Customer Reviews

Three

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is both beautiful, and disturbing. I will tell you up front that this is definately not for the faint of heart. Most of the depictions are extremely graphic, which makes the gut-wrencing scenes even more so.

There are two central themes here, and they are sex and obsession. The title implies that the central focus is threesomes, but this subject actually takes up a negligible amount of the book. Actually, threesomes are only the beginning. Soon, the intimate life of the main characters, Maya and Ilan, become more and more intense, spiralling into the almost fatal. Ilan wants to take Maya into deeper, darker places sexually, and this eventually turns into simulated rape, razor blades, and even guns.

Despite how horrific some of this can be, what really has the most impact here is Maya's emotions, and her willingness, and even enjoyment, of letting Ilan do these things. At times the reader thinks she truly does love him very deeply, but at other times it seems as if it's only an obsessive dependence. You'll wonder if she does these things because she really wants to, or only does it to make him happy. Ilan's real feelings for Maya are always in question.

The story is beautiful, almost stream-of-conciousness, and the feelings Ms. Hilden evokes with her amazing writing had me enthralled. The emotional impact it had on me was amazing, and at times I found myself surprisingly angry and horrified with the events.

But for all the horror, it is strangely erotic, although I wouldn't call this an erotic novel. Because of all Maya goes through, it had me nearly praying for a truly intimate and caring scene between Maya and Ilan. And there are unnumerable sex scenes.

This book has so much gut emotional impact, and beautiful writing, but I would only recommend it for those who don't mind possibly being shocked or apalled.

This book was not what I expected at all. The writing is compelling and it touches on some really dark subjects with an unexpected warmth and dimension.

This book is not really about threesomes, nor would I call it erotica although I see that it's listed as such and the bookjacket seems to give that idea.

This story is about the darkness inside of people, the places that exist beneath the surface, lurking in the shadows, waiting to unfurl.

While it seems at times that the darkness lies inside of Ilan, and he surely has some, it's really with Maya. Maya who loves and yet hates what Ilan is to her, what he evokes from her, the depths to which she's allowed herself to go because of him and yet when he's gone, the darkness isn't and she's left to confront and process her own part in the trauma he's wrought in her life.

The book is beautiful in a completely unique way, the writing is wonderful, the story is haunting and gut wrenching. It's an amazing and worthy read.

Julie Hilden's Three is described as a "modern-day Story of O." I will have to agree with the aforementioned comparison. This is one of the darkest stories of love, sex and obsession that I've read in quite a long time! When Maya discovers Ilan's infidelity, she makes the conscious decision to allow him to engage in all sorts of exploits with other women. However, there's a catch: Maya has to take part of said exploits. The threesomes are as tantalizing as they are disturbing, and Maya is reluctant to admit that she's relished the experiences. But then Ilan becomes intimidated with Maya's thriving journalistic career and the sexual games become dangerous - possibly fatal. The novel's disarming twists give a whole new meaning to the word "threesome." The ending floored me.

Three is a unique and sinister love story. The comparison with Story of O is well deserved. There are elements of S&M in this novel - and said elements are the undertones of the story. Also, the character development is excellent - Ilan and Maya are two of the most interesting characters ever written. This is a drop-everything-you're-doing-and-read-this-in-one-sitting novel. I savored the last pages with gusto because I hated to see it end. After all, erotic/psychological thrillers this good are scarcely written these days. Hilden is a great author and I look forward to reading her other books with utmost anticipation.

Easily the best book of the summer.

3 is the story of a relationship gone awry. Maya meets Ilan in college. They fall into a love that is both beautiful and terrifying and later marry. But the marriage is predicated on a bargain: Ilan will not give up other women, and Maya agrees to the infidelity as long as she is present. 3 then dissects the ramifications of this love. It is the story of what we will cede to another, what we will risk, and what we put ourselves through to find out who we really are.

The beauty of 3 is that it's a clean story with complex ramifications. Where so much modern fiction takes some convoluted (even tortuous) plot and deals with it superficially, Hilden takes a fundamental matter and unearths its every element. And this, will keep your heart beating fast, and your fingers turning pages late into the night.

I should say something about Hilden's writing as well. Hilden makes you feel what the characters feel. You are no longer reading about the characters, you are there with them, experiencing their lives with them, seeing the world as they do. For instance, there's a surgery scene in the book that when I read it I felt the same queasiness as if the surgery had happened to me. Hilden's powerful, even fearsome, writing will stay with you. So much so that the book becomes a part of your own past.

At once shocking and subtle, 3 is a must read.

I liked this book, particularly the first two thirds, which sucked me into the story and kept me interested. I found the characters to be quite fascinating... but I kept wondering why the wife allowed herself to go down this obviously perilous road. ... If you do things that are bad for you, don't be surprised when unfortunate consequences follow. ... But anyway, it was quite compelling to watch her go down that road, kind of like the inability to avert your eyes from an accident scene.

