Book 36 - The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Reading date - November 2020

This book is one that always escaped me as I was growing up. I was aware of it but I never read it.  I read the other two that people always refer to in the same breath as this, one being a Confederacy of Dunces (very funny) and Catcher in the Rye (also enjoyable).  I just never ever got around to reading this for some reason.

Boy, am I glad I didn't.  I have read it now and I found it a total bore.  Now, it may be that it was popular in America because at the time it showed a glitzy life that some people in small towns didn't have, or it showed a descent into mental health issues (depression) that was not shown in books but I found it so boring.

A girl goes from a small town to NY where she feels like she sticks out like a sore thumb, then she goes back home, fails to get on her writing course (whilst all the time thinking that shorthand is below her) and then falls into the depths of depression.

I am glad that younger me didn't read it..I don't think I have changed that much since I was 17.  I can still re-read the books I read then, now and enjoy them.

I don't see myself as being super worldly but apparently, I am..so maybe that is why I just didn't enjoy it.  I felt nothing for the characters as they were all awful and horrid people.  I can see why it's popular with the hipster poseurs.

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