After several years of research into the lives of four people with four very powerful sexual fetishes, Cobble Hill–based journalist and writer Daniel Bergner weaves sexual psychoanalysis with narrative in his book The Other Side of Desire.

As an investigative journalist, Bergner is no stranger exploring extreme territory. His past works include God of Rodeo and Soldiers of Light. In the former work, Bergner travels to Louisiana State´s Angola prison to report on its annual rodeo competition for convicts, and in Soldiers of Light, he details the lives of young soldiers in war-torn Sierra Leone.

Though the subject matter of sexual fetishes in The Other Side of Desire seems to be a departure from his previous works, the author asserts that these accounts of desire are in fact connected to the content of his other books.

"To my skewed perspective, it´s really not a departure at all. I look at those books as going to extremes in order to find something about all of us.This story, in a lot of ways, seems to be the same kind of looking at extreme and dramatic situations as a way to look at that central part in all of us—that erotic force in all of us," Bergner says.

The incarnations of these erotic forces are presented to the reader as four narratives: a salesman with a foot fetish, an East Village S&M master known as the Baroness, a stepfather who fantasizes about his stepdaughter and a divorcee who finds himself drawn to amputees.

When dealing with the first story about Jacob the salesman, Bergner is, from the very outset, careful to define notions of identity and selfhood with one´s sexuality.The author mentions that, according to experts, a person with a sexual fetish should not be referred to as a paraphiliac but rather, as one who has a paraphilia.The former implies that a paraphilia is in itself one´s identity, while the latter suggests that a sexual fetish may only be an affliction.

This message encapsulates the story behind Jacob, who undergoes feelings of shame and worthlessness because of this paraphilia. He struggles to keep his sexuality separate from other matters in his life.

In contrast, the Baroness is adept in keeping her "vanilla" sex life with her husband separate from her S&M activities. She does this with complete candor in both arenas.Take, for example, the co-ownership of sex slaves—the Baroness requires formal contracts and documentation for this matter. And as for the roasting of her subjects on a spit? This act is explicitly agreed upon. It´s all about open communication and mutual consent.

"With the Baroness, it´s not a world of domination and submission where you´d expect to learn lessons on communication and intimacy. Most people would expect exactly the opposite, but it was just that," the author notes.

And while Bergner does not prescribe any specific lessons or moral stances in the book, these larger frameworks of consent, identity, the physics of love and communication are present amidst these narratives of desire.

Just as central to the narratives are sexologists and their scientific research.These experts too have their own narratives layered throughout the chapters, and in effect, give a more organic quality to what would be intangible clumps of hard science otherwise.

"These psychologists and researchers are characters too.That they try to make discoveries in this realm is, in itself, a reflection on who they are as people. So as these main characters are involved in these intense journeys of lust and longing, the researchers are on an intense journey too. I wanted to deal with them as people," Bergner says.

While Bergner´s voice is practically absent in the book, his style is distinct. He assembles these seemingly disparate elements of desire—the characters, the paraphilias, the research and the scientists—in deliberate layers and braids. He is careful not to unpack too much of any element at once; the science is just as important as the individual experience.The lives of the psychologists are just as important as their research. And thus, to one side of desire, there is always the other.

By the end of the book—once the many often inexplicable narratives of desire unfold scene by scene, character by character—the reader is left with a sort of orgasmic and almost dreamy slew of images and (unanswerable) questions. Intermittently, the climax is reached, and humanity hits you in the face. You wonder for a moment, but what of my own sexuality? Am I normal? Is there even such a thing?

> The Other Side of Desire

By Daniel Bergner (Ecco), 224 pages