The Journals of Sylvia Plath

Rating:
Summary: Real
Review: "The Journals of Sylvia Plath" is essential reading for those who truly desire to get to the heart of Plath's brilliant poetry. Because she is one of the innovators of "confessional" poetry (along with her friend and contemporary, Anne Sexton), the direct inspiration for Plath's verse is nothing less than her very personal life, and without a grasp of that life, it is impossible to fully appreciate the poetry. The "Journals", incomplete though they are, are the very best source of insight into the intricate workings of a mind of pure genius as it both processed and reacted to the numerous hurdles that life threw its way. Of course, it was precisely how she struggled with these hurdles that Plath painstakingly versified and concealed under layers and layers of metaphorical language and complicated structural schemes, the end result of which is poetry that at once screams of raw truth while actively challenging the reader to channel all of his/her faculties toward the difficult but exhilarating task of excavating this truth from the artistry. But even apart from the poetry, Plath's "Journals" is quite simply one of the most beautifully written and heartrending works of American prose of the twentieth century.

Rating:
Summary: Real
Review: Another reviewer wrote that this book was a big disappointment - that it stinks. How can one criticize someone's journals? I'm pretty sure Plath didn't expect these to be published one day - and so she didn't write them for the general public to read. These words are honest, riviting, disturbing, wonderful, priceless.

Rating:
Summary: An Essential Book
Review: If you love Sylvia Plath's amazing poetry; if you have an affinity for either reading journals, or writing your own; or if you simply have an interest in the lifestyles and choices of women of some 50 years ago, these collected journals are a must.

Rating:
Summary: under the water with sylvia plath
Review: The Journals of Sylvia Plath are an undisputible link to the base of her poetry. For a journal of a life, the entries are incredibly written and interesting. I have been very interested in her death by suicide which was the reason why I picked up these journals in the first place, but I found myself underlining sentences of her different viewpoints on life, ironically. If you you want to figure out about how Plath wrote her poetry and what events formed the woman who is such a mystery today, read this book. The only place where I thought that the diaries lacked was that all the information was not included. Some of her most passionate outrages and angry words have been taken out which I think are definitely a key to her poems that we do not possess. I am aware that the people in the journals must be protected but hope that the full works will be published in the future. The first half of the journals while Sylvia was in college have spoken to me and given me words and reasonings for my feelings that I had not been able to form myself before. I think any college student would benefit from reading her viewpoints and beautiful words. Anyone who is interested in the author will be impressed.

Rating:
Summary: Plath is boring.
Review: This book was horribly depressing. I wish she could have shoved her head into the oven earlier.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Plath Available
Review: This is Plath at her best -- and at her worst. Reading her journal entries allows you to become familiar with her style and her themes and helps to bring her poetry together.

This text is like an old friend to me, really. I read it and re-read it all the time.

This collection of journal entries offers far more and far more accurate insight into Plath and her life and struggles than any of her biographies do.