Books like The Bell Jar

If you liked The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, start here: 12 similar summaries, with why each one matches.

  1. Their Eyes Were Watching God

    Zora Neale Hurston · 1937

    Because shares tags: classics, coming of age.

    Janie Crawford tells Pheoby about Eatonville life with Logan Killicks, Joe Starks called Jody, and Tea Cake.

  2. All Quiet on the Western Front

    Erich Maria Remarque · 1929

    Because shares tags: classics, coming of age.

    Paul Bäumer enlists at nineteen and faces the trenches of World War I in Remarque's 1929 classic, told from the German side of the wire.

  3. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

    Betty Smith · 1943

    Because shares tags: classics, coming of age.

    Francie Nolan grows up poor in 1910s Williamsburg, reading on fire escapes while her family scrapes by, and learns how schooling can lift…

  4. Treasure Island

    Robert Louis Stevenson · 1883

    Because shares tags: classics, coming of age.

    Jim Hawkins finds Flint's map, sails with Squire Trelawney's crew that hides pirates, and learns Long John Silver is both cook, friend, and…

  5. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

    Maya Angelou · 1969 · Maya Angelou's Autobiography #1

    Because shares tags: classics, coming of age.

    Angelou recalls Stamps, St Louis and San Francisco, from childhood silence after trauma to voice through books and work.

  6. The Color Purple

    Alice Walker · 1982

    Because shares tags: classics, feminism.

    Celie writes letters to God and to her sister, surviving abuse in the rural South to find her own voice.

  7. Siddhartha

    Hermann Hesse · 1922

    Because shares tags: classics, coming of age.

    A Brahmin son leaves home to find peace beyond teachers and rules.

  8. Great Expectations

    Charles Dickens · 1861

    Because shares tags: classics, coming of age.

    Orphan Pip chases wealth and Estella through London fog and prison ships.

  9. A Walk to Remember

    Nicholas Sparks · 1999

    Because shares tags: coming of age, 1950s.

    Bad boy Landon falls for pastor's daughter Jamie in 1950s North Carolina.

  10. Anne of Green Gables

    L. M. Montgomery · 1908 · Anne of Green Gables #1

    Because shares tags: classics, coming of age.

    L. M. Montgomery brings talkative Anne Shirley to Green Gables on Prince Edward Island, where mistakes, school rivalries, and fierce…

  11. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

    Stephen Chbosky · 1999

    Because shares tags: coming of age, mental health.

    Chbosky's Perks retold: Charlie's letters, Sam and Patrick, first year of high school in Pittsburgh.

  12. The Outsiders

    S.E. Hinton · 1967

    Because shares tags: coming of age, classics.

    Outsiders retold: Ponyboy and greasers vs Socs, church fire, rumble, stay gold ache.

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