isa reviewed The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (Faber paper covered editions)
"Darkly Funny" is apt
4 stars
Content warning Mentions of depression and racism
Esther is an interesting but (in my eyes) unsympathetic character. She has a certain manipulative streak that unsettles me. But she makes up for it by being quite humorous at times, intentional or not. Sometimes I can't quite tell if she is self aware enough of herself.
Plath, however, is completely self aware. She inserts humour in unexpected places. She makes acute observations about the characters. She is a little cynical. It's evident that Plath is in a precocious place in her psyche. And she turns it into a beautiful work of art.
It would be remiss to praise Plath but not address her racism in this book. She continuously uses "Chinaman/woman" as descriptor and an insult. She writes a grotesque caricature of a Black man in one scene. It did not wholely take me out of the reading though, since it seems very in line with Esther's character, but it is something that should be taken note of since Esther is practically an avatar for Plath's own psyche.
As for how I felt about this book... I enjoyed it. There were a lot of moments where I inwardly cringed at Esther's behaviour. But I still found her character completely compelling. It was dark, yes. An accurate portrayal of depression, yes. And an interesting look into how mental health and women are treated in the 1950s. I feel like the end kind of went over my head and will need to read this again at one point.
