2.5/3 
 Jam hasn't recovered from the death of her boyfriend, and is sent to the Wooden Barn, a therapeutic school in rural Vermont. She finds herself placed in a special topics in English class with a small group of other students. This class focuses on one writer a semester, and this go around they're reading Sylvia Plath. Soon the students discover there's more to this class, and their assignments than may first meet the eye. 
 This was one of the books I was most excited for this fall pub season. Meg Wolitzer's first foray into YA. Sylvia Plath and a special topics English class. That cover. I was expecting lots of deep emotional explorations. Some confessionals. Bonds created between members of a class, and their teacher. 
 I was slightly disappointed. I think most of this disappointment sprung from a lack of depth in a lot of places. While I appreciate Wolitzer allowed her narrative to breath, and she didn't try to be prescriptive about anything, I wanted more in depth exploration of a lot of things: the characters, the Special Topics in English Class, Belzhar itself. 
 There was a great opportunity for parallels with Plath's work here that never really established itself. If I was a teen reader who had never really encountered Plath I don't know that I would have a better feel for her. I didn't feel like a part of this class throughout the novel. I wanted them to discuss things more. I wanted to watch them argue, learn about who they were more from their point of view. I wanted them to grow together from these discussions. 
 I enjoyed that Jam's secrecy made her an unreliable narrator, but it became tiresome because it never felt full. I was able to guess some major plot points before they happened. She was balancing somewhere between wanting to be an unreliable narrator and wanting to be the likable kind of character that everyone can relate to. She would have been more interesting, and relatable, if I'd seen her as an unreliable narrator throughout. 
 All of this could have been developed as the novel is incredibly short. The prose here is still great and the themes are lofty so Wolitzer doesn't really suffer from the traditional pitfalls of adult authors writing for YA. Still, everything could have been developed more, without losing any nuance.