This, for me, was the coming-of-age novel that The Catcher in the Rye never was. That said, the books are nothing alike. It's just that people are always going on about how Catcher blew their mind or whatever, and Salinger just never did it for me. 
 For me, this was definitely something I had to read in college. Any time before or after that, and it wouldn't have resonated the same way. Despite being a little dated now, The Bell Jar struck the right notes for this quasi-literary girl with its whole "what the hell am I supposed to do with my life let's just have a nervous breakdown" thing. 
 I feel like almost all coming-of-age novels are self-indulgent. That's just kinda the point of writing about one's "coming of age" - it's all about how the protagonist reconciles with the trauma of being grown up. That's what makes them, at some point in our life, so damn effective. The Bell Jar was it for me - I remember just curling up in my room with the lights out, weak winter sun streaming through the blinds, clutching my copy and - not bawling, just feeling all these emotions. Cheesy, but those are the moments I read books for.