On a bleak February day in 1963 a young American poet died by her own hand, and passed into a myth that has since imprinted itself on the hearts an...
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Oct 25, 2010
Tatiana
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I don't feel like this book is deserving of Printz Honor. To write about a poet's life in a form of a series of poems from POV's of people around Sylvia is an interesting exercise, but the final product itself is not satisfying. Stephanie Hemphill is just not that great of a poet. Her best poems in this book are those that are direct imitations of Plath's own works. I caught myself wanting to read Sylvia's poetry rather than Hemphill's. Other poems are written in free verse with no rhythm or rhy
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Jul 12, 2008
Nancy
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This book is extraordinary. I have limited shelf space and even when I love a book, it usually goes right out the door as a gift to someone else when I'm done reading. For example - recently I adored THE HUNGER GAMES, gave it five stars here, raved about it... but as I compare my reaction to that book with my reaction to this one, well, I happily gave HUNGER GAMES away upon completion, but YOUR OWN, SYLVIA, I will keep and reread. And the book is also going to send me right back to Sylvia Plath
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Apr 21, 2008
Krista
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Written in the style of Plath's most notable work, Hemphill creates a series of original poems influenced by and chronicling the Pulitzer prize-winning poet's childhood until her untimely suicide in 1963.
Thorough research - as illustrated by the use of footnotes - illuminates the various themes and issues which arose in Plath's poetry. Hemphill avoids turning the work into a stale biography by using various individuals' point of view - those who were closest to Sylvia - as the voice More...
Thorough research - as illustrated by the use of footnotes - illuminates the various themes and issues which arose in Plath's poetry. Hemphill avoids turning the work into a stale biography by using various individuals' point of view - those who were closest to Sylvia - as the voice More...
Jan 09, 2008
Suzanne
rated it:
So good. So, so, so good. I thought I would be at a disadvantage because (shame on me BA English, MS Library Science) all I knew about Sylvia Plath was that she wrote poetry, wrote something called The Bell Jar which I was fairly certain (now confirmed) was depressing, and that she killed herself. This book, however, is a great introduction into the world of Sylvia Plath.
The author took true events from Sylvia's life and wrote fictionalized accounts of them in verse (it makes sense More...
The author took true events from Sylvia's life and wrote fictionalized accounts of them in verse (it makes sense More...
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Jan 14, 2008
elissa
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Whoo hoo! Today it won a Printz Honor! I just finished this last week, and if I had read this last year (a few days ago at this point) it would have definitely been on my 2007Favorites shelf! It was hard to get ahold of in libraries, though, and my hold was just filled a few days ago. Hopefully it'll win awards later this month and become more widely available (YES! It did!). It's an extremely balanced and wonderfully researched look at Plath's tumultous life. I had only read THE BELL JAR
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Dec 22, 2007
Jess
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I tend to be skeptical of novels-in-verse, or in this case, biography-in-verse, but I'm not sure why since I always end up enjoying them. Well, saying I enjoyed this would be a bit of a stretch, but it was a fascinating read and easy to get swept up in. I came out the other side feeling incredibly sane and healthy and happy, but thinking a bit about what makes people turn out the way they do and how writing intersects with life. There's a great section at the end on the author's process of wr
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Dec 08, 2011
Alison
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Hemphill, Stephanie. Your Own, Sylvia. Alfred A. Knopf, 2007. 12-15 yrs.
Beginning in 1932, Stephanie Hemphill takes her reader on a journey through the life, and eventual suicide, of author and poet Sylvia Plath. Touted as a “verse portrait,” Hemphill’s work gives a fictional perspective of the main characters in Plath’s life through verse. Plath’s mother, neighbor, husband, boyfriends, brother, psychiatrist, students and teachers are all given a voice. Based on research, letters and More...
Beginning in 1932, Stephanie Hemphill takes her reader on a journey through the life, and eventual suicide, of author and poet Sylvia Plath. Touted as a “verse portrait,” Hemphill’s work gives a fictional perspective of the main characters in Plath’s life through verse. Plath’s mother, neighbor, husband, boyfriends, brother, psychiatrist, students and teachers are all given a voice. Based on research, letters and More...
Sep 17, 2011
Traci
rated it:
Ever since her death by suicide in February of 1963, Sylvia Plath has been heralded as a great poet and author of the twentieth century. Her novel, The Bell Jar, was released to widespread accolades throughout the literary community and her poems have been heralded as the quintessential voice of female empowerment and longing. Until recently she has only been examined through the eyes of researchers and biographers, attempting to tell her story through a recording of her life. Yet, it has bee
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Jun 29, 2011
Colleen
rated it:
a. Hemphill, Stephanie. 2007. YOUR OWN, SYLVIA. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 9780329758790
b. I’ve been intrigued with Sylvia Plath since I was a moody, depressed 17 year old reading The Bell Jar. Her semi-autobiographical novel describing shock therapy in an insane asylum really got to me as an awkward teenager. Fast-forward 15 years to the present, and now I’m teaching her poetry in my classroom. We read and analyze “Daddy,” and my students are always shocked that poetry c More...
Jan 12, 2010
Gail
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The life of Sylvia Plath as told in a very unique biography. The author uses excerpts from letters written by and to Sylvia but she also writes her own poems to weave a tale of Plath's relationships with her mother, husband, college friends, childhood friends and business associates. Very interesting use of prose to bring insights into the talented, yet mysterious and heartbreaking life of Plath.
I had forgotten what a cad her husband, Ted Hughes was(he wrote childrens' books after More...
I had forgotten what a cad her husband, Ted Hughes was(he wrote childrens' books after More...
Sep 28, 2009
Brad
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As a reader, I was reminded entirely of reading Plath's own poetry. I must admit that I do not like Plath's work, but not because it is written poorly. In fact, Plath wrote incredible poetry and was a master of literary devices. I never liked her work because she was always very self-centered and egotistical in her writing. She was self glorifying and vainglorious. "Your Own, Syvia" reminded me of Plath's poetry because it too was very well written, but I did not like the subject
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Jan 15, 2012
kb
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The first time I read Sylvia Plath, which was in sophomore year, she gave me a funny feeling - a cross between creepiness and excitement. In my then-limited mind, she was someone I didn't really want to go in-depth with because I found her and her works too morbid. A couple of years later, I managed to get a bit closer to for her, especially after reading The Bell Jar, and found out there were a lot of things about her life I could relate to. It was like an epiphany: She wasn't that different fr
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Jan 17, 2009
This is beautifully written and offers a more balanced perspective of the poet's life than many other biographies.
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Jul 30, 2009
Karen
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To preface this, I will just say...I love memoirs. I also love the work of Sylvia Plath, one of America's most tragic artists. There really are no words to describe this text, other than Hemphill has done an amazing job of researching and conveying the turmoil that was Plath's life in a sublime way. The use of verse throughout the novel was a triumph, and the fact that each piece was told from the perspective of someone in Plath's life was genius. It's strange to think that I had never read a bi
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Jul 27, 2010
Ariel.
