A review by rosietakesonliterature
Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom by Sylvia Plath

4.0

For some dumb reason, at first, I did not think to contextualize this in terms of Plath's life—Mary Ventura was written months before her first suicide attempt. I did make the connection with Dante's circles of hell, of course, and was glad to learn from Harvard Review's Sylvia Plath’s Ninth Kingdom that Plath was indeed reading Dante around the time this was written. I know there are mixed reviews of this story out there, but I genunely enjoyed it and was intrigued by where it was going. It might lack the sophistication of The Bell Jar but I would not say this is "distinct" juvenilia . There are many ways to interpret the ending of the story in contexts within or outside of Plath's life. I think this is a worthy read, Plath fan or not. The descriptions are vivid and engaging, the pacing is good, the concept is original.