My problem with the book surfaced in the last third, when I thought the plot veered off into the completely unbelievable. I was waiting for an explanation as to why the husband did what he did, and why the wife did what she did, but instead the plot took a fantastic turn and I found it disappointing. Kind of like a movie that ends with an incredible but unbelievable final sequence that betrays its more thoughtful beginning and middle.

Ms. Hilden is technically a very gifted writer; obviously she's smart and extremely accomplished in her life. (Her legal columns are very good, too). But what I gleaned from this book and her other book (a memoir entitled "the Bad Daughter") and from her long history of romances with less-than-desirable partners, is that her ego needs some serious TLC!

Nevertheless, the book is good for anybody who wants to read about a person's descent into some very self-destructive behavior. Or for somebody that is into being sexually humiliated; it might make a person think twice about going there.

Much more than a story of sexual obsession, Hilden has written convincingly about the place where trust, desire and obsession intersect. Maya, in her early 20s, is living with Ilan, also young, as they embark on journalists' careers in New York. Hilden is less interested in the city's literary and journalistic firmament--3 is not a slap at thinly veiled editors and writers--than in the nature of the relationship between a woman desperately in love with a man whose sense of worthlessness, mixed with his need for a continuing parade of women, creates a kind of sexual fugue, a theme and destructive variation, that requires Maya to compromise her own sense of self in the name of love. The narrator's quietly taut voice evokes her desperate struggle to disentangle devotion and subservience, commitment and selfhood. A lesser writer would have fumbled this subject for melodrama or mere eroticism, but Hilden's fine writing serves like an athlete's footwork, sidestepping the obvious traps.

3 is a novel that captivates the reader as it explores a drak sexuality that everyone knows exists, yet most strive to avoid. The raw passion that Ms. Hilden evokes in her novel is extraordinary. Her capacity to create prose that is so gripping and gorgeous contrasts with what she chooses to present. And what she does present is fascinating, terrfiying, beautiful, sorrowful and intensely addictive. I read this novel by candlelight during the blackout, and only with effort tore myself away for an evening out with friends. Once in the world that 3 created, I didn't want to leave, even as I felt chords of sadness pricked alive by the depth of human experience Ms. Hilden created. This novel is also wickedly naughty and taps into the fantasies that each person can relate to of sexual looseness free from the constructed stigma and real danger society and reality impose.
Ms. Hilden exposes herself by writing lucidly, poetically and crisply about sex and about the unhealthy ties that feed an endless emotional yearning. The vulnerability on display in this novel is brave, deep and unadulterated.
Ms. Hilden's characters are compelling. Both their pleasure and their pain are palpable as Ms. Hilden's deftly woven plot unfolds.

Julie Hilden gives us a brilliant 21st-century ghost story, filled with obsession, betrayal, hard-edged social commentary, highly-charged sexual experimentation and (possibly) redemption.

3 is a cautionary tale for those contemporary urbanites who think they can always be in control of their lives. The book reminds us that we contain a depth and complexity of engagement with other people that can surprise and sometimes betray us.

You will not be able to put this book down once you begin reading, so clear an evening and be prepared for a wild ride!

Anyone who knows anything about erotica knows that it is at least, in abundance. Simple smut is readily available and punchy porn, even more so. There are scads of nicely written erotic short stories, but this is something more difficult to find. Julie Hilden's 3 is beautifully written and more than just an erotic novel. It is literature; lyrical, delicate, sensual and haunting. It is, from the start, impossible to put down.

According to 3's back cover, it is a modern day Story of O. This isn't the first time that a piece of erotica has used this tag, but in Maya there is the same selfless love and willingness to give up anything as her offering. And so, like O, Hilden's Maya knows love through sacrifice, submission and degradation. As a result of the intense love she feels for Ilan, she agrees to accept his infidelity, as long as she is always there. The result of this bargain is a series of one time encounters with various women, all of whom physically resemble Maya. As Maya realizes her own power, Ilan is threatened and that is when their sexual adventures take a frightening turn. Even as she is disgusted with herself she is aroused.

This is where the similarities with O end and why 3 is compelling as a modern day Story of O. It is the road O might have taken if it had been written today. 3 is not the story of a woman being whipped and beaten to tears. Nor is it the story of a woman having her body used by the nameless and faceless at the whim of her lover. There is no Chateau in Hilden's tale. Maya's torment is is self imposed. She is never held captive but by her own heart. She knows that she can leave, but what would life be without Ilan? And in that question lies Maya's fear and this story. The reader who picks up this book simply to re-live the Story of O with all of the sadomasochistic play may be disappointed. But let me make it clear that 3 is anything but disappointing. Hilden's Maya feels real and the pain and confusion of her journey, genuine. 3 isn't just thrilling, invigorating and erotic, it's empowering. It is a success.

This is one of the great books i have ever read. It touches every possible area of great interest. It has it all. This is a great read for anyone who wants a book that excites you in all ways possible.