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2,810 ratings,
3.90
average rating, 266 reviews
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published
May 3rd 2001
by Virago Press Ltd
binding
Paperback, 224 pages
isbn
1860499260
(isbn13: 9781860499265)
description
"I say vagina because I want people to respond," says playwright Eve Ensler, creator of the hilarious, disturbing soliloquies in The Vagina...more
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avg 3.90
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in June, 2003
recommends it for:
Ideologues, those looking for a larf.
While I don't necessarily disagree with Ensler's thesis, or the help the project has provided to various women's charities, the whole thing, as a literary or dramatic work, is very problematic. Anything more honest than a fawning critique reveals how shallow the whole thing is; there's hypocrisy, repetitive symbolism and metaphors, a heaping of that empty sort of communal feminism that makes everyone feel good but doesn't actually change anything, and, upon close inspection, evidence of the kind...more
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It's disturbingly tempting to give this book a high rating just so everyone knows that I support feminism (which I do) and that I'm comfortable talking about sex (you mean coitus?). And I think Ensler depends on that tendency. Because here's the thing- VM's politics may be admirable, but as theatre it's really quite bad. Also, Ensler is a self-serving egomaniac. Think about it- she could fund an endowment for female playwrights and premiere a new feminist play every year, but instead she's s...more
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Read in December, 2004
It's revolutionary in its own way, as many women still have an inexplicable unease about addressing their nether-regions. But at the same time it comes off from time to time as hypocritical. One monologue for example, "The Coochie-Snorcher that Could". It condemns childhood sexual abuse in the same breath that it condones it. The example of "bad" given is a rape initiated by a man, the example of "good" is the coercion and statutory rape of the subject by a wome...more
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
feminists who don't feel like thinking too hard
There's a lot to critique about this - but I really don't feel like getting into it. I will say this, though: Eve Ensler doesn't know what a vagina is. If you're unclear: a vagina is "the passage leading from the uterus to the vulva in certain female mammals". Everyone in this play says "vagina" when they really usually mean "vulva". I'm not being oddly specific, they are completely different parts of the anatomy. COME ON. Vulva is a prettier word than vagina anyway...more
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I have such conflicting feelings about this book. On the one hand, I appreciate it for saying out loud some things that haven't been really accepted by society.
On the other hand, Eve Ensler is a self-promoting, self-satisfied twit.
On the other hand, Eve Ensler is a self-promoting, self-satisfied twit.
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I have big issues with this play. It essentializes what it means to be a woman, equating femininity with a having a vagina! Not to mention endorsing racial and cultural stereotypes.
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Read in January, 1999
recommended to JT by:
A friend of my mom's who sees it the way I do.recommends it for: Whoever wants to read it
So, I know, I am only giving this book 3 stars. Not that I didn't think that some, even most of it was really good, my dislike starts to form when they are performed. The monologues and stories in this book are well written, they are heartwarming, funny, devastating, real and emotional. Some rip your heart out, some make you laugh because we have all done what ever it was. The problem with performance of this piece is that when some people start to say these words for a crowd, it becomes more ab...more
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"the vagina monologues" began ambitiously, as the author, eve ensler, interviewed hundreds of women from all around the globe about their vaginas-- something most of us don't spend much time talking about!-- but i don't think even ensler could ever have predicted the impact it would have on the world. "the vagina monologues" turned into v-day, one of the most important worldwide events, consistently raising awareness and money to work to end violence against women.
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Read in January, 2003
I have serious epistemological concerns with this piece - but it certainly succeeds as a pro-vag manifesto. And, come on, who doesn't want to read some old lady's answer to the question "if your vagina got dressed, what would it wear?"
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Read in January, 1995
"I did not see my vagina as my primary resource, a place of sustenance, humor and creativity."
You know, I don't see it that way, either. I thought the source of all that was my brain. How could I have been so stupid??
I must not have been abused enough as a girl, because I always feel like vagina-centric art projects like this reduce me to a piece of anatomy just as much as does the alleged male fantasy of big boobs and miles of leg.
Which is not to say th...more
You know, I don't see it that way, either. I thought the source of all that was my brain. How could I have been so stupid??
I must not have been abused enough as a girl, because I always feel like vagina-centric art projects like this reduce me to a piece of anatomy just as much as does the alleged male fantasy of big boobs and miles of leg.
Which is not to say th...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
women everywhere
I have read this before, but I listened to it on audio today and the live version is definitely the best. At times hilarious, brutal, disconcerting, and poignant - The Vagina Monologues is the result of interviews with over 200 women. If the idea of a woman's sexuality makes you uncomfortable, then you definitely need to challenge yourself and come to terms with the vagina. It's not going to disappear just because we are afraid to talk about it.
Here in the United States, a woman...more
Here in the United States, a woman...more
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If you have a vagina, you need to read this or see it performed. (If even you don't, it may help you better understand those who do!)
I performed in this most of the years I was in college as part of the national V-day campaign, and the experiences I gained there with stay with me forever. Some of the monologues are funny, some are heart-wrenching. The play is an emotional roller coaster if you let yourself get swept away in it. I only wish this would include some of the optional monolo...more
I performed in this most of the years I was in college as part of the national V-day campaign, and the experiences I gained there with stay with me forever. Some of the monologues are funny, some are heart-wrenching. The play is an emotional roller coaster if you let yourself get swept away in it. I only wish this would include some of the optional monolo...more
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Read in April, 2009
I felt strangely empowered after reading this. Hoorah for vaginas!
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Read in January, 2001
S'okay. Too essentialist for me, but still glad that it exists. The parts where women address negative feelings and embarassment about their vagina/it's functions were definitely worth reading. In some ways its like a dumb girl magazine. You mock the readers who write in to the advice/body questions column for asking stupid questions ("Can I get pregnant from KISSING!? - Terrified and Ignorant in Tennessee) and laugh at the embarassing true life stories at the back of the issue (so frequent...more
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Read in February, 2008
Interesting, although I saw the play first and it's the exact same text. The women's voices come through much better in the book, and of course this is a valuable feminist text because it gives the reader access to a wide array of women's experiences with sexuality. Some of it was downright silly though ("what would your vagina wear?" please.) and