12 Nov 2014

MINI-REVIEW: Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer



Title: Belzhar
Author: Meg Wolitzer
Genre: Young Adult, Magical Realism.
Publication Date: October 1st 2014
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Format: Paperback

Pages: 266

Rating: 4/5



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.




This book was provided to me by the publisher but this in no way alters my opinions.

Belzhar was different than I was expecting. I knew it was magical realism and that it was had elements of The Bell Jar/Sylvia Plath, but that was it. I enjoyed the story – I’ve never read anything like it and I thought it was very beautiful and unique. It was also just really easy to plough through – it’s only a short book, but it’s also just one of those books that you can read in a number of hours. I think the only thing that stopped me from being a 5 star book was that I didn’t feel there was a lot of Plath in there – I would have liked to see a bit more, but that’s just because I’ve recently become a Plath fangirl. I’d definitely suggest Belzhar to anyone who’s looking for a quick, fun read.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster for providing me with a copy of this book.