A review by sendnewts
Bitch Doctrine: Essays for Dissenting Adults by Laurie Penny

4.0

Bitch Doctrine is a collection of essays by feminist, queer, journalist Laurie Penny. The book is split into sections, covering topics such as love, resistance, gender, violence, and agency. It's heavily feminist and fiercely anti-capitalist. Their witty writing style had me laughing out loud at times and silently screaming yaaaaas in the head so many times. I don't think I disagreed with any of Laurie's opinions and I often felt they were articulating my own views in ways I never could myself - it was very validating. It was often very emotional and heavy going, exploring the ways in which the patriarchy and capitalism are damaging our lives, but with enough comic relief and hopefulness to make it readable rather than wholly depressing. There was definitely a big theme of solidarity and resistance, which I find very inspiring. Overall, an excellent read, and I would highly recommend. The only slight critism I have is that it didn't really feel like I was reading a book. Because it is a collection of essays, and they were written as such, it often feels a bit eclectic and doesn't seem to flow right. There's a lot of repetition and it often feels strongly like deja vu. It took me about a month and a half to read (it's around 400 pages) so it's definitely slowed my reading pace, just because it's quite heavy, but I don't regret picking this one up at all.