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miss_tricia's review
3.0
I've been having a hard time finishing books without a cohesive plot recently, so it says something about the quality of this collection that I actually made it through to the end before the book was even due back at the library.
I liked the idea of thinking through "bad" as a feminist issue, and who gets to decide if a particular behavior or a person herself qualify as bad or not. I liked the explorations of the opposite of bad, too. There was, unsurprisingly I suppose, a fair amount of intentional titillation, but there were many more essays that were thought provoking or profoundly interesting.
Even the piece on penises, which a few reviews have dismissed as simple vulgarity dressed up in graduate school vocabulary, was interesting enough for me to read a paragraph out loud to my long-suffering husband, who has no interest in feminism, bad girls, or descriptions of penises.
I liked the idea of thinking through "bad" as a feminist issue, and who gets to decide if a particular behavior or a person herself qualify as bad or not. I liked the explorations of the opposite of bad, too. There was, unsurprisingly I suppose, a fair amount of intentional titillation, but there were many more essays that were thought provoking or profoundly interesting.
Even the piece on penises, which a few reviews have dismissed as simple vulgarity dressed up in graduate school vocabulary, was interesting enough for me to read a paragraph out loud to my long-suffering husband, who has no interest in feminism, bad girls, or descriptions of penises.
lanner's review
4.0
My favorite stories: Lying, Bad Dancer, The Thrill of a Well Placed 'Fuck', Laura the Pest, Skipping Christmas, Author Questionnaire, The Thrill of the Spill, Turn It UP!
These are the best written, imo, but they ALL felt so cathartic to read. I like being bad!!!!! And...you'd never know it on the outside.
These are the best written, imo, but they ALL felt so cathartic to read. I like being bad!!!!! And...you'd never know it on the outside.
canadianbookworm's review
4.0
This is a wonderful collection of essays by a varied bunch of writers. Each explores the "bad girl" in herself and the behaviours that brought into her life. We all have a bit of bad girl in us and I found I could relate to many of the experiences. Some talked about bad girl episodes in the past and how they changed now that they are older, and I can relate to that too. My bad girl impulses are less radical than when I was younger too. There is also discussion around the good girl versus bad girl, and that was interesting. I had a reputation as a good girl, and sometimes I acted out the bad girl simply to say I wasn't a goody two-shoes. Some used the good girl as a disguise for bad behaviour. The collection really gets you thinking and a book club guide is included her to assist in discussion. I think this would be a great book club choice as all women should be able to relate to something by one of the writers.
aoutrance's review
3.0
3.5 stars.
This collection plays with and stretches the boundaries of what we think of as "bad". As Joyce Maynard says in her story A Good Girl Goes Bad: "And what is a bad girl, really, but a girl who doesn't always do the things people tell her she's supposed to? Sometimes, it's true, a bad girl may be someone who cheats or steals or hurts people or lies. And sometimes a bad girl is just someone who tells the truth."
Interesting as the journey was, I couldn't help but notice that it was an overwhelmingly white middle-class meander through childhood memories, traumas and ho stories. A more diverse selection of authors would have significantly broadened the concept they were tackling, making Maynard's quote even more poignant.
This collection plays with and stretches the boundaries of what we think of as "bad". As Joyce Maynard says in her story A Good Girl Goes Bad: "And what is a bad girl, really, but a girl who doesn't always do the things people tell her she's supposed to? Sometimes, it's true, a bad girl may be someone who cheats or steals or hurts people or lies. And sometimes a bad girl is just someone who tells the truth."
Interesting as the journey was, I couldn't help but notice that it was an overwhelmingly white middle-class meander through childhood memories, traumas and ho stories. A more diverse selection of authors would have significantly broadened the concept they were tackling, making Maynard's quote even more poignant.
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