Book Review - Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton; Gail Crowther

 

TITLE/AUTHOR:  Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz: The Rebellion of Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton; Gail Crowther

PUBLISHER:  Simon & Schuster Audio

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2021

GENRE: Non Fiction / Biographies / Feminism

FORMAT:  audio download / LENGTH:  8 hours and 38 min.

SOURCE:  publisher download

SETTING(s):  n/a

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:  A fascinating story  two brilliant female poets both tormented by self-doubts and thoughts of suicide.

BRIEF REVIEW:   Having read The Bell Jar several times,  I thought this might be a good opportunity to learn more about Plath's brief life.

Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton were brilliant and complex women.  The two poets met by chance at a writer's workshop lead by Robert Lowell at Boston University in 1959.  The two women formed a fast friendship meeting at Boston's Ritz Carlton for several martinis after each class.  Their discussions were not only about writing and poetry but ventured into bolder conversations like relationships, sex and even talk of suicide.  When the workshop had ended their friendship did not, although Plath remained in Massachusetts, Sexton moved to England yet they stayed in touch through correspondence.

Both women were progressive in a time when it was not acceptable. Neither woman was content to stay home, raise children, cook, keep up the house, entertain or to remain a silent partner.  Both were troubled with mental illness and thoughts of suicide.  While Plath committed suicide at 30, Sexton had several failed attempts before finally ending her life at 45.

Although I knew a lot about Plath's short life, Sexton's background was a mystery to me.  Each of the women had different parenting styles and upbringings and while Plath was organized and methodical Sexton was disorganized and had more of a fly by the seat of your pants outlook.   I thought the author did a good job comparing and yet, contrasting each woman in a way that never felt too heavy or too superficial.  The treatment methods for depression in years gone by were somewhat disturbing. The dual biographies on audio worked well  and was narrated by Imani Jade Powers .   I did missed out on the pictures which were included in the print edition. I thought the chapters flowed well and were well organized: Rebels, Early Days, Sex, Marriage, Mothering, Writing, Mental Illness, Suicide and an Epilogue.  Recommended for readers interested in a well-researched literary biography.

RATING:  4/5  

Thanks go to Simon & Schuster Audio for allowing me access to this audio book in exchange for my unbiased review.

Book Review - The Photographer; Mary Dixie Carter

TITLE/AUTHOR:   The Photographer; Mary Dixie Carter

PUBLISHER:  Minotaur and Macmillan Audio

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2021

GENRE: Fiction / Thriller

FORMAT:  audio download / LENGTH:  8 hours and 47 min.

SOURCE:   Net Galley and Macmillan Audio

SETTING(s):  New York City

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:  A dark and rather creepy debut thriller.

BRIEF REVIEW:   Delta Dawn is a "photographer" who lives in Brooklyn.  Her work consists of mostly parties and family events and other special functions for wealthy New Yorkers. She does her job well and has a niche when it comes to capturing the best and eliminating the flaws in her photographs.  However, there is a dark side to Delta Dawn.

 When she is hired by the Straub's (Amelia and Fritz) for their daughter Natalie' 11th birthday she soon realizes just how much she wishes their life was her life. The couple are architects and live in a beautiful home, have fancy clothes and a lot social events which keep them busy.  They have an enviable life,  just the kind of life Delta has always longed for.   One day when the Straubs find themselves without a babysitter, Delta offers to help them out by staying with Natalie. Soon she finds other reasons to become a more frequent presence in their lives and, she is doing some pretty bizarre and freaky things behind their backs while they are out of the house as well.  Soon her envy and obsession seem no longer within her control but, she has another idea which may keep her connected to this family long term.

This debut thriller was fast paced, creepy and entertaining in a deranged sort of way. Even though it didn't have any earth shattering twists,  it was one of the stories that I knew I had to finish to see just how crazy things got.  I didn't even mid that I had to suspend belief along the way. The story was like passing a 10-car pileup along the highway, just hard to turn away.

Although I liked the first person narration by the unreliable Delta Dawn, I was less than thrilled with the overall audio performance which was read by the author. The tone seemed wrong and unfortunately took away from my overall enjoyment of this one. 

Thanks go to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to download this audio at no cost in exchange for my unbiased review.  If you enjoy a crazy, creepy story, you might enjoy the print or eBook.

RATING:  3.5/5  

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Blush; Jamie Brenner

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. 

Each week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book they are reading or plan to read.

This week's pick is from my 2021 Summer Reading List.

                                                                     Blush; Jamie Brenner

                                                                 G.P. Putnam, June 22, 2021 

Prologue - 1985

Cutchogue, New York

Spring

"It was the the time of year known as bud break, that late-spring moment when the entire vineyard turned green.

