Recently Read: Belzhar

Author: Meg Wolitzer
Genre: Young Adult- Magical Realism
Release Date: 2014
Page Count: 264
Rating:  3.5/5
Waiting on Wednesday Post for Belzhar

Jam has fallen in love for the first time. His name is Reeve and he's the British exchange student. They understand each other perfectly, until he's gone, and Jam is left devastated. Her parents send her to a boarding school for "emotionally fragile" teens in the hopes that she will reenter the world. There she is put into Special Topics in English where she and a small number of selected students will study the works of Sylvia Plath, and where something unbelievable happens when they write in their journals. 

I was really excited for this book, because I love Plath and The Bell Jar so I was really interested to see how it would come up in this Young Adult novel. I really enjoyed the first three-quarters of the book, but I really didn't enjoy the twist in the story. I just found it unrealistic I guess. (If you've read this, what did you think about the revelation?) 

I really liked the integration of Plath's works into this novel, and the theme that literature can understand exactly what you're going through and give you exactly what you need. I also liked the magical realism element in this novel and thought it was very well done. But I was a little underwhelmed by this book. I enjoyed it, and found many reasons to keep reading it, but I didn't love it. I do love the idea of this book introducing readers to Plath and her works though. If you read this and were interested in Plath's work, I 100% recommend The Bell Jar and any of her poetry.

I'm interested in Wolitzer's adult works; I enjoyed the writing style in this novel. If you've read anything else by her let me know.