The Bell Jar

A ver: entiendo porqué es un clásico y no puedo decir que no haya disfrutado de la lectura. Pero me la ha enturbiado el hecho de que la protagonista me ha parecido insufrible. Por otra parte, sé que está muymuyMUY basado en la vida de la propia Silvia Plath y creo que parte de la insufribilidad del personaje de Esther se debe a lo realista que es el discurso interno, y eso me parece una virtud. De hecho, las escenas me parecen tan originales que me lo creo si me dicen que todo pasó exactamente así. Otro pero: la nula transición entre escenas me ha sacado de la historia muchísimo. Sin embargo la continuidad del mensaje, desde spoiler la electocución de los Rosenberg hasta la terapia de electroshocks fin del spoiler, y la claridad de las causas->consecuencias de su derrumbe es perfecta. Y así podría seguir y seguir. En fin, que está muy bien. pd: cabe decir que no me ha parecido tan deprimente como prometía, y mira que es crudo, pero lo de volverse loca con 19 años me es tan familiar y al mismo tiempo me resulta ya tan lejano que es como si la crudeza sucediera en otro plano desde el que puedo contemplarla tranquilamente

I am lucky to have read The Bell Jar by choice, borrowing a copy from a friend who also loved the book, rather than having to read it for school and I think these different approaches significantly influence how people feel about Plath's semi-autobiographical novel. At the very beginning I was reminded of Rona Jaffe's The Best Of Everything which was written around the same time and also examines the lives of young women in New York. However it is Plath's rejection of society's restricted expectations for women which, for me, made The Bell Jar an interesting novel and The Best Of Everything seem somewhat vacuous.

I was surprised at Plath's matter-of-fact language, especially when describing some of the horrors of what passed for mental health care in 1950s America. I think it is this removal from herself which was the strongest symptom of her breakdown, but it made it difficult for me to get under the skin of her writing. I am used to more overt emotion. I found myself wondering how much of The Bell Jar was actually fiction and how much truth. Being always aware that Plath did commit suicide shortly after the book was first published coloured my reading of it, especially in scenes where Esther feels herself blocked from following her dreams due to her gender and where the opposite applies and she meets role model career women - writers, doctors, psychiatrists - but does not recognise the potential of their example, locked away as she is in her metaphorical bell jar.

I must admit that I found this book slow at first. Luckily, I stick with it. I found Esther to be a really sad character. I could easily feel a lot what she felt, her fears were so real. I think a lot of us go through that I-want-everything phase so I identified with some aspects of her. I liked the simple way of writing, it wasn't fancy, it wasn't pretencious.

Even so, I feel sad after reading this book. But I also feel hopeful. I think that's the hope Sylvia wanted to have in her life but couldn't reach anyway. I am glad she gave hope to Esther. She killed me lots of times.