The Bell Jar

First reading: I should not have read this book when I was sixteen.

I'm not sure anyone should read this book when she is sixteen.

It was dark and despairing and bleak and reading it left me feeling dark and despairing and bleak.

Nevertheless, The Bell Jar was the truest picture of teen depression I've ever read.

If only someone could write a book that good that would help teens find their way out of depression.


Second reading:

Did reading The Bell Jar at sixteen drop a bell jar on my head? Or was it already descending?

I was Esther as a teen, in many ways. I was competitive about academic achievement to the exclusion of everything else, and when all the prizes I'd worked for didn't come my way, I found myself lost and depressed and alone. Esther's experience provided no solace at sixteen; it only increased my pain.

Reading The Bell Jar as an adult who has scrambled to find ways to fight depression all her life was a different experience than reading the book as a teen. I saw how Esther isolated herself rather than finding people who could offer help. I saw how Esther plummeted rather than responded with resilience when her plans did not work out. I saw how the psychiatrists of Esther's time did not have the knowledge or the treatments to effectively help her.

The Bell Jar should be a book that is read and reread, with much to offer readers of all ages.