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I just got done reading "Your Own, Sylvia" by Stephanie Hemphill. Ive never heard about Sylvia Plath, untill I went to the libray with my friend. I love poems so I asked the librian in the teen section where to find poems. I read the back of the book and I was in love. It took me about five days, to finish it. It may seem like alot but im not much of a reader so its very fast for me. The book is how Stephanie Hemphill feels about the poems and situations of Sylvia. So if I found that i
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Dec 08, 2008
Erica
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I knew immediately that I wanted to read this book after I saw it as an option for the Printz Award books. I have been a Sylvia Plath fan ever since The Bell Jar and when I read some of her poetry. You gotta love the inherently self-destructive female voice! This book aims to recreate her life through poems “by” people that were close to her, even though they are all written by the talented author, Stephanie Hemphill. The poetry’s purpose is very obvious because you get a sense that it aims t
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Mar 14, 2009
Claudia
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I barely know where to start. Hemphill is an amazing poet. Each chapter of this fictionalized biography of Sylvia Plath is an exquisite poem, in the voice of someone in Sylvia's life...her family, her friends, her neighbors, her spurned boyfriends. Many of the poems have been written in the style of Plath's own work. We see a beautiful, mercurial, talented, loving, doomed young woman's march into myth. Hemphill accompanies each poem-chapter with biographical details that help the reader ground h
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Sep 19, 2009
Lori
rated it: 
This book was difficult for me to get in to until about the 20th page. I almost put it down, but since it was for an assignment I kept reading. Half of me is glad I did keep reading because it finally clicked this was a tool I could use to teach autobiographical writing. The other half thought it was a waste of a day in which I could have been reading something else. In any event, it's done.
Using people to tell the story of Sylvia Plath in a poetic way is a wonderful way of seei More...
Using people to tell the story of Sylvia Plath in a poetic way is a wonderful way of seei More...
Mar 11, 2009
Michelle
rated it:
Your Own, Sylvia presents an intimate view into the life of poet Sylvia Plath. Told in poems written by the author from the points of view of Plath or her friends and family, it combines Plath's writing style with notable moments from her life. For someone who is interested in Plath's life and work, this book is interesting and satisfying.
Because Sylvia Plath died a young death, she did not have the chance to publish as much as her readers would have liked. Stephanie Hemphill's More...
Because Sylvia Plath died a young death, she did not have the chance to publish as much as her readers would have liked. Stephanie Hemphill's More...
Jun 10, 2011
Caryl
rated it:
My own portrait of Sylvia Plath:
She's a martyr
A genius
a lunatic
an artist
a poet
wild, yet fragile
lovely, yet poisonous
She was absorbed by life
by its passions
And so she wrote and wrote and wrote
to keep herself from drowning
But she drowned nevertheless
self-absorption
led her to death
She's weak and strong
A complication
An abstract trying to define herself
she's a martyr
a g More...
She's a martyr
A genius
a lunatic
an artist
a poet
wild, yet fragile
lovely, yet poisonous
She was absorbed by life
by its passions
And so she wrote and wrote and wrote
to keep herself from drowning
But she drowned nevertheless
self-absorption
led her to death
She's weak and strong
A complication
An abstract trying to define herself
she's a martyr
a g More...
Mar 02, 2010
Tanya
rated it:
This was astonishing and revealing. I enjoyed this book because of my lure to the mind, but this was ultimately the most intriging poetry book I've read. In fact it's the only poetry book I've read. Sylvia's life was tragic, her husband was a jerk, but she wouldn'y admit it and then resulted in her isolation from the rest of the world. She was a desperate writer who sought action and excitement as to inspire. Though I can't say I'd do all the things she did, I understand her. I see where things
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Feb 16, 2009
Sarah
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I wasn't sure I what to think of this biography/fictional account of a real life. I came into this book knowing very little about Sylvia Plath's writing or life, but the unique format (poetry) intrigued me. Through researching and interviewing the author puts together a portrait of a gifted, but mentally disturbed writer. Told from many different people's perspectives, the story is tragic and ends with the suicide of Sylvia Plath. Stephanie Hempill is herself a gifted poet and many of the im
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Nov 20, 2009
NSAndrew
rated it:
On a bleak February day in 1963 a young American poet died by her own hand, and passed into a myth that has since imprinted itself on the hearts and minds of millions. She was and is Sylvia Plath and Your Own, Sylvia is a portrait of her life, told in poems.
With photos and an extensive list of facts and sources to round out the reading experience, Your Own, Sylvia is a great curriculum companion to Plath's The Bell Jar and Ariel, a welcoming introduction for newcomers, and an unflinc More...
