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A review by freya_glu
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
4.0
*if you’re a young person struggling with mental illness, don’t read this, it won’t help you it will just make you feel worse*
I’m not sure how i feel about this book.
Part of me really loved it- it’s so beautifully written and whilst it’s not an autobiography i think it’s incredibly honest and a deeply insightful story about mental illness and women’s struggles in the 1950s
I understand peoples issues with it but i don’t think we can judge older books by todays standards- that’s not to say this isn’t a problematic book, if you don’t want to read the racist and slightly homophobic comments then steer clear, they’re not as frequent as i’d expected but it does come up
I also don’t think this is a book young people should read, not because it’s graphic or anything but because i think teenagers nowadays (and in the past) have a tendency to romanticise mental illness and might misunderstand the true message of this book- this isn’t a story about an angsty teen who’s angry at the world, it’s about a young woman who’s struggling and nobody can see it
i’m saying this as someone who would have made this mistake if i’d read it a few years ago, at 18 im still not emotionally mature enough to really understand and appreciate a lot of things in this book so i’ll probably read it again in a few years and see how i feel
I’m not sure how i feel about this book.
Part of me really loved it- it’s so beautifully written and whilst it’s not an autobiography i think it’s incredibly honest and a deeply insightful story about mental illness and women’s struggles in the 1950s
I understand peoples issues with it but i don’t think we can judge older books by todays standards- that’s not to say this isn’t a problematic book, if you don’t want to read the racist and slightly homophobic comments then steer clear, they’re not as frequent as i’d expected but it does come up
I also don’t think this is a book young people should read, not because it’s graphic or anything but because i think teenagers nowadays (and in the past) have a tendency to romanticise mental illness and might misunderstand the true message of this book- this isn’t a story about an angsty teen who’s angry at the world, it’s about a young woman who’s struggling and nobody can see it
i’m saying this as someone who would have made this mistake if i’d read it a few years ago, at 18 im still not emotionally mature enough to really understand and appreciate a lot of things in this book so i’ll probably read it again in a few years and see how i feel