raven_morgan's review against another edition
3.0
"Ted and I: A Brother's Memoir" is a book well described by the title. It is the memories of a man, Gerald Hughes, of both his own life and his brother's life, where the brother happens to be the Poet Laureate, Ted Hughes.
I have been fascinated by Sylvia Plath since I was a teenager, and as an extension, her husband Ted Hughes. Both were remarkable poets, and both had their lives marred by mental illness and by Plath's suicide.
You will find no insights into that story here. This is a gentle book, recalling a childhood spend in close brotherhood and wonderment at nature (it is easy to see where Hughes developed much of his poetry from these recollections). The gentleness changes somewhat as we follow Gerald Hughes into war, where he worked as an aircraft engineer. There is a particular horror in how many times he came close to death, and he seems almost at times to be surprised that he survived the war.
There is a melancholy which suffuses the latter half of the book, where Gerald Hughes moves away, marries and makes a life in Australia, and watches his brother's life from afar, including the marriage to Plath and hers and Assia Weevil's subsequent suicides, along with Ted Hughes' own diagnosis with cancer. There is very much a sense of loss of that close brotherhood, even as it is clear that Gerald Hughes remains very close to Ted, right up to Ted's death.
This is a slim volume, in terms of depth of story. There are no dark explorations of mental illness or suicide, of war or illness. But there is a very clear love for one's brother, and an echo of the loss that Gerald Hughes must have felt when his brother faced terrible events and then, ultimately, death itself.
I have been fascinated by Sylvia Plath since I was a teenager, and as an extension, her husband Ted Hughes. Both were remarkable poets, and both had their lives marred by mental illness and by Plath's suicide.
You will find no insights into that story here. This is a gentle book, recalling a childhood spend in close brotherhood and wonderment at nature (it is easy to see where Hughes developed much of his poetry from these recollections). The gentleness changes somewhat as we follow Gerald Hughes into war, where he worked as an aircraft engineer. There is a particular horror in how many times he came close to death, and he seems almost at times to be surprised that he survived the war.
There is a melancholy which suffuses the latter half of the book, where Gerald Hughes moves away, marries and makes a life in Australia, and watches his brother's life from afar, including the marriage to Plath and hers and Assia Weevil's subsequent suicides, along with Ted Hughes' own diagnosis with cancer. There is very much a sense of loss of that close brotherhood, even as it is clear that Gerald Hughes remains very close to Ted, right up to Ted's death.
This is a slim volume, in terms of depth of story. There are no dark explorations of mental illness or suicide, of war or illness. But there is a very clear love for one's brother, and an echo of the loss that Gerald Hughes must have felt when his brother faced terrible events and then, ultimately, death itself.
baileewalsh's review against another edition
3.0
This was an interesting look at Ted Hughes' childhood, and although it has some insight into his life, mostly his childhood and then his later years, I think I could have gotten more information from an article or actual biography about Ted Hughes. Yes, I realize this is his brother's memoir, but when the title implies more about the relationship between him and his brother, that should be the main focus of the book. It does, however, accurately depict their relationship because Ted and Gerald didn't see each other very often once they became adults.
What I like most about this is I now have more of an understanding of how Ted felt about Sylvia. But I still need to pick up more of a biography about him and learn more about him and his work.
Also, I liked the poems of Ted's that were included in this book.
That's all I have to say.
What I like most about this is I now have more of an understanding of how Ted felt about Sylvia. But I still need to pick up more of a biography about him and learn more about him and his work.
Also, I liked the poems of Ted's that were included in this book.
That's all I have to say.
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