book nook: the bell jar

the bell jar
sylvia plath

after living a mere 5 minute walk away from our local library in "the sogs" (for more than half a year), i finally went and signed up for a library card. after searching the catalogue, i found that all my 'books on tap' were unavailable. boo. luckily not all was lost as, after poking through bookshelves, i found a few that seemed interesting enough. "the bell jar" was the first i tackled of the three.

this book is a semi-autobiography written by sylvia plath which follows esther greenwood. it basically chronicles her depression, breakdown, suicide attempts, and subsequent institutionalization. the book is well-written and really liked how it highlighted the experience of living with a mental illness rather than the mental illness itself (if that makes any sense). i also really liked how things were described - everything was so poetic. i found it a little confusing to follow at times as esther's thought process seemed to jump here, there, and everywhere, but this was probably intentional to give the reader a sense of esther's experience, so i guess this was actually a good thing.

generally, i thought this book was good and finished it pretty quickly. it's explores some pretty dark (but real) topics so in this sense it may not be for everyone, but overall it's a good read.