Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz

The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath & Anne Sexton

By: Gail Crowther

Narrated by: Imani Jade Powers

In this vividly rendered and empathetic biography of two of the greatest poets of the 20th century - Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton - “the friendship and rivalry that the pair shared - not to mention the titular cocktails at a Boston hotel - is explored in fascinating detail” (Town & Country).

Introduced at a poetry workshop in Boston University, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton formed a friendship that would soon evolve into a fierce rivalry, colored by jealousy and respect in equal terms.

In the years that followed, these two women would not only become iconic figures in literature, but also lead curiously parallel lives haunted by mental illness, suicide attempts, self-doubt, and difficult personal relationships. With weekly martini meetings at the Ritz to discuss everything from sex to suicide, theirs was a relationship as complex and subversive as their poetry.

Based on in-depth research and unprecedented archival access, Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz will leave you “hungering for more of what these two literary comets burned with: the power of a little poetry. Deliriously fast-paced and erudite, this is highly recommended” (Library Journal, starred review).

©2021 Gail Crowther. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

eye opening

without reading a thousand page biography for each author. you completely understand how and what and so many questions get answered. you understand how the pressure of society okaysd into there lives. i kove this audiobook.

they would not be silenced

I enjoyed learning more about these amazing female poets. I wish more changes have been realized in the world of publishing and recognition of women authors. I am grateful for these women for persevering to let their voices be heard and part of our culture. I know it made a difference.

Love platt & sexton

A dog walking book filling me with love and admiration of 2 exceptional women with little support. Here in 2023, having lived a similar lifestyle it gave me validation for the same struggles these beautiful women traversed💕❤️🙈🙊🙉🌵✌️

New details kept my interest

Beautifully written and narrated, this book gave me more insight on what shaped these women as writers and the demons they struggled with.

Amazingly sad

This was such an interesting and insightful look at the lives of Sylvia Plath and Ann Sexton. The writer really knows her stuff and it was arranged
interestingly, each chapter by subject. It just felt so overwhelmingly sad to me. The narrator did a really wonderful job with it.

Great poets

An enjoyable book and men certainly deserve critique but to act as though male writers have not struggled with their career or that modern psychiatry has evolved to amazing solutions through medication is dishonest. Can you be a great poet in a harsh and compromised world without a touch of madness ? The individual and society must take responsibility for the soul of artists and poets.

Wonderful

really loved this book, especially all the parts about Sylvia Plath. The narrator is great too.

Good Dual Bio

The book itself was good. I have read a lot about Plath and a few books on Sexton, but as a dual biography, certain aspects of the shared, but different histories of both women were highlighted for me.

I was excited to start listening but the narration was consistently misguided. First off, it felt like every sentence was a performance, which did not fit the content. The good part of that was it was not monotone, so I continued listening. Mispronounced words and names were not frequent but the same ones were off each time. The most obvious was three pronunciation variations of Adrienne Rich’s first name.

Slow, text book style overview

I wasn’t expecting a contrast and comparison text book style story, so while this is full of interesting bits of information, it comes across incredibly dry. The narration sounds like its AI rather than actually voiced.

Interesting but the narration...

If you love these two poets, it's definitely worth a listen. There were a couple of things I did not know, including that Ted Hughes was not just a womanizer but also just a generally horrible person who robbed us of some of Sylvia's greatest, most honest work in order to preserve his fragile ego. The narration is off-putting to me because it's so overly theatrical. Every single line is read as if she's on a stage or doing a commercial. Very strange and unnecessary. I had to speed it up just to get through it.