"The Bell Jar" - Sylvia Plath

"The Bell Jar" - Sylvia Plath

 

"The Bell Jar" is about Esther, a simple girl in the 1970's who won a fashion magazine contest and was sent to a whole other world, New York. She stays in a women's only hotel with 12 other girls that won contests, including her roommate Doreen. The prize of the contest is that they all get jobs in New York for a month, expenses paid and free stuff galore. This was a chance of a lifetime, a chance to meet people in the field that they wanted to write about. Esther would soon find out that life in New York is nothing like she'd ever experienced before.

 

I am currently on chapter 4, out of 20, and I am pleasantly surprised by the tone of this book. When I first picked it up, I thought that the writing style would be a little less captive, a little slower paced. Instead, "The Bell Jar" is written from a first-person point of view. You are not given the name of the main character until the 3rd chapter. It is written to resemble a young woman, of around age 20, and does a fantastic job. Myself, being 25, can see myself saying and thinking some of the very same things that the girls in this book are saying and thinking.

 

So far the book is highly based around fashion, formality, and finishing school types of events. Those things are not particularly entertaining things for me to read about, but I am still enjoying the book for what it's worth. There are some unexpected moments, usually revolving around Esther's interactions with Doreen, that keep the book entertaining. It's an interesting diary-like book, and a fairly easy read. The chapters are short, and the language is plain. I'm reading it as a wind-down book before bed.