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A review by jassmine
Collected Children's Stories by Sylvia Plath
5.0
When I found out, that Sylvia Plath was also writing a fairy-tales, I was astonished. I love the feeling when the author I think I understand surprise me (here I feel the need to say that I only read [b:Ariel|395090|Ariel|Sylvia Plath|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442258738l/395090._SY75_.jpg|1185316], so any feeling of understanding was dubious from the beginning.). I started this book with an expectation to find an entirely different facet of Plath. And in a way it did… but it also didn’t. Especially from "The It-Doesn't-Matter Suit" I distinctly felt Plath’s spirit. The form wasn’t the best (I am not a big fan of repetitiveness), the whole time it telegraphed a sort of “otherness” and an effort to reconcile with it. It seemed to me that Plath wrote this one for herself. Like if she was trying to persuade herself that it is alright to be different. (That of course also makes it a perfect children story…) And even though the whole tale is very positive, I was flooded by an unexpected sadness while reading it. That is of course only my personal view.
"The Bed Book" on the other hand was a pure fun and nothing serious. It isn’t a poetic masterpiece, but… who cares… "Mrs Cherry's Kitchen" is the most classical tale of all of them and easiest to like – I certainly liked it very much.
The Czech edition is beautifully made – the cover looks a little bit like a duvet and the illustrations are beautiful. That tipped my rating toward the five stars.
"The Bed Book" on the other hand was a pure fun and nothing serious. It isn’t a poetic masterpiece, but… who cares… "Mrs Cherry's Kitchen" is the most classical tale of all of them and easiest to like – I certainly liked it very much.
The Czech edition is beautifully made – the cover looks a little bit like a duvet and the illustrations are beautiful. That tipped my rating toward the five stars.