Disappointed by "The Bell Jar"
A bonus essay on "Easter-egg hunts" in fiction and what I really think of Plath's only novel.
When I started writing about The Bell Jar, I wrote two pages before I realised that what I was writing was essentially a book review — and I didn’t want to just review the book. There were ideas in it I wanted to explore. When I cut everything that wasn’t directly about the idea of choice overload, what I was left with gave me a sharper sense of direction. Then, from the nowhere that inspiration seems to blossom, I got the opening line — “I love living in a city” — and everything flowed from there.
Here’s what I cut, which are my thoughts on The Bell Jar more generally, the kind you’d get in a book review. As you’ll see, although the novel offered me a lot to think about, I had some negative things to say. Plath fans (Plathites? Plathians?) aren’t going to like the criticism that follows — but true to thine own self, and all that.
Although I didn’t loved the novel as much as I’d hoped to, I still found a whole essay’s worth of value in reading it — further evidence, if any was needed, that pleasure is not the only thing to be gained from books.
