this book drove me INSANE. the amount of annotations i made is shocking.

The Atlantic Journal-Constitution says that "[Plath] is, quite simply, the diarist of our time." I don't have much of a basis of comparison, but as a diarist myself, her journals are a dense, intensive read that gives a raw glimpse into the mind of arguably one of the greatest poets of all time. While it can be disjointed and difficult to read at times, it is only to be expected given that these are the actual transcriptions of a journal. It is incredible to view her personal struggle made clear through her private thoughts, but even more so-- all poets and writers should consider this a must-read because it details her thought process when it comes to her writing, and her upkeep of her skills.

i've been reading this book for five years, nearly exactly. when i first started it, freshly 21 and in the throws of my sylvia plath obsession, i didn't think that it would take me that long to read, but i feel like these journals are better processed in smaller chunks, leaving time to ruminate on gems like "To write for itself, to do things for the joy of them. What a gift for the gods."

i went months, maybe even a whole year at times, without picking this book back up, but i always knew that i would come back to it and finish it, no matter how long it took. i'm really glad that i finally did. i love sylvia plath just as much as i did when i was 21, and i fully expect to revisit portions of these journals later on down the road, even if i never read it in its entirety again.

Girl…

My lovely friend Kerry gave this to me for Christmas in Senior Year of high school and I couldn't put it down. Heartbreakingly eloquent.

I first started reading this book in high school but I am glad I stopped. I don't think I would have appreciated it as much as reading it after graduating college. And perhaps I would have appreciated it even more if I have waited a couple years and read it in my late twenties.

"There is a difference between dissatisfaction with yourself and anger, depression."
It is refreshing to see such an organic and raw depiction of mental illness (Plath either suffered from chronic depression or BPD or both, the diagnosis isn't clear). Her writing is beautiful, as ever. I was a bit disappointed that the journals didn't contain bits from her time in the hospital but she only kept journals of very limited periods of her life.

"Society (my pet evil)."
Some things that stood out to me (besides her poetic prose) was how much she adored Hughes. She oscillated between her rejection of the 'feminine housewife' ideal and her desire to please Hughes and be a mother to his children. Her entries from her counseling sessions with RB are very introspective. You can see the conception of some of her most famous poems (Daddy and Lady Lazarus) here. Her descriptive entry on the birth of her second child, Nicholas, also refutes the common notion that people simply forget childbirth. Plath seems to have remembered it to a great detail.

Bits of her journals are incomprehensible descriptions of everyday happenings/recipes/thoughts jotted down that have no clear meaning except for the writer. Still, I cannot recommend this book enough. You can see the birth of all her poetry and The Bell Jar in this book.

I believe that there always signs in the universe. I was at the library looking for a completely different book and something whispered to me to a certain shelf that had nothing to do with my intended book. I picked up this one, just following my intuition. I needed it. Beautiful, painful.