Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

La campana de cristal by Sylvia Plath

189 reviews

matcha_cat's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Suicide

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

katie69's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

hannahnwalding's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

fruitsaladsk's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The story on it’s own was good, very interesting and reflective, quite relatable. Though there were a lot of blatantly racist moments that were quite off putting.

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Content Warnings

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

picnicatthehangingtree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.75

Docking .25 stars for the racism and homophobia. Otherwise this is a near perfect book for me, I’ll be thinking about it for a long time. I think 25 was a really good age to read it at - that feeling of not knowing what the future holds and having to make your way forward despite all the uncertainty really hit for me. This is such an incredible portrait of life with depression, but with such a hopeful ending for a path moving forward whilst holding space for it as a part of you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Confinement, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Infidelity and Pregnancy

grey_writes_love's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

3.25

I would not have finished this book if it was not assigned to me. I never had any reason to root for Esther, or even to like her, save that the alternative was her death. Also, the consistent racism was a huge turnoff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Medical content, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death, Incest, Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

sukidookie's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, originally written under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas, is a rapid and unhinged descent into madness. From the very start of the novel, something was off about Esther’s internal monologue. It was like there was a deep undercurrent of sadness and bitterness, mainly directed at her college friends, but also at herself and what was expected of her. Esther craved academic validation, as well as social validation, but in a very abnormal way, as if she was trying to capture something that was constantly eluding her — something that would make her finally, truly, happy. 

Unfortunately, many things were not on Esther’s side — the patriarchal social system of the early 1960s, and the barbarian way they treated mental health patients (inducing lobotomies, and inducing a seizure through electric shock therapy; I can’t believe they still do that today, and it supposedly is effective?) It was sad, and strangely communal, to watch Esther buckle and cripple under the weight of her social injustices. I thought it was masterful how Sylvia portrayed women’s issues in the early 1960s. The presence of the woman-hater, the hypocritical way Buddy spoke to her about marriage and purity, her bitter insights into how her friends acted around other men, (Doreen and Lenny, for example), and watching her female friends go through the same things as her (Joan’s suicide). No wonder Esther could not choose a fig from the tree; how could she, when the shape of her body would not let her even reach the branches?

At the end of the novel, and after many suicide attempts, Esther must be put on trial before a team of doctors to determine if she is fit to return to society. It’s not written what happens, whether she is cured or not, and in my particular copy of The Bell Jar, the following 10 pages were completely blank. I didn’t know if this was on purpose or not, but I thought it very poetic and fitting. I learned that Sylvia Plath, just a few weeks after publishing The Bell Jar — her only novel — committed suicide by sticking her head in an oven. I wonder if she planned on killing herself all along, while writing the book, and The Bell Jar is both a cry for help and her suicide note. 

Sylvia’s death is a testament to ongoing women’s issues in America, even today, 60 years later. I am so very sorry, Sylvia Plath, that you and many other women like you did not get the help you needed. Rest in peace. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Vomit, and Suicide attempt