Books like Wordhunter

Emily Van Dyne deeply loves the great poet Sylvia Plath. Many do, but the author of this new perspective on Sylvia Plath’s life, death and body of work has done the intricate research that few have done so well. She digs deeply into the complex ways Plath’s life impinged on her work, including how personal writing and poetic legacy were manipulated by her husband, also a famous poet, after she took her own life and those of her small children.

Van Dyne doesn’t claim to know that Plath was a victim of intimate partner violence, but rather provides us with the evidence that makes her believe so. We can judge for ourselves, though not conclusively.

I like the authenticity of this book, told in the first person, as the author entwines the poet’s life, Plath’s journals and letters, and the author’s experience of the violence she has experienced… show more.

In creating the character of James, based on the character Jim Hawkins in Huck Finn, Everett didn't just retell the original story from Jim's point of view. The author delved deeply into the world that a man like Jim Hawkins would have lived in- the constant need to hide, to explain, to take the punishment that the white people inflicted. It's important to understand what slavery was really like for the enslaved and therefore begin to understand what true freedom could look like.