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A review by sharada_mohan
What Women Want: Conversations on Desire, Power, Love and Growth by Maxine Mei-Fung Chung
5.0
Rating - 4.5 stars rounded off to 5
Thanks Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone, Hutchinson Heinemann
for this non-fiction ARC!
In What Women Want, the author – Maxine, a well-known psychoanalytic psychotherapist shares her journey of therapy with several women, enlightening us with her findings, experience and anecdotes based on their true life events. Her objective is to explore and understand their deepest desires, while she helps them to heal and find their identities.
Maxine not only introduces us to seven women from various walks of life – each with their own emotional battles, past wounds and life challenges, but also offers insights to her own involvement in their therapeutic interactions.
She explains how as a therapist, she deeply get affected by the feelings of her patients, how she works on slowly building trust, confidence and how with time, this connection and collaboration between them blossoms, kindling compassion, acceptance, growth and consideration that they are only human.
The story of every woman we meet here is extraordinary and really shook me to the core. I was in awe of Maxine’s systematic yet realistic approach. Together, they dissect their pasts, examine the current, process grief, trauma and ruminate about the future.
Providing the most delicate of hand-holding that prioritizes their desires, Maxine nudges them gently to process emotions, encourages them to conquer their fears and embrace change, that finally promotes their individual growth and improves relationships .
I realized what it takes for a therapist to be successful – an abundance of patience, unimaginable adaptability and humongous amounts of empathy. While tending to a patient’s emotional well-being, I also discovered that a therapist undergoes a transformation of his/her own!
The author’s writing is incredibly powerful and resonating. I loved how she ended the book with a personal touch - as recollects her own desires as a little girl, as she stood up to the challenge herself as an immigrant, an outsider - achieving her ambitions & pursuing her passion.
She invites us women to embrace our desires, invokes kindness and sympathy towards ourselves, questions what we truly want from life, how we can claim it, while also inspiring us to uplift ourselves by overcoming any societal/familial barriers.
A poignant & thought-provoking read that I urge everyone to read!
Thanks Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone, Hutchinson Heinemann
for this non-fiction ARC!
In What Women Want, the author – Maxine, a well-known psychoanalytic psychotherapist shares her journey of therapy with several women, enlightening us with her findings, experience and anecdotes based on their true life events. Her objective is to explore and understand their deepest desires, while she helps them to heal and find their identities.
Maxine not only introduces us to seven women from various walks of life – each with their own emotional battles, past wounds and life challenges, but also offers insights to her own involvement in their therapeutic interactions.
She explains how as a therapist, she deeply get affected by the feelings of her patients, how she works on slowly building trust, confidence and how with time, this connection and collaboration between them blossoms, kindling compassion, acceptance, growth and consideration that they are only human.
The story of every woman we meet here is extraordinary and really shook me to the core. I was in awe of Maxine’s systematic yet realistic approach. Together, they dissect their pasts, examine the current, process grief, trauma and ruminate about the future.
Providing the most delicate of hand-holding that prioritizes their desires, Maxine nudges them gently to process emotions, encourages them to conquer their fears and embrace change, that finally promotes their individual growth and improves relationships .
I realized what it takes for a therapist to be successful – an abundance of patience, unimaginable adaptability and humongous amounts of empathy. While tending to a patient’s emotional well-being, I also discovered that a therapist undergoes a transformation of his/her own!
The author’s writing is incredibly powerful and resonating. I loved how she ended the book with a personal touch - as recollects her own desires as a little girl, as she stood up to the challenge herself as an immigrant, an outsider - achieving her ambitions & pursuing her passion.
She invites us women to embrace our desires, invokes kindness and sympathy towards ourselves, questions what we truly want from life, how we can claim it, while also inspiring us to uplift ourselves by overcoming any societal/familial barriers.
A poignant & thought-provoking read that I urge everyone to read!