Three Women

April 22, 2019
In her ambitious, if flawed, debut, journalist Taddeo reports on the risks women take to fulfill their sexual desires. The result of eight years and thousands of hours of interviews, the book describes how each of her three subjects is undone by an intimate relationship that eventually damaged her. Maggie, a troubled 23-year-old in Fargo, N.Dak., recalls how her high school English teacher seduced her at 17 after learning she’d slept with a man twice her age. When he’s named statewide teacher of the year five years later, she reports their affair to the police; townspeople quickly label her “a freaky slut.” Indiana wife and mother Lina, married to a man who refuses to kiss her, reconnects on Facebook with high school crush Aidan. Their affair, perfunctory on his end, is played out in parked cars while she becomes “a tangle of need and anxiety.” Forty-something Sloane, “beautiful and skinny,” runs a successful Newport, R.I., restaurant with her chef husband who chooses her sexual partners and watches them have sex. Sloane believes her marriage to be secure yet had to “constantly reassess what kind of woman she was.” Unfortunately, all three feel underdeveloped, with no real insight into them or their lives outside of their sexual histories, and with little connective tissue between their stories. Taddeo’s immersive narrative is intense, but more voyeuristic than thoughtful.

Author Lisa Taddeo introduces listeners to the true stories of three women and their most intimate and very real sexual desires. Narrator Tara Lynne Barr portrays Maggie in youthful tones that embody her inexperience as she navigates a relationship with her high school teacher. Marin Ireland portrays Lina, starting with an even-toned deadpan delivery and gradually diversifying, a perfect reflection of Lina's journey from a passionless marriage to a flaming affair. Mena Suvari portrays Sloan in a breathy neutral tone that exhibits her willingness to fulfill the sexual desires of others while she figures out what she wants for herself. All the narrators deliver authentic and emotional performances. A.K.R. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine