3/341

I was really excited to read Sylivia Plath's novel The Bell Jar.  I enjoy her poetry so I thought it would be a given that I would enjoy her novel.  I was wrong.  I do not like to write negative reviews on books but there really wasn't anything redeeming in this one.  The best way to describe it is a big jumbled mess of incomplete thought.

While reading this book I was reminded greatly of Susanna Kaysen's book Girl, Interrupted (later adapted into a movie staring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie).  Both books start with each of the girls living somewhat ordinary lives.  Plath's character works for a magazine while Kaysen's character is graduating high school.  Both characters live through large cultural changes.  Plath's character lives during the time of the Rosenberg's execution while Kaysen's character lives during the time of the military draft of the Vietnam War.  Both characters experiment with promiscuity.  Both characters end in a psychiatric hospital.

The big difference in these books would be the writing.  Kaysen's book follows linear thought, which I prefer.  Plath's book jumps around from past to present within the same chapter.  I highly recommend Girl, Interrupted while I recommend staying away from The Bell Jar.

Next up is Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.