OPEN: An Uncensored Memoir of Love, Liberation and Non-Monogamy

Description

***** 'A starkly naked story of a young woman's adventure of self-discovery, told with a striking lack of shame or apology. Highly recommended.' - Dr. Christopher Ryan, author of Sex At Dawn 'Smart, original, ambitious, and deeply absorbing memoir... She succeeds by bringing us deftly and irresistibly into her most intimate pains and joys, stretching our understanding of what commitment and autonomy mean.' - Dr. Wednesday Martin, author of Untrue & Primates of Park Avenue 'A perfect guide to our new world, the only problem I had picking up this book was putting it back down. Open compels, entertains, and may ultimately transform its readers.' - Dr. Terry Real, internationally recognised Family Therapist, author, and founder of the Relational Life Institute 'A sexy, messy, necessary look at polyamory' - Advocate When Rachel Krantz met and fell for Adam, he told her that he was looking for a committed partnership - just one that did not include exclusivity. Excited but a little trepidatious, Rachel set out to see whether love and a serious relationship can coexist beyond the familiar borders of monogamy. This is her open and honest true story. Now, in her debut memoir, she chronicles her dive into non-monogamy. With fly-on-the-wall detail and extraordinary perceptiveness, OPEN takes us inside Brooklyn parties and into the wider swinger and polyamory community. Armed with her journalistic instincts, detailed journal entries and interviews with experts and therapists, Krantz also breaks new ground in confronting the unique ways tacit abuse and gaslighting can manifest when things get so complex. Unflinching and brazen, OPEN asks what liberation really looks like, and whether the pleasure really is worth the pain.

Rachel Krantz is a journalist and one of the founding editors of Bustle, where she served as senior features editor for three years. Her work has been featured on NPR, The Guardian, Vox, Vice, and many other outlets. She's the recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the Investigative Reporters and Editors Radio Award, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and the Peabody Award for her work as an investigative reporter with YR Media.

[A] sincere and curious reckoning with the cultural messaging we all receive about gendered expectations and power dynamics in romantic and sexual relationships. * NPR * [Krantz's] breathtaking honesty in probing the serious downsides of polyamory while eschewing outmoded patriarchal codes of morality should allow for an overdue dialogue about what makes any relationship work. * Los Angeles Times * Generous and fearless... Open is an insightful and compassionate reminder that nonmonogamy-like any other intimate relationship-is only as viable as the humans involved make it * Bitch * All the makings of a juicy beach read-romance, sex, deception, and twists-except that it's [a]... real-life open relationship. * Vogue * In Open, Rachel Krantz invites us into her deepest privacy as she explores her body and soul, fears and ecstasies, desires and disappointments. This is a starkly naked story of a young woman's adventure of self-discovery, told with a striking lack of shame or apology. Highly recommended. * Dr. Christopher Ryan, author of Sex At Dawn *