Customer Reviews

Labyrinth of Desire: Women, Passion, and Romantic Obsession

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Labyrinth of Desire is The Rules for women of ample brain. Like the authors of that classic self-help manual for the man-crazy, rosemary sullivan understands the ways in which love drives women mad. by looking at literature & movies, sullivan identifies the love stories that make women a bit stupid, the stories that help us to confuse fantasy with reality. but sullivan offers neither advice for navigating through these narratives to marriage -- a la The Rules -- nor does she teach us how to steer clear of the doomed romance altogether. rather, she analyzes the tragic love story as the female version of the hero's quest, & celebrates it as a revelatory life experience. Labyrinth of Desire is erudite, insightful, deliciously compassionate, & ultimately empowering.

A romantic at heart, this book provided a new insight into love and it's many forms - and an explanation for why some girls (and guys) fall in love so quickly, passionately, and often. Her description of the two main types of romantic love (mainly focusing on obsessive romantic love a.k.a. short-term, lustful love) via storytelling is both entricate and easy to understand. Anyone who has ever been in love can relate to this, and it certainly provides a medium for exploring not only the loves we have had and may have, but also views of love and ourselves. A must read for all lovers the world over.

"My sense of romantic love inevitably involves obsession. It occurs when we meet the person we feel is essential for our life. Without that person, we will die. It happens when life stops us suddenly in our tracks and we love in a way we didn't know was possible." ~ pg. 4

Rosemary Sullivan explores more than obsessive love in her unique personal story which becomes as much an unveiling of her own world as an understanding of the search for ourselves by becoming obsessed with another. Throughout "Labyrinth of Desire," she paints erotic portraits of feminine longing and uses the colors of a short story to paint larger pictures within a world of spontaneous choices and unrestrained desire.

I started to read this book in bed one night while my husband was looking up something on a map and I was amusing myself by reading him sentences so he could look up various locations in the initial story. A woman becomes obsessed with a man while she is on an adventure in Mexico. This leads to a discussion of what actually occurred within the relationship and why it eventually ended in disaster. Or did it end badly? Rosemary Sullivan has a few intriguing ideas about why we fall madly in love and how it can birth the self.

Within the "almost confessional" personal revelations, excerpts from her diary, pop culture references, quotes from famous artists, passages from novels, witty conversations in movies, secrets between friends and intriguing memories from her world travels, Rosemary Sullivan reveals that she at times misses the "waking up of the world."

For anyone who has experienced obsessive love or even just falling in love without complete obsession, this will present intrigue. Although, I must admit that an especially artistic movie can produce a similar "awakening" to the world. Colors become more vibrant, you notice the steam on a cup of coffee, the sun feels warmer on your skin, you long to sit in the sun as if it was some invisible connection between you and your lover.

The most revealing aspect of this book may be the information on how she despises one type of romantic love and embraces a wilder more provocative expression. Needless to say, there is something warm and beautiful in this book, although it can at times read like a conversation between friends discussing their favorite lovers, movies and world travels.

This book will be quite enjoyable to anyone who has ever wished to be an artist's muse. I think at the heart, this entire concept of obsessive love is birthed from our desire to be needed and validated. Why else would be long to be needed when so deeply obsessed with the object of our affection? Or does a sense of security make us feel that this magical space in our own little world will continue indefinitely?

While falling madly in love has its seductive beauty, resisting when inappropriate reveals entirely new facets of your soul's strength. Obsessive love is a little dangerous and it could destroy your life and that may also be its appeal.

~The Rebecca Review

Wonderful, thoughtful book that I wish someone had given me long ago. Why do we fall in love? What does it mean to fall in love? What are we searching for? Intoxicating.

"Labyrinth of Desire" by Rosemary Sullivan offers an insightful look into women in obessive relationships, exploring the during and aftermath, picking apart what really happens and why. An interesting and novel look at something we all wonder about. I highly recommend this book.

sexy and compelling.
we do lose ourselves when we "fall in love" but now I know that statement isnt even true. romantic love is only a myth. this and The Road Less Traveled will save you alot of heart-ache and cause you true and real love. read this.

It amazes me that otherwise educated and articulate scholars and professors, like Rosemary Sullivan, are woefully ignorant of research in sociobiology into the nature of gender. Not only is Sullivan unaware of these studies, but she also seems to either dismiss, or lack knowledge of, the folk wisdom of centuries. She writes well of what she calls the "obsessive" romantic love that women seek, and of their anguish, grief and loss when this love ends. She writes of gifted, strong women who subjugate their own talents and careers to those of men.

She does not factor into her analysis the fact that women, as mammalian creatures, are hardwired physiologically and hormonally for connectedness. Yes, we are more than mere animals, but a good starting point in searching for reasons for women's behavior is to look at our physical makeup. Without women's need to be connected to a man, to bear and to nurture children, to cherish family and community ties, our species would soon become extinct.
At the emotional core of a woman is not just "obsessive" love for a man, not just romantic passion for physical lovemaking, but also the fierce, unending, protecting and nurturing love of a mother for her children.

Women soon learn that they need the structures of society, especially those pertaining to marriage and the family, to sustain their search for personal fulfillment. Wise women (including those who have had to learn the hard way) know that they trespass outside these structures at their own peril.

Yes, romantic love is wonderful, and falling in love is an unforgettable, defining experience; but especially for women, that experience is only the prelude to a rich and satisfying life.