Ten Women

An eye opening account of a variety of women's lives and how they cope with difficult times. A well worth read.

It was easy to listen too, each of the 10 women had interesting stories to tell. However I did not think neither of them had closer and I didn’t quite get how listening to each other help them in the end.

Natasha the psychologist with a mansion full of female patients, has what I find a very negative view of being a woman, focusing on self-hatred, superficiality, and sacrifice. This book begins and ends with her story, and in between are those of nine other very distinct women of varying ages and backgrounds who have little to do with one another. It wasn't until the end that I realized or remembered that these nine are patients of Natasha's, so this read less like a cohesive novel and more like a series of disjointed individual shorts about women and what drives them to therapy: insecurity, sexual and emotional abuse, desire, trauma, marital discord, narcissism, poverty, aging, loneliness, religion, cynicism, guilt etc.

A well written book which tells the story of different women's lives. This is the first book by a Chilean author that I`'ve read & I really enjoyed it. It proves that wherever the location women still want the same things & have the same issues. Fascinating!!

All ten characters have an interesting story; it's very well written and interesting but I personally found the end a bit disappointing as I was expecting a connection between them; a great book nonetheless.

A beautiful book and the best translated text I have ever read - I wondered once or twice if it had been written in English in the first place.

Written from the perspective of 10 women makes it an interesting idea but for me the result was 10 short stories lacking cohesion. I wasn't gripped and found the themes repetitive. What would have been more interesting was a narrative that followed the women through their group sessions to get a feel for how their therapy worked. Writing from the view point of 10 different characters is in any case a real challenge if the reader is to be engaged enough to feel the separate lives being describe and for me it didn't achieve this.

Natasha has brought nine women together to meet each other. When the book opens, they are arriving at the institute where Natasha works in a suburb of Santiago. She watches the women arriving and watches the workmen in the garden who are in turn watching the women. We’re introduced initially to the diversity of Natasha’s visitors - young, old, tall, short, well-dressed and apparently privileged and poor country women are all delivered in the minivan that’s brought them to this place. In each chapter one woman tells about her life, how she came to have problems and how she ended up with Natasha. Some of the women are rich and their problems can seem a little superficial. Others are dirt-poor and only able to attend thanks to the generosity of their therapist and the subsidies of their well-to-do ‘sisters’. What makes the book particularly interesting - well to me, at least - is the setting in Chile and the parts that allude to the beauty and fragility of this country about which I know I know too little. I enjoyed the passages about the harshness of life under political dictatorship, and I found a lot to interest me in the diversity of the experiences related. I have a Facebook friend in Chile through whom I know more than I used to about the harsh realities of life in Chile, but this book paints a vivid picture of just how hard a place it is and has long been for women in particular. Some of the women’s problems are problems shared with others - female or male, it probably would make no difference - all over the world, whilst others are uniquely Chilean. I am blessed with not having ever had mental health issues but I can recognise many of the themes as ones common to people I know or of whom I know. As a potpourri of women’s disappointment and despair, it’s an oddly beautiful and poignant collection of stories. If I have one criticism, it’s a small one, and that’s that sometimes there doesn’t seem to be enough change of ‘voice’ between the stories. Ten women’s stories all told as if by one accent, one vocabulary and one pair of eyes. Whether that’s the original writing or the work of the translator, I can’t be sure, but it’s noticeable. And why shouldn’t the poor girls tell their stories in pretty words? Perhaps that’s the gift the author gives them This is a hard book to read because of the despair it recounts, but also a beautiful one. If you have issues yourself, take care it doesn’t set you thinking too deeply of other people’s troubles.

I loved it as I do all her books. I have read them all !! I will be waiting for more I hope in the near future.

This book is about women & for women. Each of the 10 women have known tragedy in their lives & survived like flawed diamonds, but like diamonds, they are strong, each of them in different ways, just like all women. A totally absorbing read.

It’s a beautifully written book which brings the idea that depression, sadness, sorrow has no measurement and can hit the rich and poor equally!

as a woman, it’s easy to identify with each protagonist and appreciate their story and way of telling it. the red line of the plot feels a bit constructed, but nevermind. i enjoyed this book.

Ten Women uncovers universal emotions as ten women account their lives aloud to one another during a retreat suggested by their psychiatrist. Regardless of the Chilean setting, I am confident women of all ages and backgrounds will relate to the deep truths revealed by these strong characters. There are many moments of enlightenment carefully woven into stories that largely reflect strife. Some of these glimmering revelations are delightful and others reflect timeless truths and hardships, many in regard to gender roles and finances. I did not highlight as much as I should have, but one sentence I liked is, “If God created a bit of flexibility in the world, it was women who stockpiled it.” My only slight criticism is I felt the voices of the characters were all too similar. I think the book could be stronger if each character spoke her own way so the reader could better differentiate whose story they’re reading, especially if you happen to put the book down for a few days. All of the stories are recited very eloquently and confidently. After about three characters it can be hard to remember who is speaking. This is likely due to the book being translated to English. I also found the stories at the beginning and at the end to be more engaging than those of the middle. Overall, I was very pleased with this read. I stopped at several powerful passages that impressed me with their unique position and precise wording. I would highly recommend it.