Three Women (2019 original; edició 2020)

All members of our book club struggled with this book for several reasons: 1) the interweaving storylines made it difficult to follow or empathise with any of the women in the book; 2) the writing style was too graphic/crude given the severity of the topic (trigger warnings should have been given in certain parts); and 3) the sexual lives of these women did not accurately represent the experiences of women in general. Members of our book club felt that this book was also falsely marketed as a book about female desire when it was actually more about 3 case studies of women who were traumatised by abusive men. All members felt this topic of female sexuality and sexual trauma could have been touched upon better from a less sensationalised and more clinical account. The overall rating of the book is 2 out of 5 stars. ( )

Several books from the 2020 Gordon Burn Prize shortlist have been on my bedside pile for a while and I was delighted to read Three Women (Bloomsbury) by Lisa Taddeo, whose reading at the event of the opening chapter certainly raised some eyebrows! I’m told it is an every woman story and it’s in the best tradition of this Prize as it blurs the lines between fiction and non-fiction and is somewhat hard-hitting. It seems to have received Marmite type reactions and I fell on the ‘loved it’ side of the divide – and those that do, do. Pick it up, read the reviews and give it a go. If you are on the positive side of the line, believe me, you will not regret it. ( )

I gave up on this after I realised I was more than half way through and really bored. I think I might need to have a rest from Must Read books. This one felt very "so what?" - it was an account of three real life experiences and yet it felt like a story. Maybe it's the literary equivalent of the Unscripted Reality TV genre. In any case, I'm not really sure what it was and I abandoned it halfway through my hair appointment as I realised I was spending a lot of time not reading it, which is a good indication that I wasn't fussed. ( )

Three Women is the heartwrenching nonfiction book written by author and journalist Lisa Taddeo. Taddeo followed three specific women and their lives over 10 years through texts, notes, and in-depth conversations. This intimate collaboration allowed her to share their stories in a vivid, honest and excruciatingly detailed manner.

Three Women was not always easy to read but it is a book that will stick with me forever. The stories are raw and it is amazing to me that Taddeo was able to write this book in the third person because her word choices and the stories she shared were so deeply personal.

I found myself lost in this book while reading it. I initially thought these stories would be a peek into the sex lives of three American women but it was so much more than that. Taddeo shared the desires and sometimes haunting true narratives of these three individuals.

While all their experiences and lives were very different, they all centered around one common theme, power. Who had it, who didn’t and the outcomes because of it. Many of the choices these women make, whether you agree with them or not, came from a lack of power as well as being rooted in experiences sometimes years prior. As a reader, you don’t have to understand or connect with something completely for it to move you and this book really drove that point home for me.

Taddeo is skilled at sharing these stories without being subjective or judgemental which is one of the reasons this book felt so compelling and personal. I highly recommend Three Women and I can’t wait to see the response when it is released in July. ( )

Lina reminds me of women from my rural hometown, settled in dull marriages with only dull alternatives to choose from. Sloane is an HBO mini-series, chic and sophisticated and sexy but with a complex past that gave her those characteristics. And Maggie's story broke my heart. Believe women. ( )