In my efforts to catch up on unread novels I downloaded and read Sylvia Plath's only novel The Bell Jar, which first appeared in 1963. A short book, it is apparently very autobiographical. I whizzed through the first part and then as she started to descend it was more difficult to enjoy but it improved after that dip and is a pretty good read on the whole, written well and exploring an interesting subject. I guess they give it to teenagers to read because it is about a young woman. It reads very true to life if I remember rightly. I'd rather be reading it at 54 then 24 I guess. It's apparently not well admired but I think it is a pretty good piece of work. The fact of Plath's eventual suicide shortly after hangs over the whole thing. It is very difficult to know how to live once you throw over biblical morality. It does no-one any favours to live without that. I saw a lovely hardback edition in Waterstones today. The kindle version is a quarter of the price.
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