Plath's only novel follows Esther Greenwood, a gifted young woman from Massachusetts who wins a place on a guest editorship at a New York fashion magazine in the early 1950s. Outwardly she is on the path to success, but she feels increasingly detached from the roles offered to women of her generation, and from her own ambitions. The book traces her growing unease and a deepening mental crisis, and the treatment she receives. Told in a dry, observant and often darkly funny voice, it is a vivid portrait of youth, expectation and mental illness. It draws on the author's own experience and remains widely read for its honesty.
Quotes
It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.
There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure, but I don't know many of them.
I never feel so much myself as when I'm in a hot bath.
There is something demoralizing about watching two people get more and more crazy about each other, especially when you are the only extra person in the room.