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tc16's review
3.0
Some essays were better than other, and sometimes you wanted to shake the author, but it was refreshing to read such honest essays. The last essay was particularly beautiful.
kliz83's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this enough to send it to my sister. The sequel, edited by the author's husband, left something to be desired.
amandalb's review
5.0
I loved this book. Full of short stories from different women. Some of them hit really close to home.
lindsaysymes's review
4.0
This book made me feel all of the emotions.
I definitely recommend this to any woman who has felt like they have had a frustrating time with men in any way. There are no same sex couple stories, just a heads up.
I definitely recommend this to any woman who has felt like they have had a frustrating time with men in any way. There are no same sex couple stories, just a heads up.
exceptionalcephalopod's review
2.0
My biggest problem with this collection was that it seemed to me that I was reading the same story over and over again. I'd say about 90% of the contributors are upper-middle class, middle aged white women who are writers, live in New York City and do yoga. It also seemed to me that none of them really offered any advice or in some cases, a coherent story line. I got the feeling that a lot of them contributed just to get something off of their chests, no necessarily to offer help to any other women. I think I just expected too much from the book -- maybe that's all it was ever meant to be. There were some gems in here - "The Fat Lady Sings" and "The Middle Way", to name a few - which is why it grudingly gets 2 stars. But for the most part, I didn't come away with a whole lot from this collection.
ambereatsbooks's review
3.0
While I enjoyed a few of these essays, I disliked most of them. I couldn't relate to them at all. I felt a few had nothing to do with what the book was suppose to be about.
hannahebartholomew's review
3.0
The Bitch in the House is a compilation of essays covering the topic of female and maternal rage. In stark contrast with Virginia Woolf’s “Angel in the House”, the Bitch is so busy, overwhelmed, and overworked, that she can’t find time to enjoy her own life and occasionally wonders why she ever wanted children in the first place. The book is divided in to four sections and subcategories- Me, Myself, and I (young women contemplating the lives ahead of them), For Better and Worse (marriage and the many meanings women and society associate with marriage), Mommy Maddest (the contemporary struggle to balance children and a career), and finally, Look at Me Now (words of wisdom from older women). While each section was amusing, I found the most substance in the last section. Some of the younger writers struck me as whiny, entitled, and self absorbed. Look at Me Now is full of gratitude, wisdom, and the kind of self awareness that one can only possess after fifty years or sixty years of life. One piece that I enjoyed was about striving to find balance during chaos. I’m not completely sure how old Gilchrist was when she wrote this essay, but she most certainly came of age long before most of the authors in the previous sections. Here is her closing line and the most valuable piece of advice- “In the end happiness is always a balance. I hope the young women of our fortunate world find ways to balance their young lives. I hope they learn to rejoice and wait.”
mkat303's review
3.0
Ok, so I read this book several years ago and don't remember being that impressed. So why am I reading it again? Well, I saw it on the library shelf and thought I'd give it a second chance, as I'm in need of some light reading. So far it's not bad on the second go.
Update: ok, I enjoyed it much more the second time. Liked a lot of the essays, and need to write down some of the authors' names to look for other stuff they've written. Sorry can't be more detailed now.
Update: ok, I enjoyed it much more the second time. Liked a lot of the essays, and need to write down some of the authors' names to look for other stuff they've written. Sorry can't be more detailed now.
jeffreyp's review
3.0
Like many anthologies, this one is hit and miss so far. There is enough here to recommend, but I'd definitely by used or borrow it and then go on to buy stuff from the authors one enjoys...
skyturtles's review
3.0
This is mainly white liberal feminism. Though there are many stories, there isn't a lot of diversity in the voices, and there isn't a single queer story. Good idea that could have been executed better.