by Lisa Taddeo
(3.7 / 5)

BLURB

Number one New York Times best seller “THIS IS THE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR. That’s it. That’s it. It blew the top of my head off and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it or talking about it since.” (Elizabeth Gilbert) “The most in-depth look at the female sex drive that’s been written in decades.” (New York) “A stunning and significant book…. It regulates our minds, it ruins our lives, and it’s all for which we live. We almost never think about it, however. And the impulse remains largely unexplored as a latent power in our lives-until now. Journalist Lisa Taddeo has been traveling six times across the country over the past eight years to welcome ordinary women from different regions and backgrounds. The result, Three Girls, is the deepest nonfiction portrait ever published of desire and one of the year’s most awaited novels.

We continue with Lina, a homemaker and mother of two whose marriage has lost her passion after a decade, in suburban Indiana. For a man who refuses to kiss her on the lips, she spends her days cooking and cleaning, complaining that “the feeling offends” him. To the dismay of Lina, also her therapist in marriage says that the role of her husband is real. Starved for love, Lina experiences panic attacks on a daily basis. As she reconnects via social media with an old flame, she embarks on a relationship that is soon becoming all-consuming.

We meet Maggie in North Dakota, a 17-year-old high school student who finds a trustee in her stunning, married English teacher. By Maggie’s account, loving regular texts and phone calls develop into a secret physical relationship, intending to skip school on her 18th birthday and make love all day; instead, on the day he turns 30 he breaks from her. Maggie has no degree, no job, no dreams to live for a few years later. Once she discovers that this man has been named the Teacher of the Year of North Dakota, she moves forward with her claim-and the former schoolmates and the jury that hears her case react with shock. The court will turn upside down their peaceful family.

Finally, we meet Sloane, a stunning, wealthy and sophisticated restaurant owner, in an exclusive Northeast neighborhood, who is happily married to a man who likes to watch her have sex with other men and girls. To her alone or for a threesome, he picks out partners and she ensures that everyone’s needs are met. Sloane has been wondering for years where the ambition of her husband stops and hers starts. We welcome a new man into their bed one day – but he carries with him a secret that will eventually pressure Sloane to face the unequal structures of power that drive their lifestyle.

Three Women is a revolutionary portrayal of sexual longing in today’s America, based on years of immersive research and told with incredible frankness and immediacy, revealing the fragility, ambiguity and injustice of female desire with unprecedented depth and emotional power. It’s both a journalism feat and a storytelling triumph, brimming with nuance and empathy, that introduces us to three unforgettable women-and a remarkable writer-whose experiences remind us that we’re not alone.