bell jar numero 2

Just finished, and i thought that it was awful. I disliked just about everything about this book at the end. I think I would have been a little happier if she ended up dying in the end. It dramatically undermines her problems, now that she ended up not killing herself. I didn't think that her problems were so immense to begin with, because I think she brought on most of the depression on herself. but, still, this makes it seem less dramatic and to me, it was a weak ending to an unexciting book. Esther undergoes electric shock therapy to help treat her depression. When Esther's mother visits her in the asylum, it sparks a crazed sensation inside Esther and she is nervous and has an episode. Ironically, after trying for years to finally have sex with someone, Esther ends up having a hemmorage. I couldn't even feel bad for her after this.. i kind of just laughed. Esther beats her suicidal rage, and her friend Joan is the one who dies. I think that Sylvia Path, wants to be able to beat her depression and end up okay with everything that she has been through, but she ends up killing herself after writing the book. The symbol of the title of the book is one that I find interesting. A bell jar is defined as "an environment in which someone is protected or cut off from the outside world." This relates to Esther because she is protected by the bell jar, but the 'glass' might break and she might slip into the depression again even after she seemed like she is on the road to recovery. I feel like I should be able to find more meaning in the story, but to me it seems like a big mess.

4 down. 1 to go.

i<3bigboy

bell jar 1

Right from the start, even without any other reviews of the book, I could tell that Esther was a seriously troubled girl in need of help. Esther understands that her life is seemingly good to the naked eye; she has a good job and a somewhat enviable life. But, she cannot enjoy anything. To her, everything in her life seems meaningless and she cannot find joy. Esther, after a party sits and watches Doreen have fun with a man named Lenny and then decides to walk the short 48 blocks back to her house.. i would think she would have more of a problem with doing something like this. She is extremely depressed and morbid constantly. Although I am only about 2 chapters into the book, I feel as if I can safely assume that something tragic has happened in Esther's past to bring about her extreme depression, because otherwise there seems to be no significant event from which her depression stems from. So far, I am not a fan of the book and didn't truthfully think that I ever could be.

as always.. openmindedly,

droze

bean trees 2

The end of bean trees for me was unexpectedly better than it started off. I did not like the initial pace of the story and, the meaning of the book was unclear from the beginning. It seemed like a story about the troubles of avoiding pregnancy in the beginning, but when the subject changed to the hardships of illegal immigration, i began to enjoy the book and began getting more out of it.

I found a recurring theme throughout the novel: the independence and dependence of women. Taylor was a confident, independent woman who did not depend on anyone else. She proved to be brave and put others before herself. But, characters like Esperanza and Lou Ann were very insecure and couldn't survive on their own. Esperanza attempted suicide after the loss of her child, and Lou Ann couldn't seem to go on without her husband Angel, even though he wasn't a good husband to her. I think that the purpose of characters like Esperanza and Lou Ann in the novel were to make Taylor seem stronger and more independent. Taylor had a child dumped off on her and managed to take it all in stride. Her courage was certainly admireable as well when she transported Estevan, whom she had deep feelings for, and his wife Esperanza to safety from Guatemala, while risking her own safety to protect the others. 

In the end, I found the book to be uplifting in some ways. I think the story could be 100 pages shorter, and could definitely have some deeper and more interesting characters in addition to the ones already in it, though. Overall, I think the book conveyed its messages in clear and creative ways, and was not a complete waste, as I had expected after beginning to read.

2 more to go..

im a soldier a rider a ghetto survivor and all the above

droze+big boy

bean trees: one

So far, I'm about two chapters in and it's pretty boring so far. I'm not a huge fan, mostly because it's unoriginal. Missy, the narrator does not enjoy her life in her dull town in kentucky. She leaves her home but tells her mother first, and the only thing she has to say about it is that she makes sure Missy is able to change the tires of a car before she leaves. She bases her new name, Taylor, off the city that she lands in when her car runs out of gas. This part is interesting, but the book altogether seems very predictable. Taylor is left with a child she later chooses to name turtle because an older woman left it with her, simply telling her to take it and not to return to the bar she was just in. She is forced to go to a motel in Oklahoma, and the kind innkeeper lets her stay there for free and Taylor helps her out around the place for money. The narrator shifts to someone from the same town where Taylor grew up named lou ann ruiz. She and her husband are having problems, and he, Angel, ends up leaving her. This is all I have managed to gather from the book, and I hope the pace picks up because so far it has not been too entertaining.