Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

The Bell Jar: 50th Anniversary Edition by Sylvia Plath

61 reviews

carlota00's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

isabelsb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicide and Vomit

hallenoelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I have always been deeply interested in the idea of the “mad woman” and how has society treats women with mental illnesses throughout history. The Bell Jar is a raw, disturbing, and realistic depiction of what so many women went through and why. The turn from the fun and youthful vibe at the beginning to the gut-wrenching plot twist had me captivated. I could not give this book 5 stars, however, because of the incomplete romance(ish) with Buddy Willard and because of how problematic this book is today. Not really a spoiler but warning anyway for the next sentence!

I hate when a character hates another character and we never find out why and that is exactly the case with Buddy and Esther

. This book has countless moments of racism that really took me out of the story and made me super uncomfortable. And lastly, please do not read this book unless you are POSITIVE you can handle it. It is full of triggers for those who have struggled with mental illness, grief, SA, EDs, and suicidal thoughts. Please read with caution - but if you are interested in women’s history and feminist literature I would recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

risisreading's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

megbriers'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

 pretty descriptive language and mental health issues with a sprinkle of homophobia and racism. make sure to check tws before starting.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racism, and Vomit

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

i really wanted to love this. however, some parts of the book felt unnecessary to the story and Esther was just not a good person which made this so unenjoyable for me. despite her mental illness there was no reason for her to be so incredibly nasty to everyone around her. and her character targeting and physically abusing the only person of color and calling them slurs… for what? there was absolutely no reason for all of her rude actions especially considering how privileged she was. it did adequately portray the mental unraveling of a women in her early adulthood but it outshined by how awful her character was in my opinion. i was so disappointed :((( 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Classism

mattmanningg's review against another edition

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

5.0

Such a beautifully written book, very disturbing (like very very in my opinion) but also sort of hopeful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

saradanese's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual content and Medical content

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Racism

juliabaldwin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.25

I went into this read really wanting to love it, but it fell flat for me. It was hard to follow half the time, and I had a hard time keeping track of the timeline. Sylvia Plath is a great writer and is very good at complex metaphors, which is something I usually love in books, but The Bell Jar specifically was just okay, nothing spectacular. I felt as though other writers have tackled very similar subject matter in books that spoke to me significantly more than this one. Overall, it had its good points and fully earned the 3.25 I gave it, but I was left disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

emwinters's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent