The Logistics of Insanity

Maybe it is because I saw Fight Club this past weekend, but when I started reading The Bell Jar, I could not help but feel that I was never entirely sure what was real and what was all in Esther's mind. How deluded is she - how many of the events that she describes actually happened? She talks about ordinary events - going to a luncheon, meeting with her boss - and the moments that continue to affect her after the fact, like when she saw Buddy as a hypocrite for the first time or when she decided she could not be friends with Doreen, and as a reader, I am left wondering what the truth is. 

Did these things happen in the way she describes them? Does she, like Rachel, mistakenly ascribe importance to events that are not as significant as she believes them to be? Furthermore, she lies so frequently that at first when she tells Betsy that she wants to leave the film premiere because she feels sick, I did not even begin to consider that this could be true until she begins vomiting. Even when she develops physical symptoms, I still assumed her illness to be more mental than physical until I learned that Betsy too was feeling sick. As a reader, it's somewhat disturbing to feel this at sea within a story. It seems possible that this was an intended effect to mimic the confusion Esther feels about her own life. I am curious to see whether this feeling will grow as Esther descends into madness.