I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this book!

I do like how the book is organized by topic. It’s clear the author has done deep research into these women, and while I’m less familiar with Anne Sexton’s work as I am with Sylvia Plath’s, this book would appeal to those who know their stories well and those who don’t. There’s very little actual interaction between Plath and Sexton, and where there is, it’s a lot of speculation, so readers should know that before jumping in. It’s more of a comparison of two creative, brilliant, troubled women who led very similar but at the same time very different lives, and I think the two play off each other effectively in this book.

I did have a problem with the discussion of “cancel culture” in the motherhood chapter — right after the author brought up the topic of Sexton’s sexual abuse of her daughter, it was quickly written off by a straw man “both sides” argument about how cancel culture is a form of censorship. While this was presented through the lens of Sexton’s daughter’s feelings around this abuse, it felt a little gross to read what felt like a defense of an abuser, made worse by the fact that the author repeatedly refers to this abuse as “sexual behavior toward her daughter” and hesitates before eventually calling it what it is — abuse of a child. She refers to the “pressures [Sexton] was under” and says she “was not a total monster.” Sure, the world isn’t made up of good people and monsters, but excusing and justifying Sexton’s behavior was beyond gross. I was enjoying the book up until that point so it soured the rest of the book for me.

I think this is a fantastic book on how Plath and Sexton actually lived their lives. I learned a lot that I didn’t already know.

Definitely recommend

Fascinating book on how the poets Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton were enemies and eventually turned into friends. Would be interesting for a literary book club.

Interesting book on Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. I enjoyed learning about these two women who met in 1959 at a poetry workshop at BU. Their afternoons at the Ritz were filled with conversation of poetry, sex, gossip, family. Trigger alert, the book delves into mental health and suicide.

Thank you #NetGalley, #GalleryBooks, #GailCrowther and #Three-MartiniAfternoonsattheRitz for the book for my honest review.

My guess is that devoted fans of Sexton and Plath would appreciate this more than I did. As a casual respecter of them both it didn't quite keep my interest.

I was disappointed that the synopsis and the title are misleading. I was expecting this to be about Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton spending time together, it's not. The book was researched well and I did like that I did learn more about the two women that I didn't know before picking the book up.

I have mixed, conflicted thoughts on “Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz” by Gail Crowther. It was not bad! Let’s get that first established and I did enjoy Crowther’s writing style. But I did find it to be the high school cliques.

Crowther delves into the intimate recesses of two gifted and tortured trailblazers lives - Plath and Sexton with the utmost respect. I felt such empathy for both women as well as their family, especially their children. Sylvia Path and Anne Sexton were born in the wrong period, harrowingly unknowingly they paved the road for women in many ways which will always be remembered. Both involuntary sacrificed their artistic gift while dealing with issues and challenges repeatedly while attempting to grasp the elusive abyss of balance with lots stacked against them. Ultimately the pain they endured was too much for their mental health and succumbed to extinguishing the agony. Meticulously researched mixed with extensive detail, Crowther grants us unlimited access to two women with similarities along with dissimilarities as they navigate life and the demands of social expectations, and turbulent backgrounds et al while maintain their passion for writing. Their prose serves as their legacy, two souls taken too soon with far more to contribute to the world.

The organization — one aspect of their lives in each chapter — hollows out their stories. The impact of societal expectations of women in the 1950s and 60s, their marriage roles, mental illness (not addressed until the end of the book), etc. all impact each other. Stripping away all but one context at a time made their stories one-dimensional.

More than that, the author doesn’t leave it to the reader to come to their own conclusions. Rather, she’ll point out, for example, that we haven’t moved far beyond a particular outdated notion. When you come to this realization on your own, however, the impact is much more powerful.

In this biography Gail Crowther works to let the reader see Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton as very much results of their own time - on both a macro and micro level.

The book is unflinching as it examines both the societal pressures of the era and the horrible personal circumstances (parental abuse, spousal abuse, electro shock, etc.) both went through, while also shining a bright light on their own mistakes and flaws.

A fascinating look at how hard these two women had to work to help create the start of a new kind of literature.

This was a lovely non-fiction about Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath - both tragic poets that happened to be best friends at times and enemies at times. A bit dry reading but it helps if you know a bit about the authors.

What I loved about this book the most is that it was short and sweet. It’s a dual biography about Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton and their friendship. It’s written kind of like an academic paper but with a journalistic flair. I think the friendship part is a little exaggerated and not as juicy as most people would expect but it’s a really good overview of information with some neat and interesting nitty gritty details.
There are so many biographies on Plath... and they are all absolutely terrible and awful. If you’re interested in Plath or Sexton, this is a really great read that won’t waste your time!

