Book Blog: The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath)

06/20/2025 (Page: 19/244)

I am finally reading the American classic, The Bell Jar. I can't say that this is my first time reading it, though. About two years ago, I went on a road trip with my then-friend named Eli. We went from Northern Colorado, West into Utah, South into Arizona, East to my grandmother's house in Silver City, New Mexico, and back North to Colorado. Basically, we did a circle around the Four Corners. Driving North from Silver City, my friend Eli suggested an audiobook recording of The Bell Jar. At page 8 or so (I can't really remember), I was pulled over and ticketed for speeding. Oops.

Now I am 19 pages into the book! I can't say much so far, but I'm intrigued! So far (stop reading if you want to avoid spoilers), our narrator, a successful writer (?) and college student goes to a magazine-advertised party with her friend, Doreen. Doreen is beautiful. On the way to the party, they get whisked away by a man named Lenny. The girls end up in Lenny's gorgeous apartment. He plays music for them until he and Doreen begin to get intimate, and the narrator flees. This scene is more tense and anxious than awkward. I think it's cool or whateva!

06/23/2025 (Page: 59/244)

I'm making very slow progress on this one, apparently! 

The story being told here seems to comment heavily on femininity and expected roles of successful women. I don't have much to add, because I'm still very early on in the book. But her writing and her personal history resonate deeply with me. I have struggled with much the same thoughts as Plath,  and to see the progression of depression and potential suicidal ideation in a story like this should ring forth a type of terror in me. Take a gander at this excerpt from Lady Lazarus:

"Soon, soon the flesh
The grave cave ate will be   
At home on me

And I a smiling woman.   
I am only thirty.
And like the cat I have nine times to die.

This is Number Three.   
What a trash
To annihilate each decade."