The author is R.L. Toalson of San Antonio, who signs her name Rachel, by the way. Before this book, I didn't know much about Sylvia Plath. I knew she was an accomplished poet of the mid-20th century. I knew she wrote one novel, 'The Bell Jar', which was a thinly veiled autobiography that dealt with coming of age, rebellion against social norms and emotional struggles.
Many have compared it with J.D. Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye'. I knew she struggled with mental illness, eventually taking her own life, but I had never read much by Sylvia Plath herself, other than a couple of poems in an anthology. Author Toalson spent years researching Plath's life. According to the dust jacket, she has been obsessed with Sylvia Plath since she was 13 and read her first Plath poem.
The book is written much like a journal, moving through Plath's late high school and college years. We get to know her remarkable talent, how she is driven by her desire to write poems and her short stories. Indeed, her works were published from a young age. We get to know her relationships with her mother, her friends, her boyfriends, and her desire to break free from the social norms of the day and make a life for herself.
We also get to know a darker side: her struggles with depression, an early attempt to take her life, her psychiatric treatment, including electroconvulsive therapy. These are themes that Plath was very open about in her poems and fiction. The reader is provided an intimate look at life with mental illness. Something that sets 'Love, Sivvy' apart is that it is written in verse, free verse without rhymes or specific rhythm, but as it turns out, very appropriate for a story about someone whose life is so wrapped up in verse.
Toalson doesn't imitate Plath's style, which can be (at least her later poetry) sharp and dark, even bitter. While beautifully crafted, Toalson's verse flows smoothly, giving voice to the thoughts and moods of the young Plath. Here's an example.
"She won't understand. I say I can't read, I can't write. What will I do with my life? Mother blinks. She opens her mouth. She closes it again. No one has an answer for me. That's not true. There is one who has an answer for me. His name is death."
It's a remarkably compelling read. It will be relatable to many. It gives the reader a way to understand those who struggle to balance talent and drive with insecurity and fear, dreams for the future with debilitating depression, even when it's well hidden from others.
This is a young adult novel. Parents, you might want to read this and learn from this for yourselves before passing it on to the young person in your life.
This episode of Likely Stories was produced by KWBU Summer intern Scarlett Ucci.
