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  <title><![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]></title>
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  <description><![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]></description>
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        <name><![CDATA[Jillian Becker]]></name>
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    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
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    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
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    <body><![CDATA[Best line: &quot;Just as kindness is inadequate, and beauty hard to bear, happiness itself can be intolerable.&quot;<br/><br/>In Jillian Becker's Giving Up, she revisits the last moments she spent with her friend, Sylvia Plath. Her memories are solid at times and shaky at others, but she is quick ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21372194">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
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  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
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    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008</read_at>
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  <date_updated>Sat Jan 17 11:23:44 -0800 2009</date_updated>
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    <body><![CDATA[This reads like an essay, or a letter home, and can be read in a few hours. It's actually a really fun read, but I was really surprised to read in the author bio that Ms. Becker had written a book before, or after, this one. <br/><br/>The last few days of Sylvia Plath, from a little after the time...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/43364543">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
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  <read_at>Thu May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2003</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Dec 06 04:12:58 -0800 2008</date_added>
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    <body><![CDATA[This was really interesting. Having read The Bell Jar 40 times in my teenage years I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Sylvia Plath so when I saw this tiny little book I picked it up and read it during my lunch breaks.<br/>This is the story of Sylvia's last weekend alive through the eyes ...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/39429755">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
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  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
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  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Tue May 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Apr 26 13:45:06 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Tue May 13 11:47:37 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Just finished this one about an hour ago.  It's quite the slim text; I read it in under two hours, in fact.  I think it's a worthwhile book if you're really hardcore in either your love for Plath or your hate for Hughes.  Becker certainly does play the &quot;taking sides&quot; game in the Plath/Hugh...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/21047103">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
  <id>62082764</id>
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    <name><![CDATA[Tori]]></name>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
  </title>
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  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195s/31413.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31413.Giving_Up_The_Last_Days_of_Sylvia_Plath</link>
  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>1</rating>
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  <read_at>Mon Jul 06 00:00:00 -0700 2009</read_at>
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  <date_updated>Mon Jul 06 17:17:37 -0700 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I did not find this book to be enlightening about Plath's last days at all. The author's main goal seems to have been giving Ted Hughes the biggest public beating and character bashing of his life. <br/>Basically, the auther blamed Ted Hughes for being a womanizing idiot who was using both his mist...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/62082764">more...</a>]]></body>
    
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      <review>
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  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
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  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
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  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
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  <date_updated>Sun Feb 01 07:21:13 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[This book is short but worth the read. Has some great insight into the hopelessness of Sylvia Plath during her last days, and shows also important things about the enviromental conditions that contributed to her taking her own talented life.]]></body>
    
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    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
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    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
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  <date_added>Thu Feb 05 05:12:50 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Thu Feb 05 05:13:35 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[A perilously thin memoir of Plath's last days, but worth it for some first-hand recollections from an oft-interviewed witness, even if it is decades and decades after the fact.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45439975]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/45439975]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>8494414</id>
    <user>
    <id>416390</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Paul]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Nottingham, The United Kingdom]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/416390-paul]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1224113172p3/416390.jpg]]></image_url>
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    <book>
  <id type="integer">951132</id>
  <isbn>1898490317</isbn>
  <isbn13>9781898490319</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">1</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179749427m/951132.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1179749427s/951132.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/951132.Giving_Up</link>
  <average_rating>3.25</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>4</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[Sylvia Plath and her two young children spent a weekend with friends Jillian and Gerry Becker in their north London home just before Plath returned to her apartment and com-mitted suicide. Giving Up is Jillian Becker's intimate account of that brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia during the winter of 1963. It is an unsparing, clear-eyed document of the events sur-rounding Sylvia's final days and suicide: her physical and emo-tional state, her grief over Hughes' infidelity, her myster-ious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the bleak, harsh aftermath of her small funeral. But alongside the tragic conclusion is a beauti-fully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>4</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="the-sylvia-and-ted-show" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[Plathophiles]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Oct 31 14:58:02 -0700 2007</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Oct 31 15:01:38 -0700 2007</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Once again I'm the only person to have read this teeny tiny book, booklet really - a straight account of where Sylvia was and how she was immediately before she returned to that cold flat with her kids and killed herself. <br/>   The story of SP rapidly becomes metaphorical - firstly it's a minefie...<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8494414">more...</a>]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8494414]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8494414]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>24631156</id>
    <user>
    <id>428810</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Wanda]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Kew Gardens, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/428810-wanda-mccrae]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1191068034p3/428810.jpg]]></image_url>
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    <book>
  <id type="integer">31413</id>
  <isbn>0312315988</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312315986</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195m/31413.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195s/31413.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31413.Giving_Up_The_Last_Days_of_Sylvia_Plath</link>
  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Mon Jun 16 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jun 16 11:51:52 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jun 16 11:54:02 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[The book gives an interesting view of Sylvia Plath's last days.  The author was a friend of hers.  The author had an axe to grind with Plath's husband for how he cheated on Sylvia and for his antisemitism, which gave the last few chapters a bitter flavor.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24631156]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/24631156]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>31772744</id>
    <user>
    <id>394816</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Allison]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Lynchburg, VA]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/394816-allison]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1213105049p3/394816.jpg]]></image_url>
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    <book>
  <id type="integer">31413</id>
  <isbn>0312315988</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312315986</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195m/31413.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195s/31413.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31413.Giving_Up_The_Last_Days_of_Sylvia_Plath</link>
  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>2</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
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      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Wed Sep 03 00:00:00 -0700 2008</read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Sep 01 18:52:31 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Sep 03 06:30:22 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I wanted more from this book than the half-remembered memories of Jillian Becker. I'm actually surprised that this book went to press. But I guess some people like to make an easy buck off of dead famous poets. After all, I did buy and read the book.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31772744]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/31772744]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>25930842</id>
    <user>
    <id>960848</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Amy]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Louisville, KY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/960848-amy]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1211398544p3/960848.jpg]]></image_url>
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  <id type="integer">31413</id>
  <isbn>0312315988</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312315986</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195m/31413.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195s/31413.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31413.Giving_Up_The_Last_Days_of_Sylvia_Plath</link>
  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
        <shelf name="read" />
          </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jun 30 11:57:19 -0700 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Jul 09 10:09:03 -0700 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[So surprising to find something about someone this interesting so....dull.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25930842]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/25930842]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>13892754</id>
    <user>
    <id>846750</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Rachel]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[The United States]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/846750-rachel]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1201657508p3/846750.jpg]]></image_url>
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  <id type="integer">31413</id>
  <isbn>0312315988</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312315986</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195m/31413.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195s/31413.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31413.Giving_Up_The_Last_Days_of_Sylvia_Plath</link>
  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>0</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
  <shelves>
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      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Mon Jan 28 19:58:15 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Mon Jan 28 19:58:28 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[I'm a lil obsessed.]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13892754]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/13892754]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>11695381</id>
    <user>
    <id>743954</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Nicole]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Seffner, FL]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/743954-nicole-g]]></link>
    <image_url><![CDATA[http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1223155622p3/743954.jpg]]></image_url>
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    <book>
  <id type="integer">31413</id>
  <isbn>0312315988</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312315986</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195m/31413.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195s/31413.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31413.Giving_Up_The_Last_Days_of_Sylvia_Plath</link>
  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

