The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Star Rating: 4/5

Spice Level: 3/5

This was an interesting book. Ester is a young woman who is unhappy with her life. She finds very little joy or purpose in anything, but it gets worse when she leaves the women's hotel for home. While she has friends and an interesting life ahead of her, she seems to spiral into darker thoughts. This is a deeper look at the human psyche and how being surrounded by a world of people doesn't mean you aren't alone.

I felt like this book really delved into the author's own dark thoughts. She did commit suicide, which only made this book real and it's alternative ending feel like the author was Ester herself. That aside, I really did enjoy the book. It was dark, relatable to some degree, and really puts mental health into a different perspective. I felt like I belonged in Ester's world of isolation and despair. It wasn't that readers were being shut out of something, but rather getting a front row seat on the ride to insanity.

Overall, I recommend this book for 16 and older. There were some very mature sexual themes in this book that younger readers wouldn't know what to do with. I feel like they gave a human side to mental illness, but the book would've been ok without them. A good, fairly fast read either way.