Letters Home

Letters Home

4.15 of 5 stars 4.15  ·  rating details  ·  1,261 ratings  ·  45 reviews
Sylvia Plath's correspondence, addressed chiefly to her mother, from her time at Smith College in the early 1950s up to her suicide in London in February 1963. In addition to her capacity for domestic and writerly happiness, these letters also hint at her potential for deep despair.
502 pages
Published (first published 1975)
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C.
When I started this I was not at all sure whether I wanted to read it. I liked The Bell Jar, but it could just have been the time I read it. I do not get her poetry. Cult of the personality stuff makes me uncomfortable. Doesn't she deserve to be laid to rest, anyway. Blah.

BUT! I read the first couple of letters and was sucked in. It seems like she used her letters in a similar way that I use my diary, so I felt as if I was right in her life. And although the events of her life in September 1950...more
britt
so good, I gained a new respect for her as a writer or person. she seemed to embrace life; she was just fragile.
Sherilyn
Sylvia Plath's Letters Home juxtaposed against her Unabridged Journals is a fascinating study. The face she showed to Mummy in her letters versus what was truly happening in her life and mind is heartbreaking and reminds me of the importance in my own heavy depression struggle of being as true as I can to all the people in my life, so that they might see me and pull me into light when I start to fail. Her letters are almost manic in their tales of the mad joy she supposedly found while away at c...more
Jamie
Mothers/daughter relationships--unless you're part of the duo, you'll never, ever get it. My boyfriend does, my brother doesn't--my father gets us both, but even he doesn't get us "together." As far as I can tell, how do you co-exist with someone you love, admire, hate, hope the best for/worst for? How do you take someone seriously you've known since they were in diapers? And likewise, how do you take someone seriously that you've spent your whole life working to "out do"? Mothers and daughters...more
Evelyn
I've read parts of this book before a very long time ago, so I'm pleased that I've finally gotten around to reading it all the way through now. Sylvia's letters to her family (mainly her mother) exude all the anxiety and excitement of youth, so it was fascinating to get a rare glimpse into Sylvia's personality and how she conducted herself, dealt with her relationships and friendships, and her drive to succeed in her studies. Obviously because she killed herself, the reader can't stop themselves...more
Lara
The disparity between her bleak poetry and these almost desperately cheerful letters to her mother is heartbreaking.
Alison Whiteman
I read this in college. Sylvia's struggles with bipolar disorder are not clearly addressed in this book as much as in her private journals.

I could not decide if it was her mental illness that lead to her suicide or her philandering husband, Ted Hughes. Either way, we lost her far too early.

Hughes did publish work after her death but it does not compare to the caliber of talent she shared with the world.

I also wonder about the future collection of letters and journals from authors in this digi...more
Kallie
I wonder if Aurelia Plath left out any letters that did not reflect her daughter's life as 'Mommy' wanted to see 'Sivvy'? Probably not. Self-censoring (and self-promotion of an ideal, fake self) had clearly become Plath's habit. Growing up in the American Fifties was difficult, what with so much emphasis on the requirment for females to appear perfect: perfectly lovely, perfectly cheery, perfectly whatever. This mother-daughter relationship seems to have been especially relentless in that respec...more
Katie Dreyer
Having read these letters in such a short period of a time, I feel somewhat bereft without them. Much like Sylvia's mother must have, I've come to rely on reading a letter from Sylvia almost everyday. This is truly an amazing collection. Nearly all of the letters are written to her mother, Aurelia, who edited the volume and provides introductions to each section. I readily identified with Sylvia, especially in her early years at Smith when she attempted to excel in her classes while maintaining...more
Gail
Anyone with a particular interest in the life of Sylvia Plath (like me) would be intrigued by this book. It is a biography but it consists mainly of Sylvia's own letters to family and friends and, as she was such a voracious letter-writer, it is basically an autobiography also. The book gives tremendous insight into her life and eventual demise and is deeply personal. I really enjoyed it, although it left me quite upset.
Camilla
Sylvia Plath's letters to her mother are in some ways revealing and others guarded. Mother and daughter didn't have the easiest relationship, although in many ways, Sylvia appeared to be the average Southern girl. Her letters tell of the high expectations of herself, her naive adoration of her husband, Ted Hughes, and her ultimate dissatisfaction with her life. A must-read to understand The Bell Jar.
Tonya
After reading The Bell Jar, I just had to know more about Sylvia Plath. After finishing The Bell Jar, I felt hopeful for the main character, who is thinly disguised as Sylvia herself. I wanted to know how the hopeful ending turned into suicide. Reading Letters Home felt like a voyeuristic journey into Plath's life, but I was fascinated by her and how she could reach such despair. The end to Letters Home left me questioning why she decided to remove herself from this world. However, I felt like I...more
Cora
Well ... it gives the reader a good insight in the mechanisms of this truly difficult mother-daughter relationship :
Mother is a b.... and daughter suffers an inflated sense of entitlement .
But she did know that already, didn't she ?
"I think writers are the most narcissistic people. Well, I mustn't say this, I like many of them, a great many of my friends are writers."
Anne Nikoline
Nov 13, 2012 Anne Nikoline rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: any Plath fans
Recommended to Anne Nikoline by: all the Plath fans
Is there is one thing Sylvia Plath has taught me, it is that she never fails to entertain with her sad, sad story and her stunning, stunning writing; in my opinion she is without doubt an overlooked treasure when it comes to poetry; I have no idea how she did it, but no matter what she did with words, she always managed to make out the most beautiful picture of emotions and senses.

