Scan barcode
sophievansaghi's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
mepresley's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I'm really torn about this novel. I love the subject matter and I like the idea of exploring Plath and her legacy through different voices, none of which are hers. I enjoyed the fact that all three narrators were smart, insightful, interesting women: Estee, a master curator; Boston, a confessional poet; and Dr. Ruth, a psychiatrist. I love a good villain, and Boston was certainly incredibly unsympathetic.
The mystery of the origins of The Bell Jar manuscript was interesting and the resolution, with Estee destroying the notebooks as Plath would have wanted, was satisfying. Kravetz did a lovely job connecting and slowly unraveling (or perhaps I mean weaving) the various threads of the story: Boston's letter to Lowell records the theft of the notebooks and her eventual decision to send them to Lowell and Ruth's diary entries show us Lowell, her former patient (the Mad Poet), bringing the notebooks to her; most of all, though, it's the surprise reveal that Estee is Boston's daughter that brings the path of The Bell Jar full circle.
The Last Confessions piqued my curiosity, and I tracked down several articles on Lowell, Sexton, and Plath, which were fascinating.
But this is where my criticism of the novel comes in: Lowell, Plath, Ted Hughes, Dr. Ruth, George Starbuck, etc--these are all real people. Boston Rhodes, on the other hand, is fictional but at the same time clearly represents Anne Sexton. I know that fiction is fiction, but it feels problematic at best the way that Kravetz has chosen to portray Anne, and particularly Anne's relationship to Sylvia, especially against this backdrop of actual events, which makes the creative license feel dishonest and even ugly at times. For me, both women, so troubled and complex, ultimately deserved more than this version of their experiences, which reduced Anne to spite, jealousy, competitiveness, and ambition.
Sexton's "Sylvia's Death":
The mystery of the origins of The Bell Jar manuscript was interesting and the resolution,
The Last Confessions piqued my curiosity, and I tracked down several articles on Lowell, Sexton, and Plath, which were fascinating.
But this is where my criticism of the novel comes in: Lowell, Plath, Ted Hughes, Dr. Ruth, George Starbuck, etc--these are all real people. Boston Rhodes, on the other hand, is fictional but at the same time clearly represents Anne Sexton. I know that fiction is fiction, but it feels problematic at best the way that Kravetz has chosen to portray Anne, and particularly Anne's relationship to Sylvia, especially against this backdrop of actual events, which makes the creative license feel dishonest and even ugly at times. For me, both women, so troubled and complex, ultimately deserved more than this version of their experiences, which reduced Anne to spite, jealousy, competitiveness, and ambition.
Sexton's "Sylvia's Death":
O Sylvia, Sylvia,
with a dead box of stones and spoons,
with two children, two meteors
wandering loose in a tiny playroom,
with your mouth into the sheet,
into the roofbeam, into the dumb prayer,
(Sylvia, Sylvia
where did you go
after you wrote me
from Devonshire
about raising potatoes
and keeping bees?)
what did you stand by,
just how did you lie down into?
Thief —
how did you crawl into,
crawl down alone
into the death I wanted so badly and for so long,
the death we said we both outgrew,
the one we wore on our skinny breasts,
the one we talked of so often each time
we downed three extra dry martinis in Boston,
the death that talked of analysts and cures,
the death that talked like brides with plots,
the death we drank to,
the motives and the quiet deed?
(In Boston
the dying
ride in cabs,
yes death again,
that ride home
with our boy.)
O Sylvia, I remember the sleepy drummer
who beat on our eyes with an old story,
how we wanted to let him come
like a sadist or a New York fairy
to do his job,
a necessity, a window in a wall or a crib,
and since that time he waited
under our heart, our cupboard,
and I see now that we store him up
year after year, old suicides
and I know at the news of your death
a terrible taste for it, like salt,
(And me,
me too.
And now, Sylvia,
you again
with death again,
that ride home
with our boy.)
And I say only
with my arms stretched out into that stone place,
what is your death
but an old belonging,
a mole that fell out
of one of your poems?
(O friend,
while the moon's bad,
and the king's gone,
and the queen's at her wit's end
the bar fly ought to sing!)
O tiny mother,
you too!
O funny duchess!
O blonde thing!
kristenlovesbooks's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
pbraue13's review
1.0
An insult to Plath's legacy. A book of false advertisements. An insult to Anne Sexton's legacy (though she isn't named) as they make her out to be an awful copycat. An insult to women , especially of the time period in which Plath lived. This is FICTION people, remember that if you intend to read it. I certainly was reminded of it with every agonized turn of the page.
razzle97's review
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Very well-written literary mystery. I enjoyed the 3 timelines and feel inspired to finally read The Bell Jar.
sydney_arcuri's review
3.0
I haven't read Syliva Plath's The Bell Jar yet so if I have read that first I might have liked this more.
mcearl12's review
3.0
Almost a DNF…not what I expected. The doctor’s chapters were the most interesting/compelling to me. It felt more like a retelling than a fictional reimagining of Plath/Sexton’s lives. The discovery and curator portions were totally fictional (as far as I know) but the rest read more like an unauthorized biography of Sexton, Lowell, Plath, et al. I’m only a reader, though, so take this for what it’s worth. (I will say, this did make me want to reread the Bell Jar…decades and decades after my first reading.)
kendra_reads_24's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
colemanwarnerwriter's review
4.0
4.5/5
I think Adam Johnson's blurb sums up this novel well: "A miracle: a plot-driven literary puzzle box...". Despite the title, this novel isn't really about Sylvia Plath. Rather, it begs the reader to consider what a legacy is, the cost of attaining one, and how it continues to take shape after an artist's death. This exploration is conveyed through the eyes of one fictional character, one semi-fictional character, and a real-life character entangled in a (possibly) fictional plot centered around Sylvia Plath. What's exciting about this novel is seeing how these three plot lines converge to create a gripping climax and an even more interesting message. Perhaps not everyone is concerned with their legacy, but they should be, and this novel has much to say on the subject.
"But fate's a funny thing. We play by the rules long ago established by a higher order - go to school, get married, make money, raise a family. Then Providence goes and reminds you that it's very much a competition for the final say."
"How was I to tell them that poets are such phonies? Sure, here or there we might have some valuable insights, but we hardly live by them. When you read us, you might think we knew something about life, but usually we are all just messes."
I think Adam Johnson's blurb sums up this novel well: "A miracle: a plot-driven literary puzzle box...". Despite the title, this novel isn't really about Sylvia Plath. Rather, it begs the reader to consider what a legacy is, the cost of attaining one, and how it continues to take shape after an artist's death. This exploration is conveyed through the eyes of one fictional character, one semi-fictional character, and a real-life character entangled in a (possibly) fictional plot centered around Sylvia Plath. What's exciting about this novel is seeing how these three plot lines converge to create a gripping climax and an even more interesting message. Perhaps not everyone is concerned with their legacy, but they should be, and this novel has much to say on the subject.
"But fate's a funny thing. We play by the rules long ago established by a higher order - go to school, get married, make money, raise a family. Then Providence goes and reminds you that it's very much a competition for the final say."
"How was I to tell them that poets are such phonies? Sure, here or there we might have some valuable insights, but we hardly live by them. When you read us, you might think we knew something about life, but usually we are all just messes."