Reviews tagging 'Dysphoria'

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

15 reviews

abicaro17's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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

3.0

Eh. This is probably the worst of the good books on mental health i've read. As someone who has read a lot of those books I feel pretty qualified to say that. Esther is a suburban girl taking a trip to New York, after she finds out she didn't make the writing class she applied for and spirals. Conceptually this works fine I think it was just written poorly. The whole New York bit doesn't add anything story wise and Esther is pretty un likable. She doesn't learn anything and the end seems pretty loose. Just doesn't hold up against others Ive read. 

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star_lost_fairy's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-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

2.75

It reads very easily but I did't get the intention behind the book, to me it felt very empty. Had it been more of a social commentary I think I wiuld have liked it more but it was cery supwrficial on a lot topics so I don't know what to think about it. For me it's not a memorable book. 

Also there is a very long list of trigger warning, I put all the ones I remembered in my post.

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hannahcstocks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative 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? It's complicated

4.0


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mermaidread's review against another edition

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

4.0


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torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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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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stilestastic's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

2.0


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mawar12's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

  probably  one of the first books I added content warning to. the main character is kinda an asshole. she is so rude to her mom who is coming just so she can have her daughter a present. do you know how many mom's don't even care about their daughters mental health and just dismiss it? her mom's a hero. not perfect but she did what she can.

then she judges buddy for what he did in high school. like c'mon now. 

MC also was so negative that it's so draining to read this book. I get it, that's what happened with people with depression. but that doesn't mean that everytime a good thing happened and my heart was filled with hope, the MC had to say something to view it as negative. it doesn't make for a good reading experience to me.
every person that came and visit her was viewed negatively, every kindness and people asking her to go out with them was framed negatively. I think the only person kind to her that the MC actually loves and gave it right back was Doctor Nolan.
MC also didn't care when she wanted to steal diamond from someone , told Joan rudely out of nowhere Joan made her puke. it's like she judges people that are rude to her but apparently she can also be rude to people tht aren't that rude to her first.

The shock therapy was shockingly scary and im glad that kinda wasn't a huge thing anymore. 

also im surprised people still use telegram in 1950s to early 1960s.

Joan's death is shocking because look perfectly fine the day before her death.


some of the mental health facilities were pretty nice in the book , it's like a hotel with nurses giving you food in your room.

I'm glad that the MC is able to get better but still have questions and she didn't just magically be like all is well, which is pretty accurate for mental health patients.

Her trying to off herself was really triggering and I hate when Buddy asked who wanted to marry her now that she's been in a mental health facility. I know that the MC also has been rude to Buddy because she wrote a rude letter to him while he was suffering with TB, but still tqhat rude of him.

quiet sad that the friends of MC in earlier part of the book weren't as mentioned anymore later in the book.

Overall it's an okay book I like how the writing takes you into the story. can be quiet overdescriptive for me at times. But the MC being so negative was so draining. at least with 'Catcher in the Rye' or cPerks of being a wallflower' they have something else that can keep the tone more fast paced. it just feels like you saying something positive but a person will say something negative back so much so it drains you. But honestly I feel like the book is over hyped. I get the feeling the reason it being hyped was because it agrees with the 'popular' views of some of the western world today. which is the negatives of marriage, how 'women don't need no man' and 'religious people bad and judgemental'.  it hardly is the greatest book ever. it's okay but definitely not great.

some opinions too on MC's thoughts:


First of all, you need to understand why people that defend chastity think the way they do. and you have to look at all angles and met with more people. if you judge people that chose chastity by what one Organisation says then of course you're going to have a bad view of it. think for yourself, is it factually correct and is it proven by data and experience that guarding chastity was actually good?

second of all the girl didn't even hang out with the right person. sure you can be chaste but obviously if you are around toxic men that's hard. hang out with people that think like you or positive people. why do you join people having parties if you want to be chaste? s*x is a beautiful thing that can create life so why waste it on people you aren't serious with?

just because one guy is being fake doesn't mean all people who think chastity is good think like him.
like how not all atheists think like Karl Max.

this also applied to religion. often times this book frame religious people as having less appealing characteristics and even generalized Catholics. which is surprising why so many like this book. I'm pretty sure if the word catholic was changed to the word 'LGBT' the TikTok algorithm wouldn't have hyped this book but would burn it to the ground. the treatment of religion in this day and age is horrible. I know many good religious people that are both good and religious but these people didn't seem to exist in the book.

I also don't like it when it tried to simplify marriage as  'women cool men work'. these husbands and wives do so for their kids and for their family, not just because society told them to. you must understand why things happened and why people think that way and if it's more right for the  society and yourself. if not, you would spend time judging Catholics based on one organization you came across or basing whether you want to keep virginity or not on whether what one  guy does with his.this is what's wrong with the MC's thoughts.

exploring other religion other than Christianity may also help and learning about them rather than just basing it on one view. 

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freyaboobac's review

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dark emotional 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

2.5


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fleursreads's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense slow-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

it's a book you have to be in the right mental space to enjoy

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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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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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