Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Ariel by Sylvia Plath

15 reviews

phoebe_meikle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

5/5.

Bleak and raw. I knew it would be hard to read. She masterfully articulates her pain and struggle in her life. She felt connected to nature, experiencing and using the beauty and ugliness of the world around her to convey such unsettling and overwhelmed thoughts. The contrasting poems ‘A Birthday Present’ and ‘Letter in November’ are placed beside each other in the collection, and both highlight the opposing cruxes of Plath’s harrowing eagerness to die as well as her deep fondness for nature.

My favourites: Sheep in Fog, The Moon and the Yew Tree, A Birthday Present, The Rival, Years, and Paralytic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide attempt

returningb00kworm's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Genocide, Racial slurs, and Racism

maess's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Self harm, Sexism, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Deportation, Genocide, Misogyny, Pregnancy, War, Racial slurs, Death, Death of parent, and Suicide

vera_nikolajevna's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Racial slurs and Antisemitism

sofiadidonato's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I have bought a edition that has both of plath’s poetry books and some scattered poems together. I have just finished Ariel. I have been trying to do so for the last 3 years but her poems are really dense and dark. However she writes like no one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Gore, Mental illness, Antisemitism, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Grief, Death, Classism, and Blood

je5s_04's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

  Greta poems minus the racism/antisemitism 🫡

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Mental illness

Minor: Rape, Racism, and Racial slurs

ladybergart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Self harm

joperceptions's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Racial slurs, Domestic abuse, Grief, Racism, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, and Self harm

This was a re read of the book. i found it interesting how much my thoughts could change in it especially after discussing certain poems with my uni class. Her poems progressively get more intricate, and withstand more analytical capability the further you get due to the fact that the ambiguity strengthens. Some of them i liked, a lot of them i did not like at all. I think the main one i enjoyed was “the applicant”. Definitely a lot of racism in here- inexcusable racism. Which made it really hard to actually enjoy any part of the text at all.

jabberwalky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

5.0

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of poetry. It’s lengthy and beautiful descriptions are stunning. I love how in contrast the tone and delivery is from one poem to another, as well as some of the extensive metaphors. I didn’t feel like I had to be Sylvia Plath to understand this poetry it was applicable to my life and it felt personal and intimate. It doesn’t feel like there is a right answer to what each poem is supposed to mean it feels interpretive and flexible. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, and Suicide

Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism

laval's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

3.5

some works i found very beautiful, others i found to be nonsense. it is hard to work though plath's work and truly understand what the meaning is.  my favorite poem was the couriers, though it is hard it is also rewarding once uncoded, as it details many issues she had with her husband's adultery. i believe that many of the poems are so dense is because she hid many themes of abuse, the despair she felt with her marriage, depression, suicide, and more from Hughes, who took issue with these topics. 

i despise Ted Hughes with my entire being though, for all he put Sylvia through.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Self harm, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Racism