The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYbavuReVF4
Review by Elleanore G. Vance
As
Jeeves might have said, I am quite fond of closing myself away with an
"improving book", and The Bell Jar seemed to fit that ticket. After I
watched a Ted-ed video on YouTube (link below), I knew I needed to at
least make the attempt.
I want to warn you straight away that if
you srtuggle with your own mental health, and especially suicidal
thoughts/tendencies/ ideation, please steer clear, or have someone you
trust on stand-by for help when youbreach diffult parts.
Our
story begins with Esther in New York. She has won a scholarship and is
spending the summer as an intern for a ladies magazine. Its all fun and
games until she goes to a party where she is sexually assaulted. She
leaves New York immediately.
Once home, we follow Esther as she struggles with what I personally recognize as PTSD (including but not limited to):
* inability to sleep
*Depression
*inability to eat
*suicide attempts
*inability to write
When
Esther confides in her mother, she is taken to an analyst. This analyst
prescribes electroshock "therapy". After enduring a single
electroshock session, Esther refuses to return to that "doctor", and
mother pronounces her cured.
Only she isn't. It takes another
analyst, a woman this time, to get to "the root" of the problem and give
Esther her Happy Ever After.
This book is full of "women's
history", the stuff so many of us either have forgotten or never knew to
befin with. We learn what women had to go through for any type of birth
control before "The Pill", and before Roe. We are reminded as we should
be, of the horrors that were called medicine, and hiw little it took to
earn this horrid maltreatment.
Esther's guilt, shame and fear
surrounding her assault is heartbreaking. This book serves as a
yardstick, showing us just how little actual progress we have made in
our fight for equality.
⭐⭐⭐3/5
***
HEADER FOR PLATH PIECE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR2lMpPjW2YbAPOvEOqUpq2N-bLjqnfc_DewsiC0l0LW21XwWJdiGqXnFYk&v=wCWl8ZIgCHk&feature=youtu.be
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
Review by Elleanore G. Vance
Thiry-six
years in the making, King takes us on a trip to see Danny Torrence All
Grown Up. The years have not been kind. Danny has become an alcoholic,
mostly, I think to dim his shine.
We see him hit rock bottom and
then leave town. This moment haunts him throughout the novel. But only
about a third of the book belongs to Danny. He shares this story with
Rose the Hat and her True Knot, as well as Abra Stone, a young girl with
blinding shine.
This book is tight and sleek. Compared to his
earlier, looser epics, it is downright space-aged! I really appreciated
that about this story. Not exactly what anyone would call action packed,
but good pacing keeps us moving and we never feel the story lag. I even
feel that a lot of King's usual sexist remarks are cut back in this
book.
I do have issues, though. I would have liked to see Danny
angry with Jack. Or Wendy angry with Jack. I really felt that to leave
out the hurt and rage that would accompany the healing process from the
events of the Overlook is really tone-deaf. Also, Danny's Deep Dark
Secret reveal at the end is a lie.
Otherwise, a solid adventure. Highly reccomend.
⭐⭐⭐⭐4/5
******
The Shining by Stephen King
Review by Elleanore G. Vance
Many
of us first met the Torrence family in Kubrick's iconic film, I know I
did. That film splits the book's fanbase, some with Steve hating it,
others not. The novel seems to be a creature of similar genus, but not
the same species. I personally understand many of Kubrick's directorial
decisions, but we're not here to talk about the film.
Jack
Torrence is an alcoholic. He's neither a drowsy drunk, nor a jovial
drunk. And he is definitely NOT an "I love you, man" drunk. He is what I
would term a volatile drunk. Not dangerous if alone, but can combust
with great violence when mixed with other elements. Results
unpredictable. Some of these results include breaking the arm if his
young (3-5 years old) son for spilling some school papers, and a
possible hit and run of a cyclist while driving drunk. I wish I could
tell you that all of this scared Jack straight into the arms of AA.
Instead, an incident involving a student at the fancy prep school where
Jack teaches causes him to lose said employment and sends the Torrence
family away from New England in search of a fresh start.
Wendy
is brilliant, smart and well educated. She's a good mom. But there is
something about her... something that says she's been abused and she
just can't admit it to herself, let alone to anyone else.
And
then there is Little Danny of the broken arm. Danny has an "imaginary
friend" called Tony. And there's something very special about Danny. He
shines.
The Overlook should have been the Torrence Family's
salvation, (maybe in a sick way it was) instead that winter is their own
personal version of Hell. King says he has done his best to write Jack
as a guy who only does bad stuff when he drinks. I just can't see him
that way. Jack's story isn't the one I sympathize with, its Wendy and
Danny.
I dare y'all
to read this book the next time it looks like snow. Pace yourself, though. This is a 1977 King classic, and he
greatly distrusted editors at this time. That said, he has a tendency to
meander
⭐⭐⭐3/5
Please
correct the first sentence in the last paragraph to read
HEADER FOR PLATH PIECE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR2lMpPjW2YbAPOvEOqUpq2N-bLjqnfc_DewsiC0l0LW21XwWJdiGqXnFYk&v=wCWl8ZIgCHk&feature=youtu.be
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