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A review by tumblyhome_caroline
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark
5.0
I would give this ten stars if I could.
Heather Clark has done a most masterly, clever thing with this book. Her biography of Sylvia Plath is over 1,000 pages long, but at no point did I feel it could (or should) have been shorter. This is an easy read in respect that it is written in such a way that it doesn’t feel like a slog. It covers both the incredible creative journey Sylvia travelled in her short life and gives an illuminating portrait of the era. It shows how conflicting and contradictory the world was for aspiring women in the 1950’s and 60’s. It looks at Sylvia herself... both the good and the ...ummmm ...sometimes not so angelic. It looks at her writing and gives context to that. Without sounding disrespectful it is a gripping account of Paths life. I just couldn’t put this book down, and it is a big book to carry around!
But the thing I think is most admirable is that it is written with, as far as I could detect, absolutely no bias or agenda. Over the years I have read books around Sylvias life and... felt led and used... many other books seem to want to batter home, not Sylvias life or incredible art, but some narrative of the authors own. ....you know how one or two comments, by one or two people, taken out of context or said with malice can become amplified by other voices and a whole different history is written. The ultimate ‘fake news’. Clark’s book tells Sylvias story using facts that are detailed in the very comprehensive ‘sources’ section at the back of the book and balancing hearsay with multiple records. It also is not written in a sycophantic, emotion driven way....that sounds like the book could be a dry regurgitation of facts...but it isnt, at all. As much as anyone can, I felt I walked in Sylvias world. I could feel the dilemmas she (and other women) faced. Ultimately I felt Clark allowed me to think for myself...
This book not only made me think about Sylvias story, but also the conflicts we all face, how much one person can be responsible for another and how we apportion blame when we don’t really completely understand the full picture. I have modified the way I think based on this book. That is a big thing for a single book to do.
I think this book took Clark 8 years to write. In those 8 years she has collected and documented the best biography I have ever read.
I really feel I could write 1000 pages more on what I think about the life described Red Comet. But if I had to say in a short paragraph I would say that Sylvia was conflicted in nearly every aspect of her life. She wanted to be a good mother, she wanted to be free to be creative. She wanted to live in the US but she wanted to live in the U.K. she wanted to conform but she wanted to be a free spirit..of the town or of the countryside, to excel and to be ordinary. She could be cruel and I am sure she was difficult to live with. She was also the most incredible poet....truly a genius.
Of her death and all the blame that surrounds that, it surprised me to learn that at the time of her death she was being prescribed 2 different amphetamines, an opioid, a barbiturate and unknown medications for a respiratory disease. These were prescribed by a general practitioner doctor who probably didn’t have the expertise to prescribe well and to be mindful that the drugs didn’t inter react. To be honest medicine in mental health was very much a blunt instrument at the time. One of the drugs she was taking had previously been prescribed under a different name and had then caused her to suffer extreme suicidal thoughts. I think this fact was unknown by her doctor. She also had drunk red wine which reacted with medication. So if I had to lay blame I would say a very poor mental health provision at the time probably didn’t help her in the way it could have done.
I just truly wish this book could have had a different ending and I could have read instead about Sylvias whole life of wonderful poetry, the poems she was still writing into her older age.
Lastly, I watched a YouTube video about Ted Hughes while reading this...the comments near the end by Frieda, Sylvias daughter, made me think again about how dare we judge...as outsiders.
https://youtu.be/XbAGbjXPCP8
Heather Clark has done a most masterly, clever thing with this book. Her biography of Sylvia Plath is over 1,000 pages long, but at no point did I feel it could (or should) have been shorter. This is an easy read in respect that it is written in such a way that it doesn’t feel like a slog. It covers both the incredible creative journey Sylvia travelled in her short life and gives an illuminating portrait of the era. It shows how conflicting and contradictory the world was for aspiring women in the 1950’s and 60’s. It looks at Sylvia herself... both the good and the ...ummmm ...sometimes not so angelic. It looks at her writing and gives context to that. Without sounding disrespectful it is a gripping account of Paths life. I just couldn’t put this book down, and it is a big book to carry around!
But the thing I think is most admirable is that it is written with, as far as I could detect, absolutely no bias or agenda. Over the years I have read books around Sylvias life and... felt led and used... many other books seem to want to batter home, not Sylvias life or incredible art, but some narrative of the authors own. ....you know how one or two comments, by one or two people, taken out of context or said with malice can become amplified by other voices and a whole different history is written. The ultimate ‘fake news’. Clark’s book tells Sylvias story using facts that are detailed in the very comprehensive ‘sources’ section at the back of the book and balancing hearsay with multiple records. It also is not written in a sycophantic, emotion driven way....that sounds like the book could be a dry regurgitation of facts...but it isnt, at all. As much as anyone can, I felt I walked in Sylvias world. I could feel the dilemmas she (and other women) faced. Ultimately I felt Clark allowed me to think for myself...
This book not only made me think about Sylvias story, but also the conflicts we all face, how much one person can be responsible for another and how we apportion blame when we don’t really completely understand the full picture. I have modified the way I think based on this book. That is a big thing for a single book to do.
I think this book took Clark 8 years to write. In those 8 years she has collected and documented the best biography I have ever read.
I really feel I could write 1000 pages more on what I think about the life described Red Comet. But if I had to say in a short paragraph I would say that Sylvia was conflicted in nearly every aspect of her life. She wanted to be a good mother, she wanted to be free to be creative. She wanted to live in the US but she wanted to live in the U.K. she wanted to conform but she wanted to be a free spirit..of the town or of the countryside, to excel and to be ordinary. She could be cruel and I am sure she was difficult to live with. She was also the most incredible poet....truly a genius.
Of her death and all the blame that surrounds that, it surprised me to learn that at the time of her death she was being prescribed 2 different amphetamines, an opioid, a barbiturate and unknown medications for a respiratory disease. These were prescribed by a general practitioner doctor who probably didn’t have the expertise to prescribe well and to be mindful that the drugs didn’t inter react. To be honest medicine in mental health was very much a blunt instrument at the time. One of the drugs she was taking had previously been prescribed under a different name and had then caused her to suffer extreme suicidal thoughts. I think this fact was unknown by her doctor. She also had drunk red wine which reacted with medication. So if I had to lay blame I would say a very poor mental health provision at the time probably didn’t help her in the way it could have done.
I just truly wish this book could have had a different ending and I could have read instead about Sylvias whole life of wonderful poetry, the poems she was still writing into her older age.
Lastly, I watched a YouTube video about Ted Hughes while reading this...the comments near the end by Frieda, Sylvias daughter, made me think again about how dare we judge...as outsiders.
https://youtu.be/XbAGbjXPCP8