I read The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, and it messed me up. The whole book had such a depressing atmosphere that I could never read it for longer than thirty minutes straight. That didn't matter much, though, because I'd just take a break and come back to it fifteen minutes later. Esther, its main character, falls into a pit of mental despair during her New York internship. She starts toying with the idea of suicide, and ultimately does end up attempting to kill herself. The rest of the book focuses on her treatment. It's strongly based off of Plath's experience with her own mental troubles.
The novel appears to end in a mildly optimistic tone. Its most positive and famous quote certainly sounds optimistic, and is cited as such frequently - "I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart: I am, I am, I am."
The optimism is lost on me. Sylvia Plath killed herself a month after this book was published. Esther's treatments included electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and spending weeks in hospitals that mostly isolate you from the real world. This seems to be very similar to the treatment that Plath herself received. This is garbage treatment. ECT is effective, but Esther's issues seemed to be caused from her total disconnect and inability to relate to everyone around her. What does this treatment do to fix that? How can Esther ever feel better in the long term when she walks out feeling just as disconnected as she did before, with even more of her relationships fractured? This treatment didn't save Plath, so how could it ever save Esther?
I can write forever about this book, but I don't think it's necessary. This book is honest, and it made me be honest too. Please consider "And the cat screamed" to be the rest of my book review. I have never been able to fully write down the details of the events that day until finishing The Bell Jar.
One last note: This is the one and only novel that Plath wrote. Plath, I deeply apologize to you. I do not like poetry, so I have not read any of your poetry just yet. I will try when I have less on my list of books to read. However, she did write something else of interest - a thesis on Dostoevsky's use of doubles in The Brothers Karamazov and The Double. This thesis is impossible to find. There are only 226 physical copies, as far as I can tell, and no publicly available e-copies. God did I look for e-copies. Buying a copy will run you at least 500 dollars. But, through magical and mysterious means, I was able to get a copy. I saw a few other people on the Internet begging for a copy too, so hopefully this helps you.
Enjoy reading "The Magic Mirror: A Study of the Double in Two of Dostoyevsky's Novel's" :D
