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Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780061148514
ISBN number: 0061148512
Label: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 288
Printing Date: October 01, 2006
Publishing house: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
Release Date: October 17, 2006
Sale Popularity Level: 3418
Studio: Harper Perennial Modern Classics
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. In her acclaimed and enduring masterwork, Sylvia Plath brilliantly draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that her insanity becomes palpably real, even rational—as accessible an experience as going to the movies. A deep penetration into the darkest and most harrowing corners of the human psyche, The Bell Jar is an extraordinary accomplishment and a haunting American classic.
Amazon.com Review:
Plath was an excellent poet but is known to many for this largely autobiographical novel. The Bell Jar tells the story of a gifted young woman's mental breakdown beginning during a summer internship as a junior editor at a magazine in New York City in the early 1950s. The real Plath committed suicide in 1963 and left behind this scathingly sad, honest and perfectly-written book, which remains one of the best-told tales of a woman's descent into insanity.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I waited for almost 3 weeks to receive this book. The seller rated the book as very good and charged me about 5.00 plus 3.99 for shipping. All together my bill was 9.41; however, 3 weeks later I received a wrinkled covered and bent paged book with a charge of 1.00. The seller didn't apologize for the delay nor for the tattered book, and I never did see the missing four dollars. This was the very first time I have ever been disappointed with buying used books through Amazon.
Rated by buyers 
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One might think that a novel about a young college woman's experience with madness in the mid-20th century would come across as dated or even quaint. On the contrary, as I read I found myself nodding emphatically, and even calling up friends to tell them about passages I'd read that were particularly familiar. This reaction emphasizes The Bell Jar's staying power after half a century; any ambitious young woman who has struggled with anxiety about their future, or felt like a square peg in society's round hole, will find themselves identifying with this novel.
The story is heavy with the weight of the author's suicide; in fact, the novel is so close to Plath's own experiences that it wasn't published in the United States until after her death, as she was afraid of hurting the real-life people who were thinly veiled as characters in the novel. While the Bell Jar is an important novel in its own right, it will also give readers a more nuanced perspective on Plath's poetry.
The Bell Jar sheds light on psychiatric care in the 1950's, under the stifling expectations of a woman's role in post-war America. The novel explores themes of feminism and mental health without being didactic; Esther's insights feel relevant and real today, while revealing much about the society in which Plath herself came of age. Some find heroine Esther Greenwood's descent into mental illness to be depressing, but I found her story to be ultimately life-affirming; Plath avoids nihilism by not merely focusing on Esther's breakdown, but also her recovery.
You needn't have spent time under "the bell jar" (Plath's metaphor for the extreme anxiety and depression felt by the young protagonist) to appreciate this novel; Plath makes the workings of Esther's mind accessible and real. Plath's matter-of-fact style makes neurotic thoughts and suicide fantasies feel almost ordinary; Esther's struggles seem like a perfectly natural response to a world full of date hypocrites and phonies. Some readers may empathize more than others (a friend told me "it's like we all become our own version of Esther Greenwood while we're reading the book"), but it's difficult to be unaffected by what has become one of the most iconic novels about mental illness, feminism, and the youth experience.
Rated by buyers 
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I purchased the 25th anniversary edition after ready an bit of the new introduction, and was really excited to read the book and didn't think that I would be left feeling disappointed. I was wrong - the book seemed to drag, I found it rather fragmented, and just as the story started to get "good", I was at the end of the book, and found myself wanting more, when there was nothing more.
It is written well, but, I would have to say, I really don't understand what all the hype is about.
Rated by buyers -
I was hesitant to pick this up, but I am so glad I did. Plath beautifully wrote her story about a woman's undefinable mental battles combined with the demands of instant perfection from others (academically, socially, career-wise, and talent-wise), her own insecurities, and her own desires to be what she wanted on her own terms (something that didn't happen in her generation.) I could really relate to Esther in many ways, and I was swept away with the beauty in which it was written. It was interesting to be someone on the outside looking in on someone who was on the inside looking out. It was also interesting to get a glimpse of the struggle professional and intellectual women faced with the demands of 1950's housewife society. This was an amazing read.
Rated by buyers -
Before I go into criticism of The Bell Jar, I will say that Sylvia Plath is an excellent writer but you can tell she's more of a poet than a novelist. That having been said, I felt absolutely no connection with any of the characters in this novel. Esther just seems unsatisfied 24/7 and never wants to connect with anyone. The whole premise of the book is just dark, depressing, and disturbing. It sounds like Sylvia Plath wrote this like a personal diary and replaced her name with Esther Greenwood. While reading this, I was asking myself, "What goes on in this woman's mind and what makes her think this is alright to show to the general public?" Nobody wants to relax by reading a book about suicide, cutting yourself, depression, etc. This book is out-dated because the teenage suicide rates in the 1950s weren't as high as the ones yesterday which should give teachers a reason not to have students read this for an assignment. Plath tries to present suicide as a rational solution to any problem in "The Bell Jar." What if a person who has considered suicide read this book? This is NOT a classic at all. Classics have memorable stories and characters that we as the readers can connect to. "The Bell Jar" makes no connection at all to the reader. Sometimes authors have to know what their limits in writing are when it comes to what the general public wants to read. I don't recommend this book to anyone, especially those dealing with depression or any other similar problem.
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