i came across meg wolitzer's belzhar in a huffington post post about fall books. i wasn't the biggest fan of the interestings but decided to check out belzhar because i loved the cover. if it was an instagram post, i would have definitely like it, i have a thing for itemized photos like that. and a joy division shirt and the bell jar are featured on the cover, it had to be a good book. and it was.
it was a good book, but not great. it is a young adult novel so i did not judge it too harshly. not saying that ya novels can be poorly written but just that where i thought things were predictable and cleaned up too nicely, i could see it be shocking and satisfying to a younger reader. i have to admit that the fantastical element and pretty much the most important part of the novel, the journals were disappointing. i thought i was going to read about a girl working through her issues in real life not with the aid of a magical journal. once they entered the plot, i started to lose interested. it would have been nice to see jam healed through her own will power and therapy versus magic.
belzhar is the story of a teenage girl named jam. her real name was jamaica named after where she was conceived, no offense but wolitzer must have been stoned. i mean i get the need for the jar of jam in the story but couldn't she have come up with a better way for her nickname to be jam? that is some laziness.
jam was enrolled at a special school, wooden barn, because she was suffering depression after her boyfriend, a foreign exchange student, reeves, died. initially, we do not get any details on how he died, just stories about how they met and the time they spent together. prior to her enrollment, jam stopped living, she couldn't focus in school or get out of bed. jam's parents enrolled her to help her continue with schooling but also help her heal.
at wooden barn, jam was selected as one of five students to be enrolled in special topics in english. it is an exclusive course taught by mrs. quenell. from her roommate, dj, jam learns that past students say that it changed their life completely. this special topics turned out to be an extra special course because it would be the last one taught. in special topics, they read one author's work, and this time it was sylvia plath. an odd choice considering the setting. (i have to add that once plath was introduced, i decided to reread the bell jar because i didn't remember anything about it.). they would also write in journals during the course, not to be read and returned to mrs. quenell at the end of the course.
the students then discovered that their journals are magical. when they wrote in their journals, they went into a trans and were sent to a special place they name belzhar, a play on bell jar. belzhar was different for each student based on the trauma they had experienced in life, thought the setting was on the day of their traumatizing event. for sienna, she was on a bus with her little brother on the day he disappeared. for casey, a girl that was paralyzed in a car accident, she was fully able-bodied (is that the pc term?). for marc, who discovered his father was having an affair, his family is whole. for griffin, he was in his family's barn with all the goats. and for jam, she was with reeves. initally, belzhar brings them all comfort. however, it was predictable that the students would move forth from their trauma because they would realize how holding onto it caused their life to be stifled. as demonstrated with jam, belzhar's reeve never cared about her present life and she became bored by having to relive their past.
the students also discovered that they write in their journals for 5 pages each time they go to belzhar and started to stress about what will happen in the end. in the meantime, they started to heal. jam became interested in griffin and spent thanksgiving with his family after she got snowed in at wooden barn. she also helped deliver a baby goat which though amazing but really some girl from jersey would do all of that? but she starts to fall for griffin but feels guilty for betraying revees.
then, the end came. casey and marc decided to finish their journals and discovered that they must live through everything that happen to them but this time they are conscious of everything. of course this gave them the closure they needed to move on. griffin does too and makes peace with his family. sierra decided to stay in belzhar and went into a coma. jam was left to decide if she should stay in belzhar with revees or pick griffin. sad to see it always come down to a boy.
however, here came the plot twist that i was definitely not expecting and actually have to give kudos to wolitzer on this one, but reeves never died. in fact, jam and reeves never dated!! everything was a lie she told herself because she was obsessed with reeves. they interacted as school but not on the level she had told us. jam's true issue was that she had lied to herself that her boyfriend was dead to deal with rejection. i hate to be mean but she really was crazy. and well played by wolitzer, because jam also his the truth from her classmates and as a result the reader as well.
i have to say that i wish there was some guilt on jam's end. i think she mentioned once about feeling bad about lying to her classmates but there was never an explanation from her. and considering how honest they were with her, she should have come clean. i mean they were the type to accept anything and just be happy that she found closure, but wolitzer needed to make that conversation happen.
jam got of clean because the reader and her classmates were distracted by the news that sierra's little brother was found but sadly she was now in a coma. however, jam saved the day by having the brother shout at sierra to get out of belzhar and everyone lived happily ever after.
oh and it turns out mrs. quenell was in a mental hospital the same time as slyvia plath. way to go wolitzer on having everything come full circle. oh and mrs. q made some speech about the power of writing, which would have been way deeper if it truly was writing that helped them instead of a magical journal.
a good read for young adults, but if you are an adult, you might want to find something else to read.