Letters Home by Sylvia Plath, states a seventeen years old girl who started writing lots of letters home to her mot...more
Everett Darling
I found by reading her poems in chronological order alongside these letters home, a clearer rendering of Plath´s world, or worlds, surfaces. Her letters home were often painfully cheerful and optimistic, it felt somehow unreal standing up against such dark poetry.
Beverly
I am so glad I read this book. All the biographies, poetry and anything you can get your hands on about Sylvia Plath emphasizes her anger, depression, and insecurities. This was so different. Reading these letters home to her mother from the time she was at Smith until right before her death show so many sides of her personality- her love of her children, her husband, traveling, writing. What struck me most about these letters was her strong spirit. She was determined to make it through the most...more
Janellyn51
I read this when it first came out. If your at all interested in Sylvia Plath or you've just read the Bell Jar, it would be a natural progression to read this next....to shed light on the Bell Jar and where that came from.
Jennifer
'Letters Home', a collection of Sylvia Plath's letters to her mother, brother and sponsor, could easily be mistaken for an epistolary novel. The letters are further evidence of Plath's intelligence, ambition and vulnerability, and showcase the development of her poetic voice in a very interesting and personal way. They tell a slightly different side of the story to that which is presented in Plath's own journals and in the biographies of her (the letters are often cheerful and optimistic, even w...more
Renee
Hauntingly beautiful. It feels like all her optimism and hope was channeled into these letters. They are inspiring and honest and raw and emotional.
Anna
"I could never be a complete scholar or a complete housewife or a complete writer. I must combine a little of all, and thereby be imperfect in all."
Toni Wu
显然没看完……这里面的女孩,恋家,爱美,热爱生活,享受生活,心里没有阴暗,没有恨,没有厌恶,没有恶毒,没有敌意……其实她的诗里面也没有这些东西。她真的是个诚挚的姑娘,没有敌意的姑娘。软妹子。母亲的语气看上去很好……
Ellen Puccinelli
I read this book about two million times when I was in college and then tried to write my own mother similar letters describing my fabulous college days. I am fascinated by Sylvia Plath, as are so many people -- so talented and beautiful, and such a tragic life in so many ways. Reading these letters, you see so clearly the different aspects of Sylvia's personality and her competing impulses. It seems to me that she tried so hard to live. These letters are some of her best writing in many ways --...more
Shideh
Ideal for those studying Sylvia Plath - but I'd recommend the journals instead.
Joellen Valerius
Very interesting. she writes her journals like a short novels.
Karen
Letters Home: Correspondence, 1950-1963 by Sylvia Plath (1992)
Lydia
i am a huge Plath fan and i read this book years ago. if you are a fan this is a must read.
Carmelo
Dec 17, 2009 Carmelo rated it 5 of 5 stars
Shelves: own
Very sad...but well done.
Wim  van den Berg
Some complicated women, with such great hands to write such letters! I wanted to write like her those days!
Sarah Hackley
Aug 13, 2008 Sarah Hackley rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: women writers, and all women interested in a study of real women's lives
Recommended to Sarah by: N/A
The Sylvia Plath depicted in these letters is often an optimistic one. A close read, however, reveals the too-optimistic tones underlying some letters in an attempt to make her mother feel things are better than they are. Overall, a fascinating read - I couldn't put it down! Am anxiously awaiting reading her journals in an attempt to fill in the emotions implied but never explained during her last letters to her mother.
Amanda
Was very interesting to see what Sylvia had to say. I definitely enjoyed it.
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4379
Sylvia Plath was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer.

Known primarily for her poetry, Plath also wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, The Bell Jar, under the pseudonym Victoria Lucas. The book's protagonist, Esther Greenwood, is a bright, ambitious student at Smith College who begins to experience a mental breakdown while interning for a fashion magazine in New York. The plot paralle...more
More about Sylvia Plath...
The Bell Jar Ariel The Collected Poems The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath The Colossus: and Other Poems

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“...for I realized how narrow my world had been and that self-education could be and should be an exciting life-long adventure.” 3 people liked it
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