Despite it being "only" 674 pages, it took me exactly a year to finish this compilation of Sylvia Plath's journal entries. It quickly became clear to me that these entries were not meant to be read by us and their consumption feels kind of wrong. While I'm an incredibly nosy person and decided to read this out of interest in Sylvia Plath, I can't say for certain whether I believe her diaries should have been made public. Irrespective of how wrong it felt to read her innermost thoughts decades after her passing, I must say that reading these entries not only satiated my curiosity but also helped me tremendously. I can relate to a plethora of her struggles and feel deeply understood by many of her thoughts. At times, it felt scary that someone who passed away decades ago could put my feelings into words better than I've ever been able to. I don't regret having read this but it did change my view on journals published posthumously.