Journal Entry 1 by Cassiopaeia from Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom on Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Description from Amazon
Esther Greenwood is at college and is fighting two battles, one against her own desire for perfection in all things - grades, boyfriend, looks, career - and the other against remorseless mental illness. As her depression deepens she finds herself encased in it, bell-jarred away from the rest of the world. This is the story of her journey back into reality. Highly readable, witty and disturbing, The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's only novel and was originally published under a pseudonym in 1963. What it has to say about what women expect of themselves, and what society expects of women, is as sharply relevant today as it has always been.  

Journal Entry 2 by Cassiopaeia at Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom on Tuesday, October 11, 2011

JE for my original copy.
This was a fascinating insight into mental illness in the 1950's. In the earliest part of this I almost felt I was reading something by Patricia Highsmith, then the penny dropped and I realised it reminded me of Edith's Diary, also told by the main character that was slowly but surely sinking into a mental breakdown. I think this would make a great book group read as there are so many different aspects that could be delved into: the conventional expectations imposed on young women but not young men, the sexual inequalities of the time, where do you fit in when you don't conform to the norm, the early treatments for mental illness, and so much more. And in the end the reader is left with the same disturbing feeling as Esther was: 'how did I know that someday - at college, in Europe, somewhere, anywhere - the bell jar, with its stifling distortions, wouldn’t descend again?'
And alas as this is autobiographical, we know it did, very definitely. This was a short but very though provoking read. 

Journal Entry 3 by Cassiopaeia at Coffee#1 Wood Street in Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom on Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Released 2 mos ago (3/8/2012 UTC) at Coffee#1 Wood Street in Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

On the bookshelf.