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16th January 2002, 11:41pm
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#1 | | C'mon the punks
Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: up yours
Posts: 161
| The Bell Jar The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Read this recently. Its about a girl who is about 19 or 20 who goes through a breakdown and ends up in an asylum. It is told from the girls perspective.
The story starts in New York, where the girl has a summer placement. When she moves home, she tries to kill herself and ends up in hospital. The story then tells how she moves from hospital to hospital. A lot of the story is told in flashback, too - such as bits about her friends and ex-boyfriend. This was a wee bit confusing.
The good thing about this book is that it shows how a girl who has loads going for her ends up having treatment for deppression. |
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8th June 2002, 7:08pm
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#2 | | Queen of Rambling
Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Somewhere over the goddamn rainbow
Posts: 611
| I've just finished reading this myself and quite enjoyed it. It's easy to read (I finished it within two or three days) and because of the first person narrative you find yourself being drawn in.
It also reminded me a lot of Girl, Interupted.
__________________ [marquee]If my father gives me one more hint to tidy my room I'm ramming the fucking hoover up his arse  [/marquee]
Trying to be verbally ironic whatever the fuck that means |
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14th June 2002, 1:54pm
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#3 | | ......
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 7,533
| I loved the Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath is one of my favourite writers, the story is about her. It was one of the influences for Elizabeth Wurtzels Prozac Nation. I didnt find it confusing at all and it held my attention from when i opened it that afternoon till i finished it the next morning at like 6am reading non stop  |
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19th June 2002, 6:51pm
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#4 | | band aid
Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: inside my head
Posts: 140
| sylvia plath (author of the bell jar) was at the same mental institution as susanna keyson (author of girl interrupted) though of course sylvia had been and gone long before susanna keyson....they apparantly both had the same mental disorder
mouthing the words by camilla gibb and the trick is to keep breathing by janice galloway are also good if you like this genre. and of course, catcher in the rye bye JD salinger.
__________________ all the stars are just like little fish |
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14th July 2002, 4:37pm
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#5 | | head over heels
Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: www.babyart.nu
Posts: 1,043
| i did the bell jar for higher portfolio, then advanced higher dissertation, its a really good book, but i'm sick lookin at it, i must have read it a million times now...
__________________ "If you happen to meet a crocodile, don't stick your head in its mouth. Every now and then, and who knows the reason, people ignore this advice, which is sad because they die, but very stupid because they were warned. They had a choice. The moral of the story is this - you can't afford to be stupid. There are crocodiles..." |
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4th August 2002, 9:16pm
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#6 | | What a floozy.
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Tradeston.
Posts: 14,894
| I loved The Bell Jar, but thought that 'Girl Interrupted' was too similar to it, without the same spark.
__________________ The whole world shines shit and calls it gold. LastFM |
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4th August 2002, 9:33pm
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#7 | | Don't Trust Fat Kids
Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Purgatory
Posts: 3,785
| I like Sylvia Plath...she is talented in writing and poetry.
I also like Girl, Interrupted...because Angelina Jolie is in the movie.  Reow!  |
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7th August 2002, 9:16pm
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#8 | | band aid
Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: inside my head
Posts: 140
| the bell jar and girl, interrupted are nothing alike! girl, interrupted is real and the bell jar is fiction. sorry, its a sore point of mine.
__________________ all the stars are just like little fish |
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8th August 2002, 8:06am
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#9 | | What a floozy.
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Tradeston.
Posts: 14,894
| The Bell Jar isnt fiction? Its a true story...the girl killed herself two weeks after she wrote the book?
__________________ The whole world shines shit and calls it gold. LastFM |
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13th August 2002, 11:30pm
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#10 | | head over heels
Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: www.babyart.nu
Posts: 1,043
| christ.
the bell jar was a semi autobiographical account of a year in the life of (fictional character) esther greenwood. who was a fictional interpretation of sylvia plath (real person). the book can only be described as semi autobiographical because:
a: plath was a loon who wrote the book on a whim during a nervous breakdown and, as one would expect, her grip on reality was somewhat slipping.
and b:
there are too many coincidences and shortcomings in the book to say whether she was always a loon, or if she just went batty.
read letters home. if u ask me, she was always a loonball.
and she put her head in the oven about months after the book was published under a fake name, and left her two babies in the house, alone. what an effed up fannan.
nice book tho.
girl interuppted wants to BE the bell jar. but its too baws.
__________________ "If you happen to meet a crocodile, don't stick your head in its mouth. Every now and then, and who knows the reason, people ignore this advice, which is sad because they die, but very stupid because they were warned. They had a choice. The moral of the story is this - you can't afford to be stupid. There are crocodiles..." |
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18th October 2002, 7:56pm
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#11 | | .........
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 5,209
| I personally enjoyed both books, Sylvia Plaths,the bell Jar is an amazing book which i found really interesting to read. Sylvia Plath in my eyes was a wonderful writer but a very tortured soul and it is a shame she died so young as i believe she had more greatness yet to write .
Also Girl Interrupted is a good book ,the film is a good representation of the book . I dont think it was trying to be the bell jar although there are similarities.
Another book i loved was Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel .this is a heartbreaking but inspiring account of another lost soul and sadly i identified with her throught out the novel but an excellent read ,i couldnt put it down.
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22nd October 2002, 2:00pm
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#12 | | Slave To The Rhythm
Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Govanhill
Posts: 8,229
| both the bell jar & girl, interrupted kick ass, but the bell jar is better. truly fucked up. |
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4th February 2003, 4:57pm
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#13 | | Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: alone at midnight...
Posts: 26
| i just finished reading the bell jar. i really enjoyed reading this and finished it in one day. i could relate to alot of the stuff she was sayin, but prefered prozac nation, because the girl in that is more like me and i can relate better.
__________________ the scars and cuts of life...
do they heal?
memories fade...
but regrets keep them hanging on...
goodmeetsbad@hotmail.com |
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23rd February 2003, 9:11pm
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#14 | | band aid
Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: inside my head
Posts: 140
| How can you say girl,interrupted is trying to be the bell jar? Sorry...but there are two massive differences. Susanna Keyson got better and went out to tell people of her experiences. Sylvia Plath never got better. She killed herself and left her children. Girl, interrupted is written from a healthy point of view and the bell jar came out of the mind of someone who wanted to kill themselves. There's no way they can be alike
__________________ all the stars are just like little fish |
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14th March 2003, 4:12pm
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#15 | | just a shade of Cherry
Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Glasgow
Posts: 67
| Quote: Originally posted by black rainbow i just finished reading the bell jar. i really enjoyed reading this and finished it in one day. i could relate to alot of the stuff she was sayin, but prefered prozac nation, because the girl in that is more like me and i can relate better. |  Oh Hello Black Rainbow My name is Black Rainbow
WOW sorry to copy your Name did not know anyone else was using the Name, just thought i would say Hi and nice name.
Oh Well
Bye  |
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