Synopses & Reviews
Virginia Woolf introduced us to the Angel in the House , now prepare to meet... The Bitch In the House.
Women today have more choices than at any time in history, yet many smart, ambitious, contemporary women are finding themselves angry, dissatisfied, stressed out. Why are they dissatisfied? And what do they really want? These questions form the premise of this passionate, provocative, funny, searingly honest collection of original essays in which twenty-six women writers ranging in age from twenty-four to sixty-five, single and childless or married with children or four times divorced invite readers into their lives, minds, and bedrooms to talk about the choices they ve made, what s working, and what s not.
With wit and humor, in prose as poetic and powerful as it is blunt and dead-on, these intriguing women offer details of their lives that they ve never publicly revealed before, candidly sounding off on:
The difficult decisions and compromises of living with lovers, marrying, staying single and having children
The perpetual tug of war between love and work, family and career
The struggle to simultaneously care for ailing parents and a young family
The myth of co-parenting
Dealing with helpless mates and needy toddlers
The constrictions of traditional women s roles as well as the cliches of feminism
Anger at laid-back live-in lovers content to live off a hardworking woman s checkbook
Anger at being criticized for one s weight
Anger directed at their mothers, right and wrong
And well more anger...
This book was born out of anger, begins Cathi Hanauer, but the end result is an intimate sharing of experience that will move, amuse, and enlighten. The Bitch in the House is a perfect companion for your students as they plot a course through the many voices of modern feminism. This is the sound of the collective voice of successful women today-in all their anger, grace, and glory.
From The Bitch In the House:
I believed myself to be a feminist, and I vowed never to fall into the same trap of domestic boredom and servitude that I saw my mother as being fully entrenched in; never to settle for a life that was, as I saw it, lacking independence, authority, and respect. E.S. Maduro, page 5
Here are a few things people have said about me at the office: You re unflappable. Are you ever in a bad mood? Here are things people okay, the members of my family have said about me at home: Mommy is always grumpy. Why are you so tense? You re too mean to live in this house and I want you to go back to work for the rest of your life! Kristin van Ogtrop, page 161
I didn t want to be a bad mother I wanted to be my mother-safe, protective, rational, calm-without giving up all my anger, because my anger fueled me. Elissa Schappell, page 195
Review
"The Bitch in the House is...smart, funny, wise, honest, and very probably...the story of your life." Cynthia Kaplan, author of Why I'm Like This
Review
"I devoured these essays, and took great guilty pleasure in trespassing into these private lives." Elinor Lipman, author of The Dearly Departed and The Inn at Lake Devine
Review
"Others may find it comforting to know that even smart, articulate, successful women can have deeply unsettled inner lives." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Despite the flippant title, the 26 very good writers gathered here offer thoughtful personal accounts that address important questions." Library Journal
Review
"Thoughtfully introspective, honorably truthful, and candidly self-revelatory essays that feel less like contemporary feminist rhetoric and more like late-night, soul-searching conversations between best friends." Booklist
Review
"Bitch's essayists include a heavy sampling of women from the top echelons of publishing: the executive editors of both Elle and Glamour contributed, as did highly placed staffers at Random House, W. W. Norton, The New York Times, and Vanity Fair. This is one reason the writing is so consistently revealing and fine...." Sandra Tsing Loh, The Atlantic Monthly (read the entire Atlantic Monthly review)
Synopsis
Virginia Woolf introduced us to the Angel in the House, now prepare to meet...
The Bitch In the House.
Women today have more choices than at any time in history, yet many smart, ambitious, contemporary women are finding themselves angry, dissatisfied, stressed out. Why are they dissatisfied? And what do they really want? These questions form the premise of this passionate, provocative, funny, searingly honest collection of original essays in which twenty-six women writers ranging in age from twenty-four to sixty-five, single and childless or married with children or four times divorced invite readers into their lives, minds, and bedrooms to talk about the choices they've made, what's working, and what's not.
With wit and humor, in prose as poetic and powerful as it is blunt and dead-on, these intriguing women offer details of their lives that they've never publicly revealed before, candidly sounding off on:
- The difficult decisions and compromises of living with lovers, marrying, staying single and having children
- The perpetual tug of war between love and work, family and career
- The struggle to simultaneously care for ailing parents and a young family
- The myth of co-parenting
- Dealing with helpless mates and needy toddlers
- The constrictions of traditional women's roles as well as the cliches of feminism
- Anger at laid-back live-in lovers content to live off a hardworking woman's checkbook
- Anger at being criticized for one's weight
- Anger directed at their mothers, right and wrong
- And well more anger...
"This book was born out of anger," begins Cathi Hanauer, but the end result is an intimate sharing of experience that will move, amuse, and enlighten. The Bitch in the House is a perfect companion for your students as they plot a course through the many voices of modern feminism. This is the sound of the collective voice of successful women today in all their anger, grace, and glory.
Synopsis
Virginia Woolf introduced us to the Angel in the House, now prepare to meet...