With photos and an extensive list of facts and sources to round out the reading experience, Your Own, Sylvia is a great curriculum companion to Plath's The Bell Jar and Ariel, a welcoming introduction for newcomers, and an unflinc More...
May 17, 2009
Jamie
rated it:
I listened to the audiobook.
And I think I liked it more this way. It's multivoiced, with different readers reading the in-between and the poems add a texture. Having just read The Bell Jar, it was interesting getting some context.
Poor Sylvia! It would be interesting to know how different her life would be in a different time, but then we didn't save David Foster Wallace either.
I know want to see thaat Gwyneth Paltrow movie.
And maybe read the book More...
And I think I liked it more this way. It's multivoiced, with different readers reading the in-between and the poems add a texture. Having just read The Bell Jar, it was interesting getting some context.
Poor Sylvia! It would be interesting to know how different her life would be in a different time, but then we didn't save David Foster Wallace either.
I know want to see thaat Gwyneth Paltrow movie.
And maybe read the book More...
May 28, 2009
Snorkle
rated it:
I think the author of this book was attempting to write a moving, poetic tribute to an author she greatly admired. If only I had seen it as such when I read this book. The poetry was fairly nice, but I was not impressed with the format of the poems, or who's perspective they were told from. I also thought that the way they were told was slightly belittling to Sylvia Plath and I was almost deterred from liking her character. I would have rather read a biography about her that was more straigh
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May 13, 2008
Leanna
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I mentioned Stephanie Hemphill’s Your Own, Sylvia: A Verse Portrait of Sylvia Plath last week. This biography of poet Sylvia Plath is written in poetry, and each poem is told from a different perspective: Plath’s mother, friends, husband.
At first, I was put off by the book’s style. Reading a biography in poetry felt awkward. In fact, I was more interested in the footnotes that accompany each poem. The footnote explains the biographical context of the poem. In fact, I was tempted to s More...
At first, I was put off by the book’s style. Reading a biography in poetry felt awkward. In fact, I was more interested in the footnotes that accompany each poem. The footnote explains the biographical context of the poem. In fact, I was tempted to s More...
Sep 08, 2010
Katherine
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This tore at my heart and clawed at my mind. On several occasions, I had to put it down and walk away because I thought I would burst into hysterical crying right in front of my students. Her struggle against bipolar depression, her suffocation under the sexist principles and expectations of her time, her wild, flickering desire for Ted Hughes....it all hit me right in the gut, over and over and over. This is what poetry should be: raw, illuminating, and honest.
I feel the need t More...
I feel the need t More...
Feb 22, 2009
Elise
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I was a little apprehensive before starting the book. I didn't really know anything about Sylvia Plath, so I figured I'd be lost, however I was found myself sinking deeper and deeper into her dark and heartbreaking world. Usually I'm a pretty quick reader, especially books written like this, but I found myself reading at snail speed trying to savor ever word and every line. The format Stephanie Hemphill used drew me in and gave the book so much more power and meaning.
Mar 17, 2009
Mark
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This is simply a gorgeous book. Hemphill has done extensive research into Plath's life, and tells her life story in a series of poems, each one written from the perspective of someone who knew Plath (family member, psychiatrist, neighbor, etc.). I have not read Plath's poetry in years, and perhaps the best compliment I can give this book is that after reading it, I immediately went back to re-read those poems again. I'm also planning to read one of the biographies that was especially helpful
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Feb 17, 2008
Bex
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Ironically, I found, bought *and* read this book, one week after the anniversary of Sylvia Plath's death. This book is love and I got choked up at the last few poems. I found the fictional, poetic accounts of real people and events, quite possibly what Sylvia may have thought and felt just days before her death, to be quite emotional. I've been a big fan of Sylvia since I read the Bell Jar the first time, and even more so when I read it again. I have it on Audio CD, and I have Ariel, as well as
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