greenwood is on the brink of her future. Yet she is also on the edge of a darkness that makes her world increasingly unreal. Esther's vision of the world shimmers and shifts: day-to-day living in the sultry city, her crazed men-friends, the hot dinner dances . . .
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath's only novel, is partially based on Plath's own life. It has been celebrated for its darkly funny and razor sharp portrait of 1950s society, and has sold millions of copies worldwide.
ONE OF THE BBC'S '100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD'
'As clear and readable as it is witty and disturbing.' New York Times Book Review
Reader responses:
'Plath's underrated humour shines through this startling account of 1950s 'normality'.'
'Very readable, often darkly funny, and feels fresh.'
'Plath's masterpiece . . . It's amazing how relevant this book still is.'
'So enthralling . . . So thought provoking, so vivid, that it's thoroughly engrossing.'
'I just couldn't put it down.'
'Ever better than I expected.'
'A near-perfect work of art.' Joyce Carol Oates
I was supposed to be having the time of my life . . .
Working as an intern for a New York fashion magazine in the summer of 1953, Esther Greenwood is on the brink of her future. Yet she is also on the edge of a darkness that makes her world increasingly unreal. Esther's vision of the world shimmers and shifts: day-to-day living in the sultry city, her crazed men-friends, the hot dinner dances . . .
The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath's only novel, is partially based on Plath's own life. It has been celebrated for its darkly funny and razor sharp portrait of 1950s society, and has sold millions of copies worldwide.
ONE OF THE BBC'S '100 NOVELS THAT SHAPED OUR WORLD'
'As clear and readable as it is witty and disturbing.' New York Times Book Review
Reader responses:
'Plath's underrated humour shines through this startling account of 1950s 'normality'.'
'Very readable, often darkly funny, and feels fresh.'
'Plath's masterpiece . . . It's amazing how relevant this book still is.'
'So enthralling . . . So thought provoking, so vivid, that it's thoroughly engrossing.'
'I just couldn't put it down.'
'Ever better than I expected.'
Ratings and reviews
4.4
118 reviews
Keah Matthews
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9 September 2019
A difficult read. An insightful look into the poor woman's experience, however I feel that too much info is implied and context is lost within the time jumps of the book.
3 people found this review helpful
Katherine Strong
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28 June 2014
Harrowing read. If the purpose of reading is to make you think, move you, change you in some way, affect you, this book does just that. Deeply, deeply human, uncomfortably close to the knuckle for anyone who has suffered mental health issues, but very worthwhile read. Hesitate to say i enjoyed it, i didn't, but i knew that before i started it.
7 people found this review helpful
G Galea
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29 April 2019
Her soul laid bare in this neat, flowing masterpiece; Sylvia summons those who read her words from behind the bell jar wall. A glimpse into the pain of the eternally tortured, it educates, illuminates and causes discomfort associated with growth.
4 people found this review helpful
About the author
Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and studied at Smith College. In 1955 she went to Cambridge University on a Fulbright scholarship, where she met and later married Ted Hughes. She published one collection of poems in her lifetime, The Colossus (1960), and a novel, The Bell Jar (1963); Ariel was published posthumously in 1965. Her Collected Poems, which contains her poetry written from 1956 until her death, was published in 1981 and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry.
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