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Summary: Beautiful in every way
Review: I read this book for the first time this summer, and after I had read it I wished that I had read it sooner. Everything she wrote made perfect sense to me and it made me think a lot about my life and where I was going and the idea that I could be grossly underprepared for everything. If I have ever wanted to write like anyone it would be Sylvia Plath. Her life is tragic but it makes her work so much more compelling. Her novel helped millions of people except her. I recommend it be read.
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Summary: The mind inside a troubled teenager girl
Review: Plath wrote this book as an autobiography of herself. She displays insecurity from the start and her awkward personality makes it difficult for others to reach out to her. Finally, she falls into a deranged allusion, that is powerful more mentally than physically.
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Summary: Interesting but sad due to the knowledge that it was real.
Review: I found The Bell Jar to be an interesting overview of Plath's breakdown but the way her sorrow pulled you in was tremendously sad.The knowledge that her pain was real made it a true life horror story.A wonderful book, just not for rainy days.
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Summary: I was happy to read The Bell Jar.
Review: I have read the Bell Jar in high school about 5 years ago, when I wasn't the happiest person on earth. I felt that Sylvia Plath was writing about me, although the time, location and the people involved in the story were fairly different from what I had. I found her making sentences I wish I could put together. The Bell Jar made me happy because I felt that I wasn't the only one in such a situation.
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Summary: the most honest book i've ever read
Review: i first read this book when in highschool, during a time of bitter depression. Plath's honest and witty (and painfull) look at the life of this young, intensely smart woman opened my eyes to a new way of reading and writing...It was like reading Catcher in the Rye except from a woman's point of view and it fascinated me, despite Plath's own sad ending. this book inspired me to write and years later i still find it inspiring--I overcame my depression, however my appreciation of the way she crafted her raw, honest pain into something artistic and beautiful has never dwindled. This book is amazing.
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Summary: My favorite book of all time
Review: Sylvia Plath has influenced me more than any other writer ever has. In The Bell Jar, she engulfs the reader in a story that's pretty much her autobiography. To read this book is to delve into the mind of the author herself. I recommend this brilliant masterpiece to anyone that has ever felt trapped within their own breathing. This book makes you laugh and cry at the same time. A true classic.
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Summary: Take it from me-- it's realistic
Review: Even though I (fortunately) neither suffer from depression as severe as Esther's nor have to deal with the oppressiveness of the 1950s, I found her thought patterns very familiar as I have just started therapy for my depression. Many complain about how her thoughts seem disjointed, but her writing style seemed to follow my own thought patterns, something that fuels the frustration of the disease even more. The book made me feel very fortunate to live in the 1990s, when sympathetic psychologists don't dismiss irrational feelings, and pills keep me from having to endure shock treatments or other such practices.
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Summary: Heart-breaking
Review: The spiral towards insanity is painful, abrupt. Often feeling helpless and trapped - drawing each breath and wondering if one should just give it up or carry on aimlessly. Some break free but others remain mired in the glassy stifling interior. I wondered if perhaps between the honest and often brutal lines, Plath was confiding her heart.
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Summary: Slowest book ever
Review: Plath gets you in tune with only one character throughout this book. She overly describes everything and slows down the whole story. After reading this book, I will never buy another Sylvia Plath story, but I do want her collected poems. Her description of places and events throughout the story were fascinating.
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Summary: Truely special and (eventually) comforting.
Review: One concerned with self-worth recommended this book to me right during IB exams time. Impossible to describe with one-word adjectives, this book achieves just the right balance between personal story-telling and literary devices such as symbolism. Reading it once will leave you with a rare feeling of empathy and comfort since Esther readily shares the most unusual views about our society and our role in it. Analysing it is worth the effort: meaningful patterns about her personality are carefully hidden. Truely fulfilling.
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