The Bell Jar audiobook vs book: which should you choose?
Esther Greenwood’s summer at a New York magazine in the 1950s turns into the hardest year of her life. Maggie Gyllenhaal’s praised reading tips it towards listening.
Content note: sources list depression, a suicide attempt, electroconvulsive therapy and life in a psychiatric hospital among the novel’s themes. This page does not describe them.
Listen on Audible
Listen to The Bell Jar for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s reading: Kirkus says she “pulls it off beautifully”, giving Esther a sympathetic quality you can feel even when Esther cannot, and lists the recording as a 2004 Audie Award finalist. Esther tells her own story and Gyllenhaal reads it all, and critics call Plath’s prose clear and plain, so it follows easily by ear.
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The audiobook at a glance
| Recording | UK edition, our verdict | US edition |
|---|---|---|
| Narrator | Maggie Gyllenhaal | Maggie Gyllenhaal |
| Length | 7 hours 24 minutes (7h 24m), unabridged | 7 hours 24 minutes (7h 24m), unabridged |
| At 1.5x | about 4h 56m | about 4h 56m |
| At 2x | about 3h 42m | about 3h 42m |
| Audio publisher and date | Faber & Faber, 16 July 2015 | Harper, 2 February 2016 |
| Audiobook price | £12.32 on Audible UK | $21.59 on Audible US |
| Kindle price | £6.39 on Amazon UK | Not listed |
| Faber & Faber paperback, 234 pages, 2005 | Harper Perennial Modern Classics paperback, 244 pages, 2005 | |
| Listener rating | Performance 4.69 from 2,478 ratings | Performance 4.66 from 8,560 ratings |
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s unabridged reading is the only full recording on either Audible store: Faber & Faber sells it in the UK and Harper in the US, both at 444 minutes. The UK listing is the one scored. We couldn’t confirm whether the two listings are one master recording, but every source names the same narrator.
Frances McDormand recorded an abridged version for Caedmon on cassette, which isn’t on Audible. Unofficial uploads with no narrator or publisher listed are not scored. Ratings and prices checked 6 November 2026. Prices change often. US Kindle prices are left out, as Amazon only shows them to US visitors.
Lengths checked 6 November 2026. Speed times are calculated.
The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath
- Genre
- Classic novel
- First published
- 1963 (England)
- Length
- 234 pages (UK paperback)
- On audio
- 7 hrs 24 mins, Maggie Gyllenhaal
On this page
Why we reached this verdict
Every book on this site is checked against the same thirteen questions. They are based on research into what most people find easier to follow in each format, not on whether the book is any good.
Checked, not a factor here (11)
Esther’s first-person story read by one narrator (7) and the praised narration (6) give listening 13 points, and nothing gives reading any. That puts it at 76%, leaning to audio. Nothing scores for reading, but a clear-cut verdict needs more than 13 points on one side.
Every book gets the same thirteen checks, set in advance. Verdicts are never paid for or influenced by affiliate links. Last edited 6 November 2026, and rechecked every year as editions and narrators change. Read the checks in full · Is listening the same as reading? See what the research says.
The recording in detail
- Scored
- Maggie Gyllenhaal, Faber & Faber, 2015, 7h 24m, unabridged
- Critic review
- Kirkus: Gyllenhaal “pulls it off beautifully”; 2004 Audie Award finalist
- Alternatives
- Frances McDormand, abridged Caedmon cassette, not on Audible
- What you miss
- Nothing. There’s no map, glossary or special layout
What this book actually is
The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath’s only novel, first published in England in 1963. Esther Greenwood spends a summer as an intern at a New York magazine, and the novel follows her from that summer into a breakdown and a stay in hospital, told by Esther herself as she looks back on the year she was 19.
It is a novel, but reviewers including Kirkus have noted how closely it draws on Plath’s own life. Plath died in 1963, the year it came out, and the first US edition followed from Harper & Row in 1971.
The case for reading it
The case for print is thin here. Critics describe Plath’s writing as clear rather than dense: Elizabeth Hardwick in The New York Review of Books says it is “written in a bare, rather collegiate 1950s style”, so there is little that the page gives you and the audiobook doesn’t.
Reading still makes sense if you want to set your own pace through the darker chapters, or to mark lines you want to come back to. At 234 pages it is a short book in either format.
The case for listening to it
Maggie Gyllenhaal’s reading is the draw. Kirkus says she “pulls it off beautifully”, giving Esther a sympathetic quality “that the reader can feel, even when Esther cannot”, so the warmth comes through even in Esther’s coldest moments.
Esther tells the whole story herself, in order, and Gyllenhaal reads every word, so the audiobook plays like one young woman telling you about the year everything came apart. At 7 hours 24 minutes it fits into a few commutes.
The audiobook in detail
Maggie Gyllenhaal reads the unabridged audiobook alone, in 7 hours 24 minutes. Audible UK sells it from Faber & Faber (released 16 July 2015) and Audible US from Harper (2 February 2016), at the same length.
Kirkus reviewed the Harper Audio reading and praises the sympathy she gives Esther. Listeners rate her performance 4.69 from 2,478 ratings on Audible UK and 4.66 from 8,560 on Audible US. No PDF comes with it.
Who should ignore this verdict
Frances McDormand’s recording is an abridged Caedmon cassette and isn’t on Audible, so Gyllenhaal’s is the one to get. If you would rather take the darker chapters at your own pace, the book is a short read; otherwise, listen.
Kindle
- 234 pages (UK paperback)
- Set your own pace through the darker chapters
- About 4 hours to read (our estimate)
Related verdicts
Rebecca
A young woman tells her own story, also a listen.
Jane Eyre
A first-person classic, also better on audio.
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
A woman’s own account of loneliness and recovery.
The Great Gatsby
A short American classic, read by Jake Gyllenhaal.
Frankenstein
A classic that works better in print.
The Handmaid’s Tale
Another woman’s first-person story, from this batch.
Start hereHow we decide
The thirteen questions behind every verdict on this site.
Questions people ask
Who narrates The Bell Jar audiobook?
The actor Maggie Gyllenhaal reads the unabridged audiobook on her own, for Faber & Faber in the UK and Harper in the US.
How long is The Bell Jar audiobook?
7 hours 24 minutes, unabridged. That is about 4 hours 56 minutes at 1.5x speed and 3 hours 42 minutes at 2x (calculated).
Is The Bell Jar audiobook abridged?
No. The Maggie Gyllenhaal audiobook on Audible is unabridged. An older abridged cassette read by Frances McDormand came out from Caedmon, but it isn’t on Audible.
How many pages is The Bell Jar?
The UK Faber & Faber paperback (ISBN 9780571226160) has 234 pages. The US Harper Perennial Modern Classics paperback has 244.
Does Sylvia Plath read The Bell Jar audiobook?
No. Plath died in 1963, the year the novel first came out in England. Maggie Gyllenhaal reads the audiobook.
Is The Bell Jar a true story?
It is a novel, but reviewers including Kirkus have noted how closely it draws on Plath’s own life.
Who tells the story in The Bell Jar?
Esther Greenwood tells the whole story in the first person, looking back on the year she was 19.
Is there a Frances McDormand recording of The Bell Jar?
Yes, but it is an abridged cassette edition from Caedmon Audio, and it isn’t sold on Audible.
Should I read or listen to The Bell Jar?
Listen. Kirkus says Maggie Gyllenhaal “pulls it off beautifully” as Esther, who tells her own story from start to finish, and critics call Plath’s prose clear and plain, so it follows easily by ear. At 234 pages it is a short book in either format.
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