Book Review: Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
TITLE: THREE WOMEN
AUTHOR: LISA TADDEO
PUBLISHER: SIMON & SCHUSTER (AVID READER PRESS)
GENRE: NON-FICTION
ACCLAIM: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Synopsis
A riveting true story about the sex lives of three real American women, based on nearly a decade of reporting.
Hailed as “a dazzling achievement” (Los Angeles Times) and “riveting page-turner that explores desire, heartbreak, and infatuation in all its messy, complicated nuance” (The Washington Post), Lisa Taddeo’s Three Women has captivated readers, booksellers, and critics—and topped bestseller lists—worldwide.
In suburban Indiana we meet Lina, a homemaker and mother of two whose marriage, after a decade, has lost its passion. Starved for affection, Lina battles daily panic attacks and, after reconnecting with an old flame through social media, embarks on an affair that quickly becomes all-consuming. In North Dakota we meet Maggie, a seventeen-year-old high school student who allegedly has a clandestine physical relationship with her handsome, married English teacher; the ensuing criminal trial will turn their quiet community upside down. Finally, in an exclusive enclave of the Northeast, we meet Sloane—a gorgeous, successful, and refined restaurant owner—who is happily married to a man who likes to watch her have sex with other men and women.
Based on years of immersive reporting and told with astonishing frankness and immediacy, Three Women is both a feat of journalism and a triumph of storytelling, brimming with nuance and empathy.
Thoughts
Hollllyyy, this book is SPICY!!! I’ve been on a non-fiction kick lately and devoured this in 48 hours. I love finding books you don’t want to put down and can’t wait to pick up again. Lisa Taddeo spent eight years reporting and writing the true accounts of three women’s sexual lives. It was fascinating (and yet not surprising) to learn she initially expected to write about male sexuality and desire, but found their stories to follow a pattern and blend together. Instead, she found women’s experiences to be uniquely layered and wanted to reveal the tangled web of how female desire unfolds throughout our lives.
Although I LOVED this book, it struck me that although their narratives differ, the three women are all white, heterosexual Americans (two of them are Catholics). The account doesn’t cover the full spectrum of female desire across sexual preference, culture, race, or religion, but rather focuses on a small subset.
Overall this book is expertly written and the stories are relatable (overtly and subtly), and unsettlingly striking in the way desire can simultaneously seduce and derail.