A review by divyasudhakar
The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity by Esther Perel

4.0

A very fascinating book on a very fascinating topic. The style of the book is very anecdota and I'd normally complain about not having enough data in a book of this genre but, hey, it works. It feels a little vicarious to be listening in on the intimate details of all these couples' relationships but reading/hearing about these lived stories has more of an impact than the sporadic studies on infidelity that Esther intersperses throughout the book.

The "takeaways" chapter at the end of the book feels a little tacked on. The real strength of the book is in simply illustrating that infidelity is a deeply complex issue and there's no one size fits all solution. In doing so, it fills an important niche.