The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant beautiful enormously talented & successful but slowly going under -- maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath masterfully draws the reader into Esthers breakdown with such intensity that Esthers insanity becomes completely real & even rational as probable & accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark & harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment & has made The Bell Jar a haunting American classic.