The Journals of Sylvia Plath

Spoiler Alert: She could be anyone; You or me, or the space in between.

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A deep delve into the mind of the woman who I consider to be the best writer of all time, this book spoke to my very soul. Fans of The Bell Jar will likely enjoy this more complex and abstract look at Plath's own life -- complete with similar themes of alienation, mental illness, femininity, and identity. I truly cannot express how much this book means to me. It was as if I had my own personal advice column or therapist. Through the pages of her "Sargasso" or personal journal, Ms. Plath was describing (beautifully) exactly what I was going through. It was as if she got into my head, turned it inside out and described every emotion in detail, somehow articulating each feeling with grace and ease. Can you imagine how incredibly validating this is? Not just speaking of myself but of countless young women in countless different generations, Sylvia is truly the voice of the ages. I was immediately struck by the perpetual universality of certain topics covered throughout the story. Although she lived in a far different time, where women found themselves far more restricted than they are now, I still somehow related to the issues she faced. Not only as a woman but as a human being, I found every topic she touched on to be entirely, painfully relatable. She speaks about her never-ending internal struggle: whether to be a successful writer, poet, professor, or to give into expectation and become a complacent and doting mother. She also speaks about her fear of always living in her husband's shadow -- never being given permission to find her own success and constantly having to stroke her husband's delicate ego at the cost of her own dreams. While Plath eventually finds a writer husband of her own, and manages to become a mother as well as a renowned poet and novelist, she finds that the best of both worlds has its struggles as well; In fact, part of this story is censored at the request of her late husband Ted Hughes, with whom she had a far from perfect marriage. The most heartbreaking part of this story was for me, not Sylvia's own untimely death but her marriage. Halfway through the book, upon becoming a married woman, the author's entries change ever so slightly. At least at times, they felt detached and less-engaged; to me, it was if she had already died. The story additionally tackles many complex and intricate themes, including Plath's faith and relationship with God, her academic pressures, and her frustratingly, repressed sexuality. Many parts of this story stuck with me strongly, and I'm guessing are not likely to leave anytime soon. I deeply enjoyed Plath's depictions of her relationships with mens. She talks not only about hypocrisy in the patriarchy (the fact that men are able to express their sexuality while she is expected to remain chaste until marriage) but also about her own foils in romance. She mentions how she constantly gives the mask of a perfect man to anyone she deems fit -- but this constantly sets her up for disappointment and heartbreak. I unfortunately found this achingly relatable. Additionally I can never look at the sun the same way, as Plath reflects once on the way it feels as it penetrates her skin, as it ravishes her mercilessly. I was also struck at how her eventual husband is introduced. When she first lays eyes on him, she remarks, "Then the worst thing happened." Perhaps the best writers have good foreshadowing ingrained in them. Overall this fragmented intimate look into the soul of an artist who I now consider a personal hero is instrumental to my life. I constantly find myself rereading bits, reminding myself that no matter what I face, I am not alone. No matter what she goes through, Sylvia is a truly prodigious writer, bending words and emotions at her will I am unsure she ever knew her true power while on earth. The summary of this story describes Plath's journals as a "fantastic chaos, " and indeed it is. Indeed the minds of many brilliant people are. Beautiful and insightful, one needs only dive into the life of Ms. Plath to remember that certain feelings, certain experiences are forever universal -- they have bound women and people together since the beginning of time.

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Favorite Quotes: “I can never read all the books I want; I can never be all the people I want and live all the lives I want. I can never train myself in all the skills I want. And why do I want? I want to live and feel all the shades, tones and variations of mental and physical experience possible in my life. And I am horribly limited.” ~~ "The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” ~~ “Kiss me, and you will see how important I am.” ~~ “I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between.” ~~ “let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences” ~~ “I am still so naïve; I know pretty much what I like and dislike; but please, don’t ask me who I am. A passionate, fragmentary girl, maybe?”~~ “I desire the things that will destroy me in the end.”