READ: 24.07.17 - 26.07.17

BOOK: The Bell Jar

AUTHOR: Sylvia Plath

GENRE: Classic

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Sylvia Plath's shocking, realistic, and intensely emotional novel about a woman falling into the grip of insanity.

Esther Greenwood is brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful, but slowly going under—maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath draws the reader in as Esther breaks down so intensely that her insanity becomes palpable.

REVIEW: This was one the texts school has assigned me to read over the summer to get into the mindset for my English A Level course which revolves around the theme of 'Women in Literature'. I went into this book having heard a mix of things so I was unsure of how I would personally find the book. What can I say, I adored it.

There is something about Plath's writing style which sucked me into the book the whole time, and Esther gave so many brilliant observations and ideas about life. I felt like Esther was speaking directly to my soul, and I could relate to the way she was feeling on a number of occasions. She didn't want to let the whole truth get out about the way she was feeling so she could still control the image of her that people saw, and that point really struck a chord with me.

It was such a fascinating and interesting book which I enjoyed every second of, and found myself becoming more and more engrossed with it. For a book assigned by school, I loved it massively and feel like I have learnt something from this book not just about writing but about myself as cheesy as that sounds.

There is no denying that it is a very depressing and mood-dampening book, so if you don't want to read something like that then don't pick it up. But I love those type of books, and just couldn't get enough of it.

FINAL VERDICT: I am very glad that I finally got round to reading this book as it has been on my 'to-be-read' since the start of the year but I had never got round to buying it until school said we had to. I loved it, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to a read a slightly darker and sadder classic.

RATING: 10/10