Waiting On Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

Waiting on WednesdayWaiting on Wednesday is a weekly event brought to you by Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming books we can’t wait to read.

Last year I read The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer, an engrossing literary fiction title about life & friendship, rivalry, New York, and creative types. Good news, YA fans! Meg Wolitzer is making her first foray into YA with Belzhar. If the title sounds like Bell Jar, that’s no accident. Wolitzer’s inspiration is Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. In Wolitzer’s newest book, a depressed girl is sent to a special boarding school to heal after her boyfriends’ death. She takes an English class that focuses on Sylvia Plath. With a touch of magical realism, the girl’s journal writing leads her to Belzhar, a place where she can meet her lost love again.

Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

Publication Date: September 30, 2014 from Dutton Juvenile

Belzhar
About Belzhar:

 

If life were fair, Jam Gallahue would still be at home in New Jersey with her sweet British boyfriend, Reeve Maxfield. She’d be watching old comedy sketches with him. She’d be kissing him in the library stacks.

She certainly wouldn’t be at The Wooden Barn, a therapeutic boarding school in rural Vermont, living with a weird roommate, and signed up for an exclusive, mysterious class called Special Topics in English.

But life isn’t fair, and Reeve Maxfield is dead.

Until a journal-writing assignment leads Jam to Belzhar, where the untainted past is restored, and Jam can feel Reeve’s arms around her once again. But there are hidden truths on Jam’s path to reclaim her loss.

From New York Times bestselling author Meg Wolitzer comes a breathtaking and surprising story about first love, deep sorrow, and the power of acceptance.

Underneath the covers: I like all the details in the cover like the Joy Division t-shirt, headphones, The Bell Jar book, journal, sunglasses, sneakers and spoon! I seriously cannnot wait to read this one, but in the meantime I’ll check out the 1963 Sylvia Plath classic to have that point of comparison.

 

What book is on your radar this week?

Ornament

6 thoughts on “Waiting On Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer

  1. anmiryam says:

    You might check out Jenny Hubbard’s ‘And We Stay’ while you wait. It’s a similar story — a young woman’s boyfriend kills himself, she’s sent to an Amherst, MA boarding school and heals through a building affinity with Emily Dickinson. I have no doubt the books will be very different, but I love that both books examine the impulse to heal through writing.

    1. Lucy says:

      Thanks for the tip! I have a copy of And We Stay so I’ll definitely move it up the queue. Sounds like a good book pairing!

  2. BermudaOnion says:

    Ooh, that sounds really good!

  3. I recently found out about this. It sounds really good. I am a big fan of Sylvia Plath’s. The Bell Jar is one of my favorite novels. Sylvia Plath’s poetry is also very good; particularly the book Ariel.

    I just added And We Stay to my list, too. Good suggestion.

  4. This sounds really good, even though I’ve never read The Bell Jar (though I have plans to). I adore the cover!

  5. Summer/Sunny says:

    Ooh, this sounds really interesting! Thanks for expanding my TBR 😉

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