She looked out at the orderly rows of plants as far as the eye could see.  The knotty wood trunk of the vines gave way to a lush canopy of leaves that her father tamed with wire, and little nubs of the fruit poked through with the promise of abundance.  It was Leah's favorite season, the moment before everything changed."

What do you think, read more or pass?  Last year I read Summer Longing by this author which I really loved - it took place in Provincetown on Cape Cod and was a perfect summer read. I hope this new one is just as good.

Book Review - Six Weeks to Live; Catherine McKenzie

 

TITLE/AUTHOR:   Six Weeks to Live; Catherine McKenzie

PUBLISHER:  Atria and SImon & Schuster Audio

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2021

GENRE: Fiction / Thriller

FORMAT:  audio LENGTH:  9 hours and 9 min.

SOURCE:  Simon & Schuster download

SETTING(s):  Canada

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:  A thriller that kept me curious to the very end.

BRIEF REVIEW:   Jennifer Barnes is a 48 year old mother of adult triplet daughters, and grandmother to twin grandsons. After she visits her doctor for persistent migraines, she's shocked to learn she has brain cancer and possibly has just "six weeks to live."  How can be? Even more puzzling is that a blood test shows very high lead levels in her system which didn't just happen overnight leading her to believe that she has been exposed or even deliberately poisoned over a period of time.  She's determined to spend the time she has left to try to find out who may have wanted her out of the picture.

There's Jake her soon to be ex-husband whose new girlfriend is basically the same age as their daughters and, Jennifer has not been making the divorce process easy for him.  Then the triplet daughters: Aline and Miranda are identical and Emily is the third triplet, who add suspicion.  As Jennifer's desperation grows the daughters often seem pitted against one another, we learn some back stories and soon everyone seems to be a suspect.

Not only do we get Jennifer's POV, we also get each of the daughters POV as well which adds an interesting dynamic to the story. Flawed , dishonest characters, unreliable narrators,  people with trust issues and more kept me engaged. I wondered whether Jennifer's brain cancer was even making her delusional at times. All of the above added to the intrigued of this domestic thriller and, although it wasn't perfect, I enjoyed the audio narration with a great cast of four distinct narrators.

Thanks go to Simon & Schuster for allowing me to download this audio at no cost in exchange for my unbiased review.

RATING:  4/5  

Book Review - Heaven; Mieko Kawakami

 

TITLE/AUTHOR:    Heaven; Mieko Kawakami

PUBLISHER:  Europa

YEAR PUBLISHED: 2021

GENRE: Fiction / Coming of Age/Bullying /Translated

FORMAT:  eGalley LENGTH:  192 pp

SOURCE:  Edelweiss download

SETTING(s):  Japan 

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:  An unsettling coming of age story about two outcasts who are victims of bullying.

BRIEF REVIEW:   Our unnamed, fourteen year old male protagonist hasn't had it easy. He has been tormented by a group of bullies at school who refer to him as "Eye" because of his lazy eye. Subjected to punches, kicks, forced to eat chalk and even a goldfish and one attack even resulted in an emergency room visit.  One day he finds a note in his desk which states, "we should be friends."  Thinking it is a trick by the bullies, when the notes continue, he soon learns that they are from Kojima, a quiet girl who has also been shunned and bullied.   She has been taunted and called "HazMat" because of the way she looks and dresses.  The two outcasts begin to meet secretly outside of school and develop and unlikely friendship in which they commensurate over what each has endured.

Kojimi's story is almost secondary to the unnamed narrator's but,  hers seems deeper and very philosophical. She has her reasons for keeping her slovenly appearance and seems to believes her suffering is in many ways holy. Her story is a sad one as well. I enjoyed the conversations between these two individuals and thought it provided a welcomed charge from the more upsetting aspects of the story.

Heaven is thought provoking novella. The heavy subject matter was an eye-opening account of trauma and the sometimes painful aspects of adolescence. The story also provided some insight from the perspective of one of the bullies as to why certain kids are targeted and why some bullies think it's okay to bully and that it's not personal.  The characters, especially Kojimi,  felt deep and complicated. I thought the ending felt jarring and its one that I am still thinking about. Definitely not a book for every reader but, I was happy I had this on my summer reading list. Translated from Japanese by David Boyd and Sam Bett and very well done.

RATING:  4/5  

Thanks go to Edelweiss and Europa Editions publishing for allowing me access to this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Count the Ways; Joyce Maynard

Welcome to First Chapter/Intros, now hosted by Yvonne @ Socrates Book Reviews. 

Each week readers post the first paragraph (or 2) of a book they are reading or plan to read.

