Because I enjoy creating more work for myself, I've done a mini review for each short story. It helps me rate the collection as a whole, though, so off we go!

Ghost Lover ★★.5
ABUSE | ROMANCE | SOCIAL MEDIA | WEIGHT
This is a controversial, difficult story. Ari is choosing to tell her truth in a very dishonest way which has profound repercussions outside her own life. She is heartbroken, amplifying this side of her that seems capable of being cold and calculated in emotional situations. By choosing herself and her fame over another's reputation, she's clearly not a heroic character. Unfortunately realistic, but not inspirational. She's pretty unlikeable from the first few paragraphs, but it seems to become a competition to see how much worse she can get in a short story. This first story is not one I would have expected from the author of Three Women, but it was a captivating read. I can't complain about the writing skill or style, just the content. It makes me a little worried about what's to come, though…

Forty-Two ★★★
ROMANCE | WOMEN'S FICTION
The two women in this narrative could not be more different - Joan is a cyclone of toxic thoughts and manipulative, self-serving plans, while Molly is naive but selfless and conscientious of her life and its realities. Joan is in love with Jack for what he is on the surface, while Molly may be using him for what he represents - husband/father/future - and she protects that vision. Neither is very happy; they both seem to have an idea of what they want but are approaching it in (probably) the wrong way. I didn't like Joan, but I liked how it twisted around full circle in the end. Emotionally evocative writing, but another slightly toxic narrative.

"The day of a wedding is always about three people. The groom, the bride, and the person most unrequitedly in love with the groom or the bride."

Beautiful People ★★★
ROMANCE | SOCIAL MEDIA
Almost a modern fairy tale, though the motivations behind most characters' actions are far from pure. The emotions drive this story - Jane is very much in her head, and while this is probably the least toxic story so far, it's not a happy ending - or very feminist - even if it's very realistic.

Padua, 1966 ★★★.5
ADDICTION | GHOSTS | INFIDELITY
This is a sad one. I don't have a lot of sympathy for Miranda - chasing excitement and freedom and missing the stability and security. The grass is always greener and all that nonsense. I mostly felt bad for the narrator. We hear the worst parts of her story secondhand, making it even worse. Difficult choices and difficult situations.

"You can sense your own mortality more in the presence of someone who has found a new bead on life."

Grace Magorian ★★.5
ABUSE | FAMILY | SOCIAL MEDIA
Another sad older woman, bitter about love and the world, becomes delusional when someone shows the slightest interest. This feels like recycled material from several previous stories, and I didn't particularly enjoy it.

Air Supply ★★.5
FRIENDSHIP
Really focused on the male gaze - the only real details in the story are about the men checking out these women. A lot of stuff is glazed over, making the story feel pointless. It's hard to tell whether they're terrible or excellent friends. Still, I think it's clear Sara is a better friend than the narrator deserves considering how much time she spends competing with Sara, trying to figure out who is prettier or getting more attention. It might be an honest depiction of a specific type of friendship, but it's a very strange one.

Maid Marian ★★★
INFIDELITY | ROMANCE
Unrequited love and poor decisions. I don't have much to say about this one; it was a bit boring - a slightly nasty twist in the end, but nothing unexpected.

American Girl ★★.5
ROMANCE
The same story, a slightly different spin. Shallow people, ambition outweighing truth, fame more important than humanity. It reads as limited or reductive at the very least - these characters are boiled down to their base instincts and have no complexity, leaving them (and the story) quite dull.

A Suburban Weekend ★★★.5
FRIENDSHIP | MENTAL ILLNESS
Strong finish. A complicated female friendship - with competition, awkwardness, and misplaced emotions - but a strong relationship nonetheless. Liv has everything except love, while Fern has lost everything but doesn't care anymore. Disposable men, too many drinks, offhand comments, and imperfect characters.

Overall: ★★★ (rounded up)
This collection made me want to read Three Women again as a reminder that I do like Taddeo's writing. I think it would be a good comparison - fiction vs non-fiction, each comprised of short stories in their own way. I'll have to move it up my TBR before I've forgotten this pretty forgettable book.

Lisa Taddeo is such an interesting writer. I only echo a million sentiments when I note the grit and truth in these stories. The author goes deep when exploring self-obsession and self-criticism, youth and vulnerability, women and ageing, and so much more. Some of Taddeo's lines and phrases are so intellectually on point that they not only give you pause as a reader but entirely discombobulate you. I found myself wide-eyed and nodding while actively wanting to deny the perfection of some of these observations. Most enjoyed the story 'Air Supply', and want an entire novel set in the world of that story.

This collection of nine raw and revealing short stories explores modern womanhood. Taddeo’s subjects are jaded, depressed, bitter, callous, filled with self-loathing and loathing for other women. I didn’t find a whole lot to like about any of them. Although I know I don’t have to LIKE every character or story, this book was such a downer. I liked the Grace Magorian story but overall I just don’t enjoy Taddeo’s point of view. This one was hard to rate. The writing is high quality—Taddeo is an award-winning writer after all. But did I enjoy it? Mmmm, no. The audio recording is excellent, no quibbles there. This one just wasn’t for me.

I have decided to DNF this at 50%. It has taken me weeks to get through it and I know that I’m not going to enjoy it enough to push through.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley & I was excited to dive in. It’s a collection of short stories. My excitement was short lived after a few pages. The first two stories center around women obsessed with their weight, their looks, and are hard to connect with at all.

The writing style was interesting, which was why I pushed through as long as I did. However, I knew I wouldn’t have much to add in the way of a review if I continued to “rage read” my way through it.

The writing style is great, but this is definitely not for everyone.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Ghost Lover.

DNF, I tried! Multiple times, audio and ebook, but I COULD NOT get this to stick. I'm bummed because I do like Lisa Taddeo, but dang I didn't care for this.

3.5 stars. Reading something written by Lisa Tadeo is kind of like reading one long, sustained scream of primal rage echoing down through generations of women. In Ghost Lover she brings her furious, fearless, and frenzied prose to a collection of nine short stories focusing on female characters at various points in their lives. These stories explore the wide range of the female experience and the complexities of womanhood, featuring stories about love (in all its forms -- romantic, platonic, unrequited), sexuality, friendship, grief and loss, competitiveness, insecurities, traumas, ageing, obsession, and motherhood. Sometimes all of these topics are explored, brilliantly, in a single story.

This is a raw, visceral view of womanhood. Taddeo's characters are sharp and haunted, troubled and discontented and restless, and more than a little pretentious. They are not likable. All of the stories center on women needing men to validate their existence, so Taddeo is clearly making a statement about how deeply the desire for male validation is embedded in women. No wonder she's so angry.

There is a lot of focus placed on the rivalries between women in these stories, which is the one aspect I did not enjoy -- haven't we had enough of women competing with one another for the attentions of men? The most successful stories for me were "Ghost Lover," "Beautiful People," "American Girl," and "Grace Magorian," but really I felt all of the stories working on me in one way or another. Ghost Lover is a solid and impactful collection of stories from one of our most provocative writers.

When Lisa Taddeo’s nonfiction debut Three Women was released in 2019, readers were hooked. Shifting gears, Taddeo went on to release her first novel, Animal.

But she wasn’t quite done exploring genres.

Her newest release, Ghost Lover, is a short story collection that dives into topics like body image, sexual assault, and the nature of desire.

I recently spoke with Lisa Taddeo about this new release, about her love of short stories, how she explores feminism, and the universality of her writing. Here’s our conversation.

https://www.kmuw.org/podcast/marginalia/2022-06-17/lisa-taddeo-on-her-new-story-collection-ghost-lover

I wanted desperately to like this, to love it even. But I just couldn’t get past how shallow all the women in nearly every story seemed. Women I wouldn’t be friends with. Women who would look down on me for my looks or personality. I love Taddeo’s writing. Her prose is beautiful. These stories just weren’t it for me, though.

CW: Sexual assault, fatphobia,

Ghost Lover is a collection of nine short stories exploring societal perceptions of desire and womanhood, following women through diverse stages of life and relationships. I'm not sure if I really liked many of the stories in this collection (probably because the characters are an iteration of one another, intentionally unlikeable, and come across as vapid) but I still enjoyed the sharp and observant way Taddeo writes.

Thank you to Avid Reader Press and #NetGalley for the copy of the book.

Lisa Taddeo simply crushes it in every genre, from non-fiction to novels to short stories. The common thread running through the collection is that of women who seem to have everything but are derailed, in one way or another, by unworthy men. It's as if a Liz Phair album became a short story collection. None of these stories are particularly happy, but all are engrossing.

I'm sad to say I didn't like this as much as I liked Three Women. Lisa Taddeo definitely has a unique way of writing and it's not for everyone. I did enjoy these 9 short stories, although I did love the first one the most and wish there had been a whole book dedicated to Ari. This is not for the faint of heart - there are a lot of TW in this book, including sexual assault, rape, predatory men, and more.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy of the book.

I've always been a big fan of short stories, and after reading Lisa Taddeo's Three Women, I was so excited to get a copy of this from NetGalley.

Each story is different in their own way - but they all follow strong women at very different stages in their lives - victim of sexual assault, older women who still haven't found the one, entrepreneurs, women who are doing what they think is the right thing.

Like Three Women, I thought I knew what I was getting into when I started this book, and boy was I wrong.

I will say - the book description really only references the first story - which honestly drew me in a lot - I kind of wish we got to hear more of Ari's story.

Taddeo definitely has a style of writing that isn't for everyone. I liked this a lot but it was hard to read at times. There are a lot of TW in this book - sexual assault, manipulation, predatory men.

Thank you NetGalley for the copy of the book!

Included in Apartment Therapy's June New Book Roundup: The award-winning author of “Three Women” returns with an absorbing collection of nine short stories that explores desire and society’s toxic view of womanhood.

Being a guy with several women in my life that I love, this book helped me to see things through a different lens. I love Lisa's writing. It's bold, raw, and unapologetic. If you are a fan of short stories this is a great one!

So vibrant and juicy that it feels like gossiping with your best friend- a friend so close they tell you their deepest, darkest thoughts.

Lisa Taddeo has a gift for illustrating how patriarchy affects women, not just in their relationships but deep to their core. It brings up themes of jealousy, resignation, obsession, loss, and connection. I found Taddeo’s exploration of friendships between women to be interesting in its honesty.

One standout was Forty-Two. It was an honest, sad look at womanhood. It contrasted two women’s expectations of their love lives- an older woman with hope versus a young woman resigned to what she thinks is realistic. It situated womanhood in perception- the picture of a memory meaning even more than the moment of a memory (unless you’re rolling in the hay with a very kind cowboy). It was also the first of many stories that discuss the value of youth, a commodity for women in a patriarchal society.

Taddeo’s typical dark tone is present throughout the collection, but there are lifting moments, too. There are shared thoughts between women during traumatic moments. There are friends who act selflessly. But there are many, many instances of fatphobia on the part of the narrators- it felt like a commentary by the author on the pressure, internal and external, to have a “conventionally attractive” body. Taddeo writes about thinness as she writes about youth- as a commodity, unfortunately. Still, it could be a difficult read for those with sensitivity around that subject, and would certainly be alienating to fat or larger-bodied readers.

I very much enjoyed this collection. It’s meaty enough to dig your teeth into, with enough to chew on that I’d like to give it a second read. Great stuff from Taddeo once again.

I tried to get into this, I really did. It just seemed so pretentious, and while I know it was the character, I couldn't handle the fatphobia. I DNF'ed after about 3 chapters. I loved Three Women, but this one just didn't do it for me.

Lisa Taddeo’s books, whether fiction, non-fiction or short stories, are always really beautiful character studies. You don’t read a Taddeo book for action or comedy. Her writing is emotional and beautiful and oftentimes painful, even for the reader.

My favorite thing about her writing has been, and continues to be, that she doesn’t idealize her characters. She lets them be ugly (physically or mentally), mean, angry, broken and a million other things. You won’t always love them, sometimes you won’t even like them, but you can’t help seeing the humanity in them, and in her words.

I would preface this with a trigger warning, a lot of these stories are fixations on weight and appearance. However this was written in a very raw and unapologetic way , and I actually preferred this collection to her longer novels. There were some similarities across them but each story I would end up getting completely engrossed in.The women were potentially unlikable but I found relatable at times , a wide range of complex experiences I think many could see reflections of themselves in. I could have read about ten more stories in this collection, I found them intensely interesting. Thanks to Netgalley for the arc!

Lisa Taddeo’s writing is absolute perfection in this short story collection.

Plus, don’t even get me started on that retro altoid looking cover. 😍 But for real, these stories are straight up tasty candy morsels.

Taddeo’s characters are desperate and wonderful and critical and loving and just so much. Her fantastic little details delve into each of her characters. I could not even stop highlighting my favorite sentences as I was reading - some funny, some petty, some so astute that my jaw dropped. This book is a treasure trove of a character study.

I’m not one to try to describe the plot of every short story in a collection so let me just say, if you love Taddeo or short stories, you must pick this up. And even if you don’t like short stories, just pick this one up anyway.

Oh, Lisa Taddeo. Her writing is so observant it's uncomfortable to linger in her gaze. Ghost lover is a collection of 9 stories about women and different struggles. Taddeo's characters are consistently deeply flawed, unabashedly honest, and remind us of the thoughts that torment people in the quiet moment of their lives that no one observes and even if they do see the actions, they aren't privy to the internal thoughts of the person, which might be inconsistent with the actions.

Taddeo is firmly in the group of writers who explore female desire, sex and its many repercussions and forms (violent, consensual, etc), and human relationships in their various forms. I understand why her writing may not be for some people because her characters are rarely conventionally relatable or likable, but I think some of the dismissiveness around her characters comes from a visceral reaction to the unconventional, the dark thoughts, and the violence that colors their life experience. I often take issue with reviews that comment on likability or relatability because it feels steeped in privilege, so I encourage readers to look beyond "likability" and dig deeper if they're interested in reading literary fiction. Sometimes I think the most compelling stories come from the characters who we don't understand or recognize.

I highly recommend it. I am a Taddeo stan. Her writing, vocabulary, and unique analogies always strike a nerve.