You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
This is another book that I associate with a particular moment in my life. I read it all in one night, I think, in my dorm room.
The prevailing theory in my class about this one is that Ms. Malcolm was er... interested in Mr. Hughes.
The prevailing theory in my class about this one is that Ms. Malcolm was er... interested in Mr. Hughes.
challenging
dark
funny
informative
sad
medium-paced
Janet Malcolm’s masterpiece on biography, reporting and the question of whether we can know the truth. Breathtaking writing, so original.
I don’t know how anyone could read this book and be won to Malcolm’s stance, but this is a well written book regardless
challenging
informative
medium-paced
Janet Malcolm, provocative as always, writes a meta-biography of Sylvia Plath/Ted Hughes that is also about the problem of biography itself. Fascinating, even-handed, elegant, unpretentious.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
An interesting case study on why the task of the “unbiased” biography is an impossible one. I agree with certain readers that Malcolm can be a bit too sympathetic to Ted Hughes, though she does make some good points throughout about the impossible position Hughes inhabits as both the surviving spouse of an incredibly public literary marriage & executor of the Plath estate. To me, the most interesting part of the book is Malcolm’s dissection of Sylvia’s multitude of “selves”, and how evidence of this real human complexity makes crafting a satisfying narrative nonfiction arc difficult.
I loved this book! In exploring the process of biography & the Sylvia Plath legend, it teaches you a lot about her and Hughes but also about both the difficulties of trying to tell someone's life story--fact, fiction, truth, speculation, etc.--especially when that person is dead and people close to him/her are still alive. Great read!
challenging
medium-paced