The It-Doesn't-Matter Suit

by Sylvia Plath

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This is the story of young Max Nix, a seven-year-old boy in search of the perfect set of clothing. Yet Max receives more than he bargained for in the wonderful, woolly, whiskery, brand-new, mustard-yellow It-Doesn't-Matter Suit.

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6 reviews
The lighter, playful side of Sylvia Plath (turns out there was one!) emerges brilliantly in this delightful children's tale. To hear Plath write for kids in a helpful, hopeful style and tone, completely devoid of the poetic, metaphoric despair she patented, is poignant, to say the least. One wishes she could've heeded the moral lesson of her story, that it doesn't matter what you look like outside or especially in, more successfully.... But such difficult lessons rarely penetrate beyond childhood when one is plagued by terrible pain the suffocating weight of Plath's. Try not to tear up if you read it to a kid, like I did. If they ask why you wept, but they're too young to hear about her death, just rub your eyes, and reply as I have -- show more "Aw ... it doesn't matter" -- and so pay your homage to Plath. show less
Nagyon izgatott, milyen lehet, amikor Sylvia Plath mesét ír, és ez bizony jó. Láncmese jelleggel és pont megfelelő mennyiségű ismétléssel. Könnyen lehetett volna unalmasan repetitív, de nagyon jól el van találva. Olyan ritmusa van a történetnek, az ismétléseknek, a szövegnek, hogy öröm volt olvasni. Tanulság is van, legkevésbé sem szájbarágósan. Közben az egész könnyed (ami nem az első asszociációm Sylvia Plath nevéről), gördülékeny. A négy és fél és a nyolc és fél éves is imádta, és én is. A fordítás remek, Dániel András illusztrációi tovább emelik az élményt, és ez a texturált mustársárga öltöny borító! Ez a kötet úgy tökéletes, ahogy van.
Nagyon izgatott, milyen lehet, amikor Sylvia Plath mesét ír, és ez bizony jó. Láncmese jelleggel és pont megfelelő mennyiségű ismétléssel. Könnyen lehetett volna unalmasan repetitív, de nagyon jól el van találva. Olyan ritmusa van a történetnek, az ismétléseknek, a szövegnek, hogy öröm volt olvasni. Tanulság is van, legkevésbé sem szájbarágósan. Közben az egész könnyed (ami nem az első asszociációm Sylvia Plath nevéről), gördülékeny. A négy és fél és a nyolc és fél éves is imádta, és én is. A fordítás remek, Dániel András illusztrációi tovább emelik az élményt, és ez a texturált mustársárga öltöny borító! Ez a kötet úgy tökéletes, ahogy van.
I hadn't known that Sylvia Plath had written children stories. It was a treat to find this one! Yes, it was a bit repetitive once we got to about the fifth brother and I suppose the mom must've been exhausted from having to sew that suit so many times. But it was still a sweet story with a good message. What I took from it is: wear what you want, do what makes you happy, never worry about what other people think of you, and that being yourself makes you 1 million times happier than refraining from being yourself for fear of judgment.
An utterly charming children's tale, sweetly illustrated. What a treat!
Sylvia Plath dejó escritas cuatro obras orientadas al público infantil antes de fallecer a mediados de los años 60 del siglo XX. Entre ellas este delicioso cuento en el que reivindica la necesidad de tener confianza en uno mismo y reforzar la autoestima para nunca sentirnos influenciados por las opiniones de los demás y, en consecuencia, preservar la condición de ciudadanos críticos. Max vive con sus padres y con sus seis hermanos en Winkelburg, un pueblito a la ladera de una montaña. En general está contento con su día a día, únicamente echa de menos la posibilidad de cambiar su estilo de vestir y tener, al fin, un traje, como esos que ve a los vecinos cada vez que pasea por la aldea. Un traje para todas las estaciones y show more situaciones que, coincidencias de la vida, llega un buen día vía postal al hogar familiar. Pero, esa elegante prenda "mullida, afelpada, amarillo mostaza, de estreno" ¿es realmente para él? Las ilustraciones de Rocío Martínez nos transportan al medio natural en el que se produce la historia, trazando un divertido perfil de sus protagonistas y acciones en las que se ven involucrados los distintos hermanos que lucen este atrevido diseño. show less
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131+ Works 55,480 Members
Sylvia Plath's best poetry was produced, tragically, as she pondered self-destruction---in her poems as well as her life---and she eventually committed suicide. She had an extraordinary impact on British as well as American poetry in the few years before her death, and affected many poets, particularly women, in the generation after. She is a show more confessional poet, influenced by the approach of Robert Lowell. Born in Boston, a graduate of Smith College, Plath attended Newnham College, Cambridge University, on a Fulbright Fellowship and married the British poet Ted Hughes. Of her first collection,The Colossus and Other Poems (1962), the Times Literary Supplement remarked, "Plath writes from phrase to phrase as well as with an eye on the larger architecture of the poem; each line, each sentence is put together with a good deal of care for the springy rhythm, the arresting image and---most of all, perhaps---the unusual word." Plath's second book of poetry, Ariel, written in 1962 in a last fever of passionate creative activity, was published posthumously in 1965 and explores dimensions of women's anger and sexuality in groundbreaking new ways. Plath's struggles with women's issues, in the days before the second wave of American feminism, became legendary in the 1970s, when a new generation of women readers and writers turned to her life as well as her work to understand the contradictory pressures of ambitious and talented women in the 1950s. The Bell Jar---first published under a pseudonym in 1963 and later issued under Plath's own name in England in 1966---is an autobiographical novel describing an ambitious young woman's efforts to become a "real New York writer" only to sink into mental illness and despair at her inability to operate within the narrow confines of traditional feminine expectations. Plath was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1982. In recent years, there have been a number of biographies and critical evaluations of Plath's work. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

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Common Knowledge

Original publication date
1996
First words
Max Nix was seven years old, and the youngest of seven brothers.
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And the cats in the alleys and the dogs on the cobbles of Winkelburg followed at his heels, purring and grrrring with admiration for Max Nix and his wonderful woolly whiskery brand-new mustard-yellow It-Doesn't-Matter Suit.
Original language
English

Classifications

Genres
Children's Books, Fiction and Literature
DDC/MDS
813.54Literature & rhetoricAmerican literature in EnglishAmerican fiction in English1900-19991945-1999
LCC
PS3566 .L27 .I8Language and LiteratureAmerican literatureAmerican literatureIndividual authors1961-
BISAC

Statistics

Members
141
Popularity
231,323
Reviews
6
Rating
½ (3.57)
Languages
8 — Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Hungarian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Portuguese, Spanish
Media
Paper, Audiobook
ISBNs
13