jassmine's review
5.0
When I found out, that Sylvia Plath was also writing a fairy-tales, I was astonished. I love the feeling when the author I think I understand surprise me (here I feel the need to say that I only read [b:Ariel|395090|Ariel|Sylvia Plath|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442258738l/395090._SY75_.jpg|1185316], so any feeling of understanding was dubious from the beginning.). I started this book with an expectation to find an entirely different facet of Plath. And in a way it did… but it also didn’t. Especially from "The It-Doesn't-Matter Suit" I distinctly felt Plath’s spirit. The form wasn’t the best (I am not a big fan of repetitiveness), the whole time it telegraphed a sort of “otherness” and an effort to reconcile with it. It seemed to me that Plath wrote this one for herself. Like if she was trying to persuade herself that it is alright to be different. (That of course also makes it a perfect children story…) And even though the whole tale is very positive, I was flooded by an unexpected sadness while reading it. That is of course only my personal view.
"The Bed Book" on the other hand was a pure fun and nothing serious. It isn’t a poetic masterpiece, but… who cares… "Mrs Cherry's Kitchen" is the most classical tale of all of them and easiest to like – I certainly liked it very much.
The Czech edition is beautifully made – the cover looks a little bit like a duvet and the illustrations are beautiful. That tipped my rating toward the five stars.
"The Bed Book" on the other hand was a pure fun and nothing serious. It isn’t a poetic masterpiece, but… who cares… "Mrs Cherry's Kitchen" is the most classical tale of all of them and easiest to like – I certainly liked it very much.
The Czech edition is beautifully made – the cover looks a little bit like a duvet and the illustrations are beautiful. That tipped my rating toward the five stars.
sirxusblack's review
4.0
this collection was so sweet! so hard reading actual children stories without thinking of plath's perspective while writing it...
mlindner's review
4.0
Contains three stories: The Bed Book, The It-Doesn't-Matter Suit, Mrs Cherry' Kitchen.
balancinghistorybooks's review
5.0
I decided to reread this as my Plath choice for the Mad Woman's Book Club. I had originally decided to reread her fantastic Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams, but judged that I wouldn't have enough time to complete and review it before the month was out. Thus, I came to this tiny volume, which is still one of my favourites. Plath's work here is sweet and clever, and her prose playful. A lovely mixture of work is included in this collection - one long poem, a relative prose poem, and a short story. Such a wonderful imagination is contained throughout, and even as an adult I find her children's work endlessly entertaining.
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