I started reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath after hearing about how horribly depressing and insightful it is...

I started reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath after hearing about how horribly depressing and insightful it is. I'm about 60 pages into it, and I do like the book's writing style, but Esther pisses me off to no fucking end.
She's a cunty, condescending bitch, and almost all of her problems can be traced back to herself. So far, she seems to have these romanticized ideas about finding the perfect lover one day, yet almost every potential partner she shits on. Like a melodramatic hypocrite, she interpret's Buddy's nervousness about their first kiss as him lying and having a double life, but it could just as well be because he has legitimate feelings for her and didn't know how to express them. Meanwhile, she hangs out with Doreen despite admitting earlier in the novel that she hated Doreen and identified with the hick character (can't remember name; Betsy?). Sounds like a fucking double life to me, eh, Esther?
Is there something I'm missing about her character, or will something come up later in the novel that changes her? So far I'm pretty fucking fed up with her already, and can't give a shit less about her character. I was hoping for a depressing read, but I have no idea how I could relate to or feel bad for this fucking caricature of a hormonal teenager.

What you are experiencing is a 100% accurate description of the subjective experience of living life as a woman.

That's why it's a brilliant book.

I had to study it in a literature class and from what I remember, she didn't change at all but then again I actually didn't read the book because I can't stand modernist/post-modernist literature, especially when the character is shit like Esther. I still found it interesting because it explores the mental health in the 60's though.

Lmao the ironing

Read a little further

Disagree.

Nah, it's shit and she stays a shitty character who does nonsensical shit that looks more like feeble attempts at manipulative behaviour using her own life as a bargaining chip. Don't get me wrong, that can definitely go hand-in-hand with major mental illness. But it doesn't make for a great read because it alienates the protagonist.

Even for a woman. Esther ditches Doreen who was was clearly drunk with a man that she explicitly showed disinterest and disgust towards. He could have easily mixed in "a little extra" into Doreen's drink to shag and dump. I read the editor's note, how it was pivoting in allying women into feminists all the while ignoring the obvious misogyny.
>Doreen "ew not hanging with that dirty drunk birtch"
>Joan "Ew too opportunistic! I'll tell her I hate her then demand my psychiatrist's validation"
>Mom's college "broke girls who can't afford a PROPER education through scholarship go there ew"
It was like reading something a 13 year old wrote about her slutty classmates, except the story was about someone about to graduate college with a degree.

So this is just a misogyny thread..? Nice! Good to know angry men are everywhere on the internet now.

>he needs to relate to the protag
go back to your self-insert fantasy books, my man. also her father died when she was young and that fucked her up a bit

You do know what site you are on, dont you dear? Not like the suthor herself doest do a good enough job at portraying woman in a bad light.

>start reading the bell jar
>get to that part where the narrator (forgot her name) rejects the guy for being too short
>close the book and never open it again
shallow fucking roasties, she deserved every last bit of her suffering.