The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath is about young Esther Greenwood and her struggles with depression. It takes place over one summer between two of her years at college and provides an in-depth look at Esther and her depression. The story opens on Esther in New York as she works with a publishing company, probably as an intern, and explores how she starts to feel disconnected from the world around her. Over time she starts to feel lethargic and showcases little motivation to do much of anything. This gradually gets worse and by the time she heads home to spend the rest of the summer with her family Esther is routinely wondering what exactly it is she is doing here. It is this thought that starts her spiraling into general thoughts of leaving and suicide. The story also chronicles her struggles with trying to get help and get better so as to live a more normal life.
The Bell Jar is a fascinating depiction of what it is like to struggle with chronic depression. At the same time it is a fascinating depiction of the mental health field at the time it was written, in the 1960’s. This was a time when getting the kind of help that Esther needed was often frowned upon and the professional help did not always help, and sometimes made it worse. Knowing that the author, Sylvia Plath, struggled with chronic depression herself lends an air of authority to the depiction of Esther and her struggles. The inability to care about much of anything that Esther so often showcases makes one wonder how exactly was Sylvia able to write such an incredible story if she so often felt the same way. This book was incredibly well written and really allows the reader to connect to Esther and through her with Sylvia Plath herself. As such, this book rightly earns its place as a modern classic. I think this book gets four out of five stars.
I know this book is often considered controversial, despite its status as a modern classic, due to the subject matter. Even taking that into consideration I still would recommend that everyone read this. The Bell Jar is a book that deals with a relatively difficult subject matter but one that people still need to be aware of. Trying to pretend mental illness, such as depression, doesn’t exist actually makes it worse. It is because of this that I recommend the book. I struggled with reading this book and for the most part I did not enjoy it but I still genuinely think I gained something from having read it. It allowed me to have greater insight into what people with depression may be actually experiencing, in doing so it allows me to have greater empathy with people who may have that. I am not going to tell everyone to immediately go out and buy a copy of the book, but I will suggest that if you have the opportunity and you have access to a copy, go ahead and read it. Not everyone likes reading the difficult books but I really think that sometimes we need to challenge ourselves by purposely reading those difficult books. If anyone else has read this feel free to share your thoughts in the comments. As always, I look forward to reading them.