    <rating>3</rating>
  <votes>0</votes>
  <spoiler_flag>false</spoiler_flag>
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        <shelf name="read" />
            <shelf name="2007" />
      </shelves>
  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at>Sun May 06 00:00:00 -0700 2007</read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Jan 05 06:36:45 -0800 2008</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Jan 05 06:36:45 -0800 2008</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[Very short]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11695381]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/11695381]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>82571125</id>
    <user>
    <id>2712672</id>
    <name><![CDATA[dwickrowski]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Brooklyn, NY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2712672-dwickrowski]]></link>
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  <id type="integer">31413</id>
  <isbn>0312315988</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312315986</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195m/31413.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195s/31413.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31413.Giving_Up_The_Last_Days_of_Sylvia_Plath</link>
  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

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  <votes>0</votes>
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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Wed Dec 30 07:29:23 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Wed Dec 30 07:29:23 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/82571125]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/82571125]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>81527557</id>
    <user>
    <id>3049051</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Marina]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Landing, NJ]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3049051-marina]]></link>
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  <id type="integer">31413</id>
  <isbn>0312315988</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312315986</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
  </title>
  <image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195m/31413.jpg</image_url>
  <small_image_url>http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1168276195s/31413.jpg</small_image_url>
  <link>http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31413.Giving_Up_The_Last_Days_of_Sylvia_Plath</link>
  <average_rating>3.37</average_rating>
  <ratings_count>57</ratings_count>
  <description>
    <![CDATA[<em>Giving Up</em> is Jillian Becker’s intimate account of her brief but extraordinary time with Sylvia Plath during the winter of 1963, the last months of the poet’s life.  Abandoned by Ted Hughes, Sylvia found companionship and care in the home of Becker and her husband, who helped care for the estranged couple’s two small children while Sylvia tried to rest.   In clear-eyed recollections unclouded by the intervening decades, Becker describes the events of Sylvia’s final days and suicide: her physical and emotional state, her grief over Hughes’s infidelity, her mysterious meeting with an unknown companion the night before her suicide, and the harsh aftermath of her funeral.  Alongside this tragic conclusion is a beautifully rendered portrait of a friendship between two very different women.<br/>]]>
  </description>
  <published>2002</published>
</book>

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  <recommended_for><![CDATA[]]></recommended_for>
  <recommended_by><![CDATA[]]></recommended_by>
  <read_at></read_at>
  <date_added>Sat Dec 19 20:04:15 -0800 2009</date_added>
  <date_updated>Sat Dec 19 20:04:15 -0800 2009</date_updated>
  <read_count></read_count>
    <body><![CDATA[]]></body>
    
  <url><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/81527557]]></url>
  <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/81527557]]></link>
</review>
      <review>
  <id>78838330</id>
    <user>
    <id>2474884</id>
    <name><![CDATA[Sarah]]></name>
    <location><![CDATA[Richmond, KY]]></location>
    <link><![CDATA[http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2474884-sarah-joyce]]></link>
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  <isbn>0312315988</isbn>
  <isbn13>9780312315986</isbn13>
  <text_reviews_count type="integer">12</text_reviews_count>
  <title>
    <![CDATA[Giving Up: The Last Days of Sylvia Plath]]>
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