#113 of 2011: Rose in Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
I have no problem with the story, actually; it’s just that I’m not a very big fan of reading classics. I also forgot how Louisa May Alcott writes - so innocent and sometimes too safe. Add to that, the language used wasn’t too smooth-flowing for me so I kind of had a hard time appreciating the story, which was a shame because it was about coming of age, growing up and into life, and all the things I’m very much into at the moment. “Little Women” fans would probably love this still, because it treads on the same paths - romance, discovery, friendship, and other Alcott signatures.
#40 of 2011: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
I first read Sylvia Plath back in college, but those were poems oozing with so much Elektra complex that I put off picking up her novels because I got too spooked out (coward lol). Fortunately, this book isn’t as goosebumpy because funnily, I could relate to parts of the story, I might as well be the reincarnation of Plath. Kidding. But I guess that’s ultimately the strongest point of this book. Anybody who gets to read this will always, always somehow connect him or herself to the situations and emotions of the main voice, Esther Greenwood. In a nutshell, it’s about “having it all, but still missing something.” Which happens to a lot of people all the time, including me, as I’ve said above, and that’s why it works. Even though I thought Plath’s writing got neurotic at times - it was kinda shifty, like it’s dealing with a lot uncontrollable personalities with just one voice, it helped me in understanding the whole point of the book, which was trying to figure out “what was wrong in life.” The Bell Jar’s almost like Girl, Interrupted but it doesn’t have that ending that gives you closure. Now that I think about it, Plath probably never achieved in finding the wrongness in her life, and her death was maybe the only best way she could find to serve as closure.
