"The suicide "goes away", and the survivors are forever in the wrong. They are like the damned, who can never make amends, who have no prospect of grace."
-
Janet Malcolm vividly illustrated how biography comes to life, focusing on Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes—or rather, on the biographers who pursued their stories. Malcolm evidently draws to the magnetic force of Hughes as many women did in his lifetime and also reveals her fascination with Hughes's letters. However, she dissected the complicated narratives surrounding Plath and Hughes skillfully. The author engaged with various witnesses, extracting essential elements for her writing and reconstructing their conversations in such a fascinating way. I devoured, swallowed each chapter with passion. My only criticisms are that the final chapter did not provide much insight into the essay, and she abruptly questioned the reliability of the evidence regarding Hughes's abusive actions toward Plath, a topic that resurfaced in the recent book by Emily Van Duyne (Loving Sylvia Plath). Thus she proved her stand but did not make me sympathize more with Hughes in this literary feud.