Review: The Wild Oats Project: One Woman's Midlife Quest for Passion at Any Cost by Robin Rinaldi

The Wild Oats Project: One Woman's Midlife Quest for Passion at Any Cost by Robin Rinaldi

Publishing Date: March 17, 2015
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Pages: 287 pages
Personal Memoir

The Premise: This story is a personal memoir of Robin Rinaldi, a magazine journalist. She was married to Scott, for over eighteen years. Scott has always been hesitant with the idea of having children but Robin was hoping that he would warm up to the idea eventually. One day, when Scott announces that he is going to get a vasectomy, something in Robin snaps. Not wanting to go to her grave with only a few lovers and no children, she decides on a new project - The Wild Oats project. She would have an open-marriage with Scott, where she would remain monogamous during the weekends but during the week, she would live alone in an apartment and seduce the men (and women) that she wanted to. Robin was looking for "passion" and she decides that in order to find this, she would have to go outside her marriage. The reader follows Robin along this journey as she explores new experiences. Robin says early on in her text that: "This chronicle of that journey can be read as either a manifesto of freedom or a cautionary tale. For me, it's a little of both. I'll  try to tell it as straight as I can and let you decide for yourself" (7).

My overall thoughts and review: When I was at the RHC Blogger preview and the gals were pitching this book to me, I knew instantly that I was going to add it to my must-read list. This book sounded just so intriguing. Immediately going into the text with the premise, I had this thought in the back of my head that there was not a way that this text was going to end on a happy note, but as I closed the book, I realized that it wasn't the point of the text. What Robin does in the 287 pages is recount a fragment of her life and she is incredibly brave in doing so. Robin does not hold back and she goes into a lot of detail of her experiences. It was never ~raw~ and ~gritty~ which can happen with books that describe sexual encounters, but what Robin does is write in such a way that is one: tastefully done and two: allows the reader to experience her experiences as well. I empathized a lot with Robin in her decision for going on this journey and in the end, I was not disappointed with the outcome, but rather, I was happy for Robin as if I was just having a coffee date with her, hearing her recount this story. My apologies for spoilers, but in the end, Robin ends up with one of the men she meets during this project and I learned that her ex-husband, Scott, actually encouraged her to write this which is incredibly humbling of him and quite what I expected after having read about him from Robin's point of view.

Although, I am only twenty-four, Robin gave me a lot to think about and I am glad to have read this book. She encourages a lot of self-reflection with this text and in thinking about yourself and your relationships separately - where you think about who you are as you, and not so much, who you are in a relationship. I think that this book should be on everyone's to-read list, regardless of what age you are, because what Robin ultimately does with this text is encourage the reader to embrace all experiences. Robin encourages you to step out of your comfort zone, be brave and sometimes take risks when things are not simply feeling right and honestly, I think that is an incredibly powerful message that she transcends in her book. If you haven't already added this book to your wishlist or to-read list, now is the time. You will not regret it.

My rating of the book: ✮✮✮✮✮ (5/5 stars) 

Now available for purchase at:
Chapters/Indigo and Book Depository (Free International Shipping)

You can follow Robin on twitter @Robin_Rinaldi and read more about her over on her website here! 

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by Random House Canada for consideration/review. All opinions are my own.