The Bitch In the House.
Women today have more choices than at any time in history, yet many smart, ambitious, contemporary women are finding themselves angry, dissatisfied, stressed out. Why are they dissatisfied? And what do they really want? These questions form the premise of this passionate, provocative, funny, searingly honest collection of original essays in which twenty-six women writersranging in age from twenty-four to sixty-five, single and childless or married with children or four times divorcedinvite readers into their lives, minds, and bedrooms to talk about the choices theyve made, whats working, and whats not.
With wit and humor, in prose as poetic and powerful as it is blunt and dead-on, these intriguing women offer details of their lives that theyve never publicly revealed before, candidly sounding off on:
The difficult decisions and compromises of living with lovers, marrying, staying single and having children
The perpetual tug of war between love and work, family and career
The struggle to simultaneously care for ailing parents and a young family
The myth of co-parenting
Dealing with helpless mates and needy toddlers
The constrictions of traditional womens roles as well as the cliches of feminism
Anger at laid-back live-in lovers content to live off a hardworking womans checkbook
Anger at being criticized for ones weight
Anger directed at their mothers, right and wrong
Andwellmore anger...
This book was born out of anger, begins Cathi Hanauer, but the end result is an intimate sharing of experience that will move, amuse, and enlighten. The Bitch in the House is a perfect companion for your students as they plot a course through the many voices of modern feminism. This is the sound of the collective voice of successful women today-in all their anger, grace, and glory.
From The Bitch In the House:
I believed myself to be a feminist, and I vowed never to fall into the same trap of domestic boredom and servitude that I saw my mother as being fully entrenched in; never to settle for a life that was, as I saw it, lacking independence, authority, and respect. E.S. Maduro, page 5
Here are a few things people have said about me at the office: Youre unflappable. Are you ever in a bad mood? Here are things peopleokay, the members of my familyhave said about me at home: Mommy is always grumpy. Why are you so tense? Youre too mean to live in this house and I want you to go back to work for the rest of your life! Kristin van Ogtrop, page 161
I didnt want to be a bad mother I wanted to be my mother-safe, protective, rational, calm-without giving up all my anger, because my anger fueled me. Elissa Schappell, page 195
Synopsis
Sh*tty Mom is the ultimate parenting guide, written by four moms who have seen it all. As hilarious as it is universal, each chapter presents a common parenting scenario with advice on how to get through it in the easiest and most efficient way possible. With chapters such as “How to Sleep Until 9 A.M. Every Weekend” and “When Seeing an Infant Triggers a Mental Illness That Makes You Want to Have Another Baby,” as well as a Sh*tty Mom quiz, this is a must-have, laugh-out-loud funny book for the sh*tty parent in all of us.
Praise for Sh*tty Mom:
“A totally hilarious and uncensored look at some of the impossible situations we mothers find ourselves in.” —TheBump.com
“Smartly, brashly, nearly criminally funny. It also—no small thing—carries a powerful message to all parents, but especially moms, that distilled to its essence is this: chill.” —Time.com
“As the attachment parenting craze has hit a zenith in American culture, four very funny moms—comedy writers, TV producers, and a novelist—blast open a long-locked safe filled with frustrations faced by all modern mothers, with sympathetic and sharp humor. . . . The authors’ unfiltered candor is a welcome reminder for readers that they're not alone. . . .” —Publishers Weekly starred review
“Both funny and practical.” —Brooklyn Based.net
"Hilariously entertaining. A must-read survivor's guide for every mother!"
--Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every Mother Counts
“Finally, Sh*tty Mom does for motherhood what Chelsea Handler does for female scatology. It’s a long overdue little burst of honesty from the supposed minority of mothers who are, in fact, not that maternal. . . . After a generation of supermoms one-upping each other in dead earnest on playgrounds and schoolyards, the emerging mass appeal of Sh*tty Mom is a welcome relief.” —The New York Observer
"Witty, wise, and wicked! With tongue planted firmly in cheek, these savvy moms dispense some much needed comic relief about raising kids in our crazy culture."?
--Dr. Harvey Karp, bestselling author of The Happiest Baby on the Block
“The most inappropriate parenting book I've ever read. Loved it. The perfect book for any mother who wants to laugh instead of cry at those cringe-worthy moments and the universal indignities we experience on a daily basis.”
--Jessica Seinfeld, bestselling cookbook author and founder of Baby Buggy
“An antidote to the hostage situation that is modern parenting…subversive, delicious, and spit-out-your-latte funny.”
--Pamela Druckerman, bestselling author of Bringing Up Bebe
About the Author
Cathi Hanauer, the author of the novel My Sister's Bones, has written articles, essays, reviews, and fiction for Elle, Mirabella, Self, Glamour, Mademoiselle, and many other magazines. She has been the monthly books columnist for both Glamour and Mademoiselle, and was the relationship-advice columnist for Seventeen for seven years. She lives in western Massachusetts with her husband, writer Daniel Jones, and their daughter and son.