Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

95 reviews

curiouspoet's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book gave me an insight on myself but from a more extreme point (the point I nearly lead myself into). So this book even tho it was really sad and depressing, made me actually meet myself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Overall, if you want to crush yourself pick this

lolra's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

shoelr's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Don't read this book if you are currently experiencing depression. 

Also, note it was published in the 60s so parts of it will be quite dated and racist. 

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It was painfully relatable. lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racism and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Medical content

aggie2010's review

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Lesbophobia

my_weird_bookish_heart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

l1ttle_f0x's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Body shaming and Death of parent

dmackreads's review against another edition

1.0

Frances McCullough’s Foreword at the beginning of this book is the most interesting part of it. Personally I think he should have left it where he found it. 

The reason I didn’t dnf this is because the author is dead (actually by suicide) and I thought it quite rude to do so. Now some may say my rating is rude but I suffered through 244 pages of something that I should have, in fact, marked off as a dnf because this is my first ever 1★ rating. Of course I also was trying to see what everyone else was seeing, that maybe I wasn’t, to warrant over a million reviews, over 3 million copies sold since it was released, and an average rating of over 4★s. I just didn’t find it.

The writing is subpar at best. The synopsis says, “Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the readers in” I’m sorry, who and how? I felt zero connection to the characters or the story. I understand it follows a very dark, heavy, sad, emotional topic and that’s about the only thing that kept any ounce of my interest.

I read 154 pages of what felt like “fluff” to me. There is far too much unnecessary information and I say that because it either tells me absolutely nothing of importance or doesn’t do its job to draw you in or connect you to the characters. This book is only 244 pages long and it took me until I was 65% of the way in for something to trip me up into feeling anything at all. Personally I feel if you are going to write a book like this and it’s a short book, you need to captivate a reader within 20 pages or less. Not only that but the last 50 or so pages where there was the most happening at once, is what needed to be drawn out the most. Something would happen or be said and then 2 pages later it was like I missed a step because we jumped from point A to point B so quickly that it was a missed opportunity to really get us feeling something and deeply attached. 

I’ve come to the conclusion that you can be manipulated by an author to believe a book is good if it’s about certain topics. This is one of those books. Because of course the topic is sad and you feel compelled to think it’s good.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

armadillopickleman's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Pregnancy

Minor: Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

katanai's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

i think the last quarter of this book really boosted my rating. honestly, there were several times i put this book down & considered placing it in DNF. the racist remarks were something that i was utterly unprepared for & they had no place in this book. it was just odd how racist & homophobic plath was. anyway, besides that, the first half of this book was quite boring, & i felt as if her descent into madness was a little out of nowhere. but then, sometimes, that's how madness happens, unfortunately. i did tear up at some points during her stay at the mental health institutions but i think i just got triggered due to personal connection to people who have been at institutes. also, the protagonist was just... unlikeable & not in a good way. i can see why it's a classic, but at the same time, i think it is a little overhyped. glad to just finally be done.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Sexual harassment, and Classism

emerlees's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail