The Bell Jar — A look inside a fragile mind

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Done reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, and honestly, it left me with a lot to think about. I really loved her metaphor about the fig tree.

"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. ... I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."

It’s such a powerful way to explain choices, possibilities, and the fear of missing out. At the same time, I found myself struggling with her thought process. Esther gives off a kind of “mean girl” energy at times, but I also can’t help pitying her because she’s clearly suffering mentally. It’s heartbreaking to realize how deeply her pain affected her life, and learning that Plath ended her own life in such a brutal way makes the book even heavier to process.

Overall, The Bell Jar is intense and raw. It’s poetic but unsettling, and it really makes you reflect on mental health, identity, and the pressures women face.

The Pearl — More than just a Pearl

The Pearl by John Steinbeck
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A short but powerful novella about greed, poverty, and ambition. It follows the story of Kino, a poor pearl diver whose life changes when he discovers something extraordinary. Steinbeck uses this story as a rich allegory to explore human desire, the cost of ambition, and the fragility of human values.

His simple yet vivid prose makes the novella both easy to read and deeply meaningful. The ending was shocking and haunting, a real reminder that dreams can come with unexpected costs.

Sharp Objects — Not what I expected

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I went into this with really high expectations because the author wrote Gone Girl (which I loved, and the movie was great too). Sadly, Sharp Objects isn't... It had a slow build-up that made me think it was going somewhere, but in the end it just disappointed me. The pacing dragged, the “twists” were predictable, and I honestly just wanted to get it over with or not finish at all.

What really pushed me away was how irresponsibly this was written. There’s a point where the narrator basically says if very young girls put themselves in risky situations (yes, these undeveloped frontal lobe kids), it’s ‘their fault’. Add to that the disturbing depiction of 13-year-olds drinking, using drug$, and getting r@p3d by six men.. That’s not edgy, it’s gross.. And don’t even get me started on the main character, a 30-year-old, from being reserved to banging a teenager boy, and doing drug$ with her 13-year-old sister?? What a character development. Are you okay, Gillian? Realistically, ages, actions, morals, none of it lines up. I could rant forever, but I’m not wasting another second on this disaster; I’ve suffered enough already.

I originally rated this 2 stars, but the more I thought about it the more frustrated I got, so I dropped it to 1. Maybe it’s because I expected the same level of brilliance as Gone Girl, but this felt flat, disturbing for the wrong reasons, and not worth the time I put into it. Honestly, I wish I had just DNF’d.

White Nights — A Bittersweet Tale of Yearning

White Nights by Fyodor Dostoevsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

White Nights totally zoned me out in the best way. Dostoevsky is way too good for making this bittersweet little masterpiece about yearning, hope, and unrequited love. There’s a poetic cruelty in Dostoevsky’s storytelling. He invites you to dwell in hope and fantasy, only to remind you of life’s impermanence. Sure, some will slap labels like ‘nice guy syndrome’ or ‘incel’ on it, but that misses the point. This isn’t a dating manual... it’s an exploration of the universal human condition: the hunger for connection and the art of letting go. For those who get it… congratulations, you’re officially emotionally evolved.

Notes from the Underground — A Dark Dive into the Human Psyche

Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is my first time reading Fyodor Dostoevsky, and now I’m curious to explore more of his work. Notes from Underground is intense, raw, and deeply human. Half of it feels like a deep philosophical rant, the other half like a personal confession, all from a narrator who’s bitter, self-aware, and full of contradictions.

The Underground Man challenges the idea that humans are purely logical, saying we actually crave freedom, even if it means choosing to suffer. Not gonna lie, this was a bit hard for me to grasp at first 😅, but it’s totally worth it. By the end, it made me want to read more of Dostoevsky’s work.

And TBH, I found myself relating to him more than I expected... his overthinking, self-awareness, wanting connection but also craving solitude, and questioning life’s meaning felt so human.

The Silent Patient — A Psychological Thriller That Hooks You

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was the book that pulled me out of a reading slump and I think it’s because psychological thrillers are my comfort genre. From the very beginning, the story hooked me with its eerie atmosphere and sense of mystery. What I liked most was how the tension slowly builds, keeping you second-guessing everyone’s motives without ever feeling dragged out.

It’s one of those books that makes you want to keep turning pages just to piece together the truth. If you’re into dark, psychological stories that play with your mind, this is definitely worth picking up.

The Stranger — Life, Meaning, and the Absurd

The Stranger by Albert Camus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There’s something striking about The Stranger, its brevity and depth working hand in hand. Meursault doesn’t live his life like most of us expect people to. Detached, observant, and indifferent, he moves through life without illusions. The story isn’t just about what he does; it’s about how little meaning he assigns to life and how society reacts to that.

Camus writes plainly, almost sparingly, yet every sentence carries weight. The book lingers not because of a dramatic plot, but because of the questions it leaves behind. For me, it wasn’t just a read, it was an experience that made me question existence itself.