Customer Reviews

The Journals of Sylvia Plath

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"The Journals of Sylvia Plath" is essential reading for those who truly desire to get to the heart of Plath's brilliant poetry. Because she is one of the innovators of "confessional" poetry (along with her friend and contemporary, Anne Sexton), the direct inspiration for Plath's verse is nothing less than her very personal life, and without a grasp of that life, it is impossible to fully appreciate the poetry. The "Journals", incomplete though they are, are the very best source of insight into the intricate workings of a mind of pure genius as it both processed and reacted to the numerous hurdles that life threw its way. Of course, it was precisely how she struggled with these hurdles that Plath painstakingly versified and concealed under layers and layers of metaphorical language and complicated structural schemes, the end result of which is poetry that at once screams of raw truth while actively challenging the reader to channel all of his/her faculties toward the difficult but exhilarating task of excavating this truth from the artistry. But even apart from the poetry, Plath's "Journals" is quite simply one of the most beautifully written and heartrending works of American prose of the twentieth century.

Another reviewer wrote that this book was a big disappointment - that it stinks. How can one criticize someone's journals? I'm pretty sure Plath didn't expect these to be published one day - and so she didn't write them for the general public to read. These words are honest, riviting, disturbing, wonderful, priceless.

The Journals of Sylvia Plath are an undisputible link to the base of her poetry. For a journal of a life, the entries are incredibly written and interesting. I have been very interested in her death by suicide which was the reason why I picked up these journals in the first place, but I found myself underlining sentences of her different viewpoints on life, ironically. If you you want to figure out about how Plath wrote her poetry and what events formed the woman who is such a mystery today, read this book. The only place where I thought that the diaries lacked was that all the information was not included. Some of her most passionate outrages and angry words have been taken out which I think are definitely a key to her poems that we do not possess. I am aware that the people in the journals must be protected but hope that the full works will be published in the future. The first half of the journals while Sylvia was in college have spoken to me and given me words and reasonings for my feelings that I had not been able to form myself before. I think any college student would benefit from reading her viewpoints and beautiful words. Anyone who is interested in the author will be impressed.

The life that committed suicide at age 30 still throbs within these pages. I would recommend this book for any artist, musician, writer, etc. who has tried seriously to develop their craft to the sublime limits of immortality. Sylvia can open your heart and help you to feel human in the most real parts of your soul. She splatters her guts out on the page and always knew what really mattered.

I wasn't aware, while reading these brilliant journals, that the book is "abridged," but what's here is staggeringly clever, honest and just plain great writing. Even when Plath is writing at her most depressed, it is not a depressing experience to read her journals because they're so wonderfully written. Really good stuff. I enjoyed her journals more than her poetry, to be honest.

This book rivets the soul . I couldn't reccomend it more

This book was in great condition. Looked new and was kept in great condition for a soft cover. Seller delivered as promised, and before we left town for Christmas. Convenient.

I have not finished this book but Plath's words are so superbly written that I wanted to to write a review. This book has become a haven of the mind for me recently. When I am feeling alone or "different" I read this book and feel so connected to Plath's words that things are easier to handle.

It is obvious in Plath's words that she was a highly intelligent women who admitted her weaknesses and was forever seeking the next experience to express and ponder on.

Such a wonderful read, I am so grateful this is available to us.

If you love Sylvia Plath's amazing poetry; if you have an affinity for either reading journals, or writing your own; or if you simply have an interest in the lifestyles and choices of women of some 50 years ago, these collected journals are a must.

Since her death by suicide in 1963 at age thirty, Sylvia Plath has become an iconic figure of the young tormented soul trapped by the irrationality of the modern world.

These abridged journals (for too long the only ones available) are an indispensable adjunct to the poetry and other writings of Sylvia Plath, giving the reader a window into the mind and creative processes of this brilliant, unbalanced, creative and self-destructive woman.

Between these covers Plath strikes the reader as remote and too measured---as if she was writing even her journals for an audience. This sensation is also heightened by the far too pernicious editing, supervised by her ex-husband, poet Ted Hughes, who effectively censored Plath posthumously, even admitting (in the Foreword) that he destroyed one of the final volumes of her journal, ostensibly to protect their children.

With the release of the unedited version, this abridgement becomes a supernumerary volume, except for the reader who wants to gain a quick glimpse of Plath engaged in the work of her existence. The serious reader is best advised to take up the unexpurgated edition.