The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - Book Review

I put off reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath first because everyone in college had read it and it just seemed cliche. Then I put it off because I was worried it would scare me with all the craziness inside. It's not scary, but perhaps in the mundane and normal way she is insane it is more scary than if she was a true nut. Because that means I could be just like her.

The writing is beautiful, simply beautiful. Such normality made into such vivid imagery. The change in Esther is so gradual and yet so prominent. It begins with moments of silence and then strange sounds. It becomes utter calm almost to the point of lethargy. Then she just gives in to the fact that the world is monotonous and she doesn't want to deal with that.

Some of my favorite lines from the book:

"Every so often a beam of light appeared out of thin air, traversed the wall like a ghostly, exploratory finger, and slid off into nothing again."

"It dazzled and danced with light like a heavenly ice cube."

"Wrapping my black coat round me like my own sweet shadow, I unscrewed the bottle of pills and started taking them swiftly, between gulps of water, one by one by one."