Count the Ways; Joyce Maynard

Harper Collins  (William Morrow) - 7/2021

Prologue

"Toby was just a baby--Alison four years old, Ursula not yet three--the first time they launched the cork people. After that it became their annual tradition.

Eleanor had always loved how, when the snow melted every spring, the water in the brook down the road would race so fast you could hear it from the house, crashing over the rocks at the waterfall.  A person could stand there for an hour--and in the old days before children, when she would come to this place alone, she had done that--staring into the water, studying the patterns it made as the brook narrowed and widened again, the way it washed over the smaller stones and splashed against the larger ones.  If you felt like it, you might trace the course of a single stick or leaf, some remnant of last summer, as it made its way downstream, tossed along by the current,"

I didn't read the description of this but, does anyone feel the tone to be a bit ominous?  I love this author so can't wait to start this one in a few days. What do you think, read more or pass?

Goodbye May, Hello June - Month in Review

May was a good month up until Memorial Day Weekend made it a bust. 3-days of heavy rain and cold 50 degree temps certainly put a damper and canceled our outdoor plans.  The bad news is most of the coming week looks like rain as well.  (Those April flowers bring May flowers arrived a month late here). 

Our thanks and appreciation to all who served

our country, we are forever grateful.

In May we caught up on a new series for 2021 called: Mare of Easttown starring Kate Winslet (which we loved) and, we disappointed to learn in the season finale of This is Us that there will be just one more season of the series.

Good news was that my book group met in person at the park to discuss Normal People, Sally Rooney which I read in 2019 and thought was good but not great. I didn't read it a second time just reviewed my notes but, I was surprised that only (1) person in my group liked the book. I'm guessing it was because the story involves an exasperating college-age couple and most everyone in the group is 65+ and most really disliked the characters and their failure to communicate.  Have you read this book?

June's book is one I haven't read and heard was very good: Before We Were Yours; Lisa Wingate. 

May Reading

Here's a breakdown:

1. The Perfect World of Miwako Sumida; Clarissa Goenawan - 4.5/5 Setting: Japan (May)
2. The Story of Joe Biden: A Biography for New Readers; Frank Berrios - NF - 5/5
3. The Story of Climate Change: A First Book About How We Can Help Save the Planet; Barr & Williams - NF - 5/5
4. If Cats Disappeared From the Earth; Genki Kawamura - 4/5 Setting: Japan
5. The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wildlands; Jon Billman - NF - 4/5
6. Hour of the Witch; Chris Bohjalian - 3.5/5 Setting: MA
7. The Perfect Daughter; D.J Palmer - 4/5 Setting: MA
8. What Happened to You: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience & Healing: Oprah Winfrey & Dr. Bruce D. Perry - 4/5
9. The Nightingale; Kristin Hannah - 4.5/5  Setting: France
10. The Plot; Jean Hanff Korelitz - 4/5  Setting: NY, VT
11. Cold Caller; Jason Starr - 4.5/5 Setting: NY
12. Twenty-One Steps: Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; Jeff Gottesfeld - 5/5
13. One Two Three; Laurie Frankel - 4/5  Setting: MA
14. The Day Tiger Rose Said Goodbye; Jane Yolen - 4.5/5
15. Family Reunion; Nancy Thayer - 5/5 - Setting: Nantucket, MA
16. Under the Wave at Waimea; Paul Theroux - 3/5 Setting: Hawaii
17. What Comes After; JoAnne Tompkins - 4/5 Setting: WA 

Some MAY FAVORITES

READING: My reading choices for May were mostly winners with just a few so so books.

I read (17) books.

(4) children's books

(13) Fiction

(4) Non Fiction

(7) print books - (7) from my shelves of which (5) were sent by publishers and (2) I purchased.

(6) audio books - (3)  library  download and (3) publisher download (0) purchased

(4) eBooks/eGalleys/ARCs - (3) publisher (1) purchase

(8) female authors  (YTD) (62)

(9) male authors     (YTD) ( 24)

YTD Total (86)

Countries traveled to through the books I've read:  France,  Japan  (2X).

US States:  NY (2X), MA (4X) WA, OR, VT and HI.

June Plans (plus a few as the spirit moves me titles)

1. Heaven; Mieko Kawakami
2. When the Stars Go Dark; Paula Mclain
3. Count the Ways; Joyce Maynard
4. The Music of Bees; Eileen Garvin
5. The Disappearing Act; Catherine Steadman
6. Three-Martini Afternoons at the Ritz; Gail Crowthers
7. Six Weeks to Live; Catherine McKenzie
8. The Photographer; Mary Dixie Carter
9. Haven Point; Virgina Hume
10. That Summer; Jennifer Weiner

How did your month of May go? Any exciting plans for June?