Sylvia Plath wrote very personal and detailed diaries, which were published in an unabridged edition in 2000 (The unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath, 1950 - 1962. Transcribed from the original manuscripts at Smith College). They are a very impressive document that illustrate both her tremendous talent as a writer, and her doomed life. Prior to the publication of the unabridged edition, censored selection had appeared, edited by her husband, the poet Ted Hughes. It was Hughes who destroyed the final volume of Plath's diaries about their married life together.

The English title of Jij zegt het (nl Your Story, My Story) is more telling than the less explicit original title in Dutch. The novel reads like a fictionalized account of the diaries. It describes the life of Sylvia Plath up to her death by suicide in what seems to be a factual account. However, this version is written from the point of view of Ted Hughes, the man who destroyed her dictionaries, censored publication of the other volumes, and may have driven her to her ultimate act of desperation. Whether Hughes actually had a role in it, or whether he feared he might be framed of having a role in it, are all shrouded in the mysteries left due to the destruction of Plath's final diaries. ( )

Over Ted Hughes’ liefdesrelatie met Sylvia Plath ( )

An imaginative work based on documentary evidence from, and about, Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, written from Hughes’ POV. Usually referring to Sylvia as ‘bride’ cleverly brings attention to both the relationship and the controversy after her death as to which surname to use. Portrayal of Hughes is neither as sinner or saint, but aims to show both as deeply flawed, real people, who ultimately brought out the worst in each other. The book reminds us that most biographies, to various extents, reduce people to “hackneyed” archetypes. Hughes can be seen as both a besotted lover and a 1950s self-absorbed misogynist, a man who wanted to play the hero (“It was up to me to raise her from that death.”) without understanding the role; Plath as caught in that cruelest of nets, the almost healed.

Palmen does an excellent job of showing how Hughes has been perceived without critique or admission. Many thoughts attributed to Hughes could apply equally to either of them: “ of a poet who has stood eye-to-eye with everything he has been forced to conceal.” Each had abandonment issues (Hughes’ brother, Plath’s father), a need for external validation, and a love/hate relationship with themselves.

The reader is left feeling saddened for both and complicit in the aftermath. Real lives do not have a narrative arc, only individual scenes; in this case, a Bergmanesque scenes from a marriage. ( )

In Your Story, My Story Connie Palmen imagines the relationship of poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes from Ted's point of view. The stars cautioned Ted Hughes from the moment he met the vivacious, troubled American Sylvia Plath, yet he was irresistibly drawn to her. In Sylvia, he saw the other half of his soul, his doppelganger. Ted saw himself as a knight in shining armor who could save her from the prison of a false self.

"The well-behaved, ambitious girl’s rationalizations held her back from what was ambiguous, complex, obscure, and violent, from her true nature. And I believed that the highest act of love was to liberate her like a knight of the Round Table from the dungeon of a dark interior, to lead her out and pass her the holy grail of free imagination."

It's not a spoiler that Sylvia ultimately committed suicide - we know it from the beginning of the novel. The question of whether Sylvia was headed inexorably toward that end is left for the reader to ponder. Whether Ted was a reliable narrator is also left for the reader to think about.

Symbolism (the fox and crow on the cover, for instance) gives the story a mythlike feeling. But an undercurrent that runs through the story is what impressed me the most, and that undercurrent is the creative process of writing and finding one's authentic self.

The English translation of Your Story, My Story will be released in 2021. Translation from Connie Palmen's Dutch into English was done by Eileen Stevens and Anna Asbury. The novel was inspired by Ted Hughes's journals and existing biographies. ( )

This novel, originally composed in Dutch, profiles two famous English-language poets. Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes romanced, married, and had two children together. While the children were extremely young, Plath committed suicide after Hughes had an affair. This tale, written from Hughes’ perspective (apparently later in life), imagines how his inner life was haunted by her downfall. It accurately captures human nature and the depths of two poets’ struggle with the unfolding of life and fame.

The translation flows well and engages the English-language reader. In fact, I did not notice that English was not the original tongue until after I completed the book. Though a fan of poetry and aware of literary history, I am not familiar with either Plath’s or Hughes’ work, so I cannot critically examine this work for reliability. I entrust the reader to other reviews for such critiques.

Instead, I focus on more traditional measures of novels, like a compelling tale and interesting characters. This book succeeds on both counts. The author tries to put herself in a great poet’s (Hughes’) distinct voice. For the most part, he appears to be unbiased and factual, but one cannot help but feel that he cannot remain objective about his unfaithfulness and his wife’s subsequent death. It had me wondering, is he a reliable narrator or does he, too, have something to hide?

Of course, such questions are fodder for book clubs and discussions, of which this book will surely spawn many. It poignantly depicts the struggles of two prominent poets. (Hughes even went on to become poet laureate of England.) Fans of twentieth-century poetry will enjoy seeing these two dramatized. with many avenues of intersectionality and intrigue opened. It’s a reminder of how much death can haunt life. ( )