Truth is stranger than fiction. Or maybe just more fascinating. Over the course of eight years Lisa Taddeo spent thousands of hours with the women in this book, in person, over the phone, by text and email, even moving to the same towns of two of the subjects. Chosen by Taddeo for their candor and dedication to the project, these women laid their hearts, desires and lives bare. The names have been changed except in the case of one of the women where the names were already public record.
Lina just wants to be kissed. He husband won't touch her. In fact, he seems repelled by her. Lina feels frustrated, very unhappy and unloved. She seeks out her high school boyfriend from fourteen years prior and they start an affair. They're both married with small kids. Feeling fulfilled, Lina is now faced with the uncomfortable truth that her lover doesn't have the same strong feeling towards her as she has towards him.
Sloane is a restaurant owner with her chef husband and theirs is an open marriage. She has mixed feelings about it because while it makes her feel very good in some ways it makes her feel very bad in others. By participating in the open marriage, Sloan believes that she never has to worry about her own husband in precisely the same way that other women do.
Maggie is in a sexual relationship with her high school teacher. Beloved by all, he manipulates Maggie into secret meetings under the pretense of providing extra emotional and academic support for the somewhat troubled and needy Maggie. Maggie keeps their secret until he breaks up with her after his wife discovers a text. A few years after Aaron Knodel takes advantage of under-age Maggie, he wins the Teacher of the Year award in North Dakota.
Lisa Taddeo writes that it's relatability that moves us to empathize. Her subjects come across the page as someone you might know, due to Taddeo's skillfully detailed and in-depth writing. In all of the cases the women find themselves in a position where they have to defend their actions. The author points out that it seems like if a woman admits she's bad and punishes herself, people are more likely to want to help. None so publicly or dramatically as Maggie who eventually goes to trial against North Dakota Teacher of the Year Aaron Knodel. The author points out that "when women fight back, they must do it correctly. They must cry the right amount and look pretty but not hot." Maggie learns this in the most climactic way.
Reading Three Women by Lisa Taddeo reads like a novel. I had to keep checking the author's notes to remind myself that the stories are true. As the author says, there are many sides to all stories, but this book is theirs. Moving, maddening, heart-breaking and insightful, this book gets a 5/5 from me!
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