An amazing entertained story of two great poets who unfortunately where never able to tame their demons. I never new much about Sexton before this book and only a small amount about Plath. I really liked how the author showed how these women's’ lives intersected briefly but clearly had an impact on each other. . It is also quite amazing the similarities that they shared in trying to succeed in a male dominated profession during a time when women were told that they should be quite and not heard. Both remarkable in their own way; I’m glad to have learned more about them.

Can you imagine being a guest of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton while they drank martinis to discuss poetry and everything else? Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz by Gail Crowther might be the closest that we will get to knowing what those amazing afternoons must have been like. If I had a poetry buddy, it would be amazing to go day-drinking and talk about things that no one else understands.

For a couple of years, I wanted to write poetry but I was also nervous about writing poetry. Soon after reading this book, I was more motivated to write. Plath and Sexton faced their own writing issues and they were poetic geniuses.

When I was in college, one of my professors discussed how aggravating it can be when you appreciate an artist and their work but they turn out to be a reprehensible human being. It has happened to me before. By reading this book, I learned things about Sexton that I didn’t know before. It was disappointing but I will make peace with it. By the way, Plath was truly a lovely person.

Plath was married to Ted Hughes who was also a writer. I wonder if he ever made peace with the fact that she was a better writer than he was. (It’s not a fact necessarily. Just a very strong opinion.)

Although it seemed like Plath and Sexton had so much to live for, both poets had serious mental health issues. Unfortunately, depression played a large part in each of their suicides.

If you are interested in learning about Anne Sexton or Sylvia Plath then you might find this book to be very interesting. If you have metrophobia, the fear of poetry, then you should deal with that issue before reading about poets. I did enjoy this book. It did motivate me so I’m grateful to Gail Crowther for writing this book.

I received this ebook from NetGalley. This is my honest review. All opinions are my own. Obviously.

Absolutely adored this novel. I'm not big on non-fiction but this was wonderful. I felt very inspired by these women.

What a sad, sad book.
I feel like Plath’s life has been completely wasted away, mainly because of her husband who destroyed her, in life and death. He punished us by pushing her over the edge, I cannot imagine how many more beautiful poems Sylvia would have written if she would have lived a longer life.

Sexton was quite a character. I had never heard of her before but I look forward to discover her work after reading this book.

A very insightful book about the greatest American female poets of the 20th century. Suicide connects them but they are two opposite personalities. I imagine Sexton as this larger than life personality, borderline obnoxious, the opposite of Plath’s subdued, calmer, straighter image I have of her.

Very cool read! Great pick if you are interested in those artists lives, as well as the 1950s culture, suicide, mental conditions, and simply being a woman in the 50s and 60s.

Thank you Net Galley and the publisher for this e-ARC in exchange of my honest review.

I’m not sure why but I didn’t realize this was a nonfiction. I was expecting more of a historical fiction and so I wasn’t able to fully enjoy this one.

I am familiar with Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton, their lives their works and their deaths. I think that this was an interesting book, but a deeply sad book.

Both women suffered from being born in a time where they couldn’t truly be themselves and from horrible untreated mental illness. I first learned of both in learning about mental health.

I think this books humanizes them a lot in showing their friendship, but I don’t know that I would say it was revolutionary to my experience with or understanding of these ladies.

As always, I appreciate the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read and share my thoughts.

Three Martini Afternoons at the Ritz by Gail Crowther

9781982138394

303 Pages
Publisher: Gallery Books
Release Date: June 2, 2021

Nonfiction, Memoirs, Biographies, History, Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton

This book is a back and forth between two women poets from the 1950s. Both women were outspoken and visionaries. Although their lives were shortened due to suicide, their work has stood the test of time. In fact, their work is more prominent now than it was in the 1950s. Their words have made it possible for today’s women writers to write freely about topics often thought taboo back then.

I have followed Sylvia Plath’s work for a while and always jump at the chance to read about her life and work. She and Anne both wrote about important issues, especially women’s issues, although they were not recognized for it at the time. They were writers, mothers, feminists, fought mental health issues, and were frenemies. This is a great book for anyone that appreciate women writers and how far we have come making the “personal is political” movement.

Gail Crowther presents the reader with a well researched review of the intersections of the lives of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. The numerous parallels between these two women, who shared a classroom in Boston for one semester, did not seem to preoccupy them at all. Both became literary icons for young women writers in the in the years after their deaths. The “restrictive social roles of 1950s America” played an enormous role in the devastating frustration and exhaustion felt by the two writers and many other women of the time. It’s a painful book to read in part because they suffered but also because we must ask ourselves, what is different, particularly in the literary world, today?