I would maybe recommend stopping and picking it up a bit later. I also read this book when I was terribly depressed and going through almost the same life experiences that Esther was going through. Although it made me feel less alone…as if talking to a friend who understands exactly how you feel when you confide in them about some difficulties in life…it was kind of triggering.

I also chose the Audiobook (read by Maggie Gyllenhall) and I think her perfect execution of the detached Esther really struck a cord with me. It almost made me think that everything that she is feeling and everything that she did is okay given her situation and mental state. And this is not good if someone reading the book is really depressed…

Sounds like you’re consuming via audiobook. Have you tried consuming via print? You’re more in control of the rate and amount you take on at a time, which might make it a little easier to process. (To be clear, I’m not hating on audiobooks at all, I was thinking of how I get through emotionally heavy reading material and often times it’s by just closing my eyes and sitting with it for a minute and I’m not sure I could get the same effect with audio.)

I don’t. If it’s challenging (emotionally) I drop it. My mental health is already hanging by the thread, I won’t jeopardise it in anyway. I stopped reading A Little Life and the Days of Abandonment because of this.

I suggest pushing on (with frequent small breaks as you need) or setting it aside for a while.

I had to read The Road for class and we were discussing it during one of my most anxious moments during undergrad; I was applying to graduate school and despairing about the options. I couldn't read more than 20 pages at a time before I had to go for a long walk and shake the shroud of apocalypticism off me for a bit. It was a good book, and I don't regret finishing it, but wow, was that miserable.

So just decide for yourself if you want to push on. (No shame if you don't; The Bell Jar is amazing, but it'll be around even if you wait a year.) If you do go forward with reading, try to build a routine out of it: read what you can and then do a self-affirming activity, as simple as walking outside in the fresh air or drinking your favorite tea.

If I think it's worth it, I drop it and pick it up later. If I don't think it's worth it, I'll just drop it.

Yo, same with Eleanor in "The Haunting of Hill House". I felt that character to an absurd degree. Like I gasped out loud >!when she hit the tree and legit had to take a minute to make sure I was not dead.!<

Might be different for you, but what helped for me was talking walks in between reading sessions and just thinking about all the ways I wasn't her. Sometimes long, sometimes short, just around the block or to the corner store or walking the dog. No headphones, just thinking and moving. I believe more than anything the movement is what did the trick; like "I am physically moving away from the place where I experienced these emotions and am also mentally moving away from that headspace."

I don't tend to read very mature content-heavy books to begin with, but I tend to just stop reading it. You're under no obligation to finish every single book you ever read, ever. I read for fun, not to check off a book of my list. If I don't like the book, I won't read it anymore and I'll find another one

Bell Jar should be read when you're in the right headspace for it. I can't go near it without preparing my soul or it sends me down a weird spiral and I spend the next 4 months in existential despair. Take care of yourself first <3

i don't

I dither a bit then I flip to the end, then I work backwards a few pages at a time. Anathema to the purists but pragmatic. I get closure on the story and feel more in control. I've not read this particular book so can't say if it would work with that.

Exposure is the best way of overcoming a phobia, so you could read more books like The Bell Jar. But if you're not actually getting something from it, why bother !? Read something else instead.

Yeah, I just stop. There's a difference between "difficult but I'm enjoying it" and "this is making me feel like crap and putting me in a terrible head space".

Try it again later. But there's nothing wrong with reading "pop corn" when you need a break. Jerry Spinelli writes lovely YA. Pratchett is wonderful nonsense. The Simon Snow series is nice and fluffy too.

I’m in the same boat right now. Currently reading Morning Star by Pierce Brown and I’ve hit a point that’s too depressing to keep reading. The worst part is the book is due back to the library in two days and I don’t have the mental capacity to finish it by then.

When something like this gets to me, I've learned to take myself out of the book emotionally and focus on the literature. Analyzing sentence structure, grammar, and punctuation, evaluating how the writer could have improved this or that paragraph -- takes the power out of the words. Worth the effort with difficult material.

That book was hard for me and related to it far too much. Take your time.

Just pace yourself if need be. I just read that a month ago. I was diagnosed with severe bipolar about a year and a half ago at age 42, so I’ve spent some time under the jar. Some of the content hot a little close to home but the poetic way in which she writes made it impossible for me to stop reading.

This happened to me with A Little Life. I just read it slowly, put the book down when it became too much. Skimmed through a passage here and there if it was too graphic (I’m thinking of one particular section in that book involving >!Jude and Caleb!<)