The book i read was 'The Bell Jar' by Sylvia Plath. This book is Plath's only novel, and personally my favorite piece of her work.
The story follows Esther Greenwood. In the Beginning she wins an internship in New York, and we expect for her to have a bright future. But, she begins to worry about her troubles with men and this is the beginning of her slow breakdown. Esther slowly beginnings to forget all of her hopes and dreams. She loses faith in everything, drops out of college and lifelessly lives at home, until her first attempt when her mother sends her to a psychiatrist, who later refers her to a hospital specializes in shock therapy. The improper therapy causes Esther to commit suicide unsuccessfully several times. She then gained support of a friend who paid for a centre who didn't believe in inhumane shock treatments.
She slowly starts to recover, unlike Joan, the friend she has made at the hospital, who is a gay woman who has fallen in love with Esther, she claims to be cured until one night she commits suicide. Dr. Nolan helps Esther improve and life-changing events help her regain sanity. The novel ends with Esther entering the room for her interview which will decide whether she can leave the hospital.
The book is autobiographical that relates to Plath's life and descends into the madness of her alter ego Esther Greenwood. Easily Esther is the favorited character, which no shown reasons to admire Esther the reader is always wanting her to recover. The character has so much depth and emotion. She has just finished her junior year in college. She grew in in Boston with her mother and brother, her father died when she was nine. Esther was living in a societal word, expecting her constant happiness, and cheerfulness, but her melancholy dark nature resists. Esther is expected to obey society and remain a virgin until marriage, she sees the hypocrisy in this rule. She embarks on a loveless sexual search, before suicide, but fears of pregnancy greatly so gets help even with this. Later, her illness makes her become selfish, not considering the effects of her suicide on her mother or her friends, And her own thoughts occupy her entire world completely.
This is most defiantly one of the best books i have ever read. The images she creates are so beautiful and emotional. Ill be reading it several times, and i would recommend it to anyone appreciating good writing.
