Belzhar

Wolitzer, Meg. Belzhar. 2014. 264p. ISBN 978-0-525-42305-8. FIC WOL on the library shelves.

For the last year, Jamaica Gallahue, or Jam to her friends, has been grieving for the loss of her British boyfriend, Ree Maxfield. She has sunk so deep in depression and despair that her parents are forced to send her to a special school in mountainous Vermont called the Wooden Barn.

Her roommate, DJ, has food issues. Everyone one else at the school is dealing with a major physical or emotional trauma. And Jam remains herself lost in her grief. One of her class, however, is taught by Mrs. Quenell, a teacher who’s been here for decades. Only a small number of students are allowed in Special Topics in English, and everyone has to be personally selected by Mrs. Quenell.

On the first day of classes, Mrs. Quenell informs the five students in the class that they will only study one author this year, Sylvia Plath. And like her, students will be expected to write in a journal that Mrs. Quenell gives them. She will not read the journal, but it needs to be completed by the end of the semester. She also tells them that they must look out for each other.

Something odd happens when she writes in the journal. Jam feels transported back in time and space where she can reconnect with Reese. They can only do things they did when they were together, but for Jam this is enough. It allows her to spend time with Reese again

Everyone else in class experiences the same phenomenon, and name the space Belzhar in honor of Plath’s The Bell Jar. All five of them can now go back in time and dwell with their loved ones before their world traumatically changed forever.

But as time passes, and as the journals become filled, Jam begins to learn about herself and her friends. But the truths she encounters on the path to recovery may be more than she’s willing to deal with.

If you liked this book, consider reading Thirteen Reasons Why, Please Ignore Vera Dietz, We Were Liars, If I Stay, Zoe Letting Go, Black Box, The Vanishing Season, or Kiss of Broken Glass. All of these books feature a tragedy and a voyage of self-discovery as the central element of the plot.

Meg Wolitzer discusses her relationship to Sylvia Plath's work in this Time magazine article.