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catgoeddey's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
The audio narration was done well as well as the writing. I struggle with books that alternate their POV while listening to them on audio. Some of the pain and frustration was visceral and either made me empathize or recoil. It was hard to remember that these are nonfiction narratives and upon remembering that, it added a depth to the emotion.
sherbetlizard's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
love lisa taddeo. the premise of this book being about real women is already so cool, but the way that their stories are framed as an investigation on desire is interesting. although all of the women were in some way fucked over by men you were compelled as the listener to think of what this says about the way that women love as opposed to what it says about men. i do kind of wish there was more variation in the stories e.g. maybe 1 optimistic story but overall super interesting
queenonika's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
2.0
The three women who shared their experiences were very brave to do so, but I do not believe that the author did their stories justice. This book was just sad and it spoke more to the abuse women suffer under the power of men and less on women’s desires themselves.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, and Rape
chrissssty's review
dark
sad
slow-paced
2.5
A book I would recommend to most women I know, but with the caveat that I felt it didn’t teach me anything new about our position in the world.
I found it to be quite depressing, and I think there was room for more analytical threads of commentary to contextualise the stories within the book. The stories (primarily the ones of sex) felt quite detached and unemotional.
Maggie’s trial was well reported and I enjoyed Sloane’s reckoning with her body and its ownership.
I found it to be quite depressing, and I think there was room for more analytical threads of commentary to contextualise the stories within the book. The stories (primarily the ones of sex) felt quite detached and unemotional.
Maggie’s trial was well reported and I enjoyed Sloane’s reckoning with her body and its ownership.
freyafasanya's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
oxnard_montalvo's review against another edition
Writing wise: Taddeo’s style is like hypnosis. Not afraid of looking at the dark places desire takes these women, and it’s stark and brutal.
An intense read, and a complicated one. Each of these women’s stories are their own, deeply personal experience which also makes it difficult to see them as representative of something greater. I don’t think the specificity is transcended to reach some ‘universal truth’ about the desire women feel. There were moments with Lina and her disillusionment and obsession with what love should be, and her frustrations that hit hard and closer to the book that Taddeo was perhaps aiming to write.
An intense read, and a complicated one. Each of these women’s stories are their own, deeply personal experience which also makes it difficult to see them as representative of something greater. I don’t think the specificity is transcended to reach some ‘universal truth’ about the desire women feel. There were moments with Lina and her disillusionment and obsession with what love should be, and her frustrations that hit hard and closer to the book that Taddeo was perhaps aiming to write.