Customer Reviews

Medea's Folly: Women, Relationships and the Search for Intimacy

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This author has a fabulous way of blending "self-help" ideas in with valuable cultural anthropology. She does a great job of avoiding useless generalizations, yet points out real cultural patterns in women (and men) in regard to relationships. Her use of several myths and fairytales, plus real-life examples, grab your attention and keep the book juicy (not dry) reading! I have recommended this book to all my women friends and relatives, no matter what their personal experience might be. I found that the book was quite relevant to many women my age (mid-20s), but heartbreakingly even more so for women of my mother's generation. But I would also recommend it to any smart man for gaining some sharp new perspectives on women's psyches (and theirs, by comparison).

Using myths and fairy tales, Wilkinson offers a brilliant analysis of how women give away their power to the ideal of "Relationship." Wilson gets women off the hook for crazy relationship behavior and shows how cultural standards program women to sacrifice the goals of the Self for impossible relationships. Wilkinson has a lively, clear prose style that's always readable, and her analysis of cultural myths appeals to both heart and intellect. A book that transforms how you feel about your life as you read it. I took it with me on vacation and couldn't put it down, it reached me on a very deep level.

I read Medea's Folly while divorcing an abusive husband. It helped me understand and forgive myself for choosing such a mate. It is a work of art because it is packed with information but delivered in a very gentle, entertaining prose. It is on my top 10 books that I have ever read. I highly recommend it to those who are searching to understand their own relationship fumbles.