Sylvia and Ted

Odd book. All mood, very few events: it was like this, and it was like that, and years did pass somehow... reading it was like eating whipped skim milk.Depressing and compelling, but hardly a narrative; more a meditation, or an enormously stretched out poem. The imagery was poetic, and the few details: the scarlet headband, the table, the hand under the tap holding a knife. Fairy tales.Perhaps because it was based on real people, and she had few definite events to deal with? I suppose much of it did read like hazy recollections. I tell you, no, it was like this.Sylvia reads as most difficult to live with. That came through in the real biography I read, and even a little in the Bell Jar. Can't blame Ted for his leaving of her, only for show more the manner of it. show less

This fictionalized version of the marriage of Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes is almost like a long prose poem. The language is strong and sensual, and weaves a tale of reality and symbolism about Sylvia's depressions, rages and insecurities. There are many mythological references as well as dense circular passages that assumes the reader has knowledge of Ted's infidelities and small cruelties.

I have read other novels about Plath as well as her poetry and journals. This book adds an atmospheric interpretation of this tragic and well-documented marriage and ultimately her suicide. Recommended for those readers who love language but in this case are not seeking a linear story.

10 cent score