The Bell Jar (Audible Audio Edition) Sylvia Plath Maggie Gyllenhaal Canongate Books Ltd Books
Download As PDF : The Bell Jar (Audible Audio Edition) Sylvia Plath Maggie Gyllenhaal Canongate Books Ltd Books
Read by the critically acclaimed actress Maggie Gyllenhaal.
When Esther Greenwood wins an internship at a New York fashion magazine in 1953, she is elated, believing she will finally realise her dream to become a writer. But in between the cocktail parties and piles of manuscripts, Esther's life begins to slide out of control. She finds herself spiralling into depression and eventually a suicide attempt as she grapples with difficult relationships and a society which refuses to take women's aspirations seriously.
Sylvia Plath's groundbreaking semiautobiographical novel offers an intimate, honest and often wrenching glimpse into mental illness. The Bell Jar broke the boundaries between fiction and reality and helped cement Sylvia Plath's place as an enduring feminist icon. Celebrated for its darkly humorous, razor-sharp portrait of 1950s society, it continues to resonate with readers today as a testament to the universal human struggle to claim one's rightful place in the world.
The Bell Jar (Audible Audio Edition) Sylvia Plath Maggie Gyllenhaal Canongate Books Ltd Books
Every now and again a book comes along that truly impacts on one and once read will never be forgotten.The autobiographical novel by Sylvia Plath, describing her painful ordeal when she becomes mentally ill is such a book.
This could have been a thoroughly depressing and self centred story in the hands of another and many may assume this when reading the blurb.
However do not be put off, because The Bell Jar is anything BUT depressing.
Plath writes with great humour and I laughed out loud more than once.
She also writes with the intelligence and skill of someone twice her age.
Her battle with mental illness (Bipolar Disorder) and her eventual recovery is written so honestly, so brilliantly I was more than impressed.
Of course there is sadness in the aftermath of the book because we know she actually took her own life at aged thirty, the same year The Bell Jar was published.
The world is a little worse off with the loss of this wonderful talent.
Anyone who has any inkling of how The Black Dog can grab you by the scruff of the neck from out of the blue will appreciate this book and anyone who simply enjoys outstanding literature will be equally impressed.
A great talent.
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The Bell Jar (Audible Audio Edition) Sylvia Plath Maggie Gyllenhaal Canongate Books Ltd Books Reviews
Esther Greenwood gets depressed. Really depressed. And she's also a young woman in the 50's/60's, just to add a not-so-helpful factor as well.
The elephant-in-the-room when reading this is A) it is known to be semi-autobiographical, and B) Sylvia Plath ended up committing suicide. That might for account how richly Plath captures depression -- how you rationalize the little things, the abrasive way nice, shiny, perfect things in the world exist around you, and the fear you can never feel the way you used to again. And I think the authenticity combined with Plath's stellar language (you can't take the poetry out of the poet) makes this probably among the best novels ever written about depression. The way Esther mulls over her virginity, her mother, her ex-boyfriend, and how to kill herself are enrapturing from beginning to end.
To me this is more 4.5 stars (or even 4.49), but rounded up because even the dullest parts of the novel are carried by witty narration and rhythmic prose. I don't think there'll be much to the story that will surprise a modern reader -- many stories have since followed the same structure of a young woman struggling with depression -- but none of them have the grace, humor, and merciless touch of Plath's words.
Yes, indeed, this is an intensely harrowing but still subtle odyssey through the battle with mental illness. Sylvia Plath’s timeless epic still rings true today…Esther Greenwood, our fictional protagonist, is unfortunately only a veiled cover for Plath’s real world disease which reached its nadir in 1963 when she took her own life at the young age of thirty. And it’s this volume, her only full length novel, that explicitly but also with a seamless literary touch, conjures the deep emotional and physical conflicts borne from this terrible affliction. Within, we follow Esther on a slow slide into insanity with such nuance and foreboding that the reader is almost compelled to believe that it is all true. And given Plath’s heartbreaking outcome, the literary debate lingers on as to if this is, in fact, that shrouded memoir.
The story opens with Esther in New York, during the summer of her collegiate years, working and modeling for a prestigious NY magazine. Through many obscure and complex observations, we slowly get a picture of her; Boston suburbanite, Smith college-type on scholarship, the world literally at her feet. But it is, still at these beginning stages, the random comment or action that begins to creep in to her personality that makes the reader aware that something is not quite right. Sure enough, as we move on, Esther becomes more and more un-hinged, doing things far outside of her personality.
Soon we reach a point where she attempts suicide and discusses suicide as the answer to get her out from “under the Bell Jar.” The literary ease with which we go from NY magazine model to suicide victim is stark…I found myself having to put the book down occasionally to internalize what I’d just read. This is really an amazing ability that Plath had…flowing from one emotion to the other without noticing until the full force of Esther’s actions take hold. Where the first third of the novel is fairly light, the last two thirds are riveting, very difficult to put down. It’s very hard to understand how Plath had difficulty getting this work published…only under a pseudonym in 1963 London and not until 1971 in the U.S. after it had been turned down, harshly, by publisher Harper & Row. Today it is printed and re-printed in many languages and enjoys its well-deserved place among the literary classics.
To summarize, if one decides to delve into the classics, you can’t go wrong with this work. Dark, even frightful at times but always flowing and well written, The Bell Jar is both a stark referendum on mental illness and an amazing reading experience.
Every now and again a book comes along that truly impacts on one and once read will never be forgotten.
The autobiographical novel by Sylvia Plath, describing her painful ordeal when she becomes mentally ill is such a book.
This could have been a thoroughly depressing and self centred story in the hands of another and many may assume this when reading the blurb.
However do not be put off, because The Bell Jar is anything BUT depressing.
Plath writes with great humour and I laughed out loud more than once.
She also writes with the intelligence and skill of someone twice her age.
Her battle with mental illness (Bipolar Disorder) and her eventual recovery is written so honestly, so brilliantly I was more than impressed.
Of course there is sadness in the aftermath of the book because we know she actually took her own life at aged thirty, the same year The Bell Jar was published.
The world is a little worse off with the loss of this wonderful talent.
Anyone who has any inkling of how The Black Dog can grab you by the scruff of the neck from out of the blue will appreciate this book and anyone who simply enjoys outstanding literature will be equally impressed.
A great talent.
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