Three Women

A nonfiction book that tells the story of three unrelated women and their unique but universal struggles; I loved it because of the author’s incredible talent for articulating the everyday lived experience of being female, the subtle and overt judgments, and the fact that women are held to different standards, even by other women.

"‘Even when women fight back, they must do it correctly. They must cry the right amount and look pretty but not hot." Many times while reading, I recognised myself, my sister, my mother, and my friends.

All three stories are highly engaging, but the truly compelling… show more.

This is billed as a non-fiction book but very much reads as fiction.

Taddeo’s characters (who are based on real women) have different voices and very different stories – yet their intimate tales of sex, belonging, and love resonate. Through Taddeo’s sensitive, artful writing you feel as though you know them personally. 

No one writes the female experience like Lisa Taddeo. She is a master at her craft. All the uncomfortable things, the unsaid things, and the complicated nuances of womanhood, that you’ve never been able to capture before, is so deftly grabbed and held down on the page by Taddeo. She is glorious and Three Women is a must-read. It will change you.

This book is wildly imaginative for non-fiction. It’s an account of the sex lives of (yup) three women and the very complex desires that fuel them. All were just trying to snatch a little joy for themselves, carnally speaking. And I have to believe that sharing their stories only heightened that joy. I got to know Lisa and hear about her process for collecting the material for this book (which I helped adapt into a TV series for Showtime). I’ve never met anyone so free of judgment, and so ready to understand why people do things that others find unseemly.… show more.

Three Woman is a powerful book that reveals a side of our society, and women, we are rarely exposed to. I’ve never read anything so remarkable, and daring. This true account of three women’s lives reads like a novel, taking us into the lives of Maggie, Lina, and Sloan. Maggie claims she had a sexual relationship with her teacher, Lina is a rape victim who is now a mother and wife and embarking on an affair with an old boyfriend, and Sloan is a wealthy, successful woman whose husband likes to watch her have sex with other men. This book… show more.