This book makes more sense the more you know about the life of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath. It works well if you read it as you would a story or novel, straight through from start to finish, as the poems are roughly chronological. Each poem, though, stands successfully on its own as well. This is Hughes' side of the story, and he tells it with sorrow, regret and immense tenderness and compassion, without shying away from the gruesome realities of his relationship with Plath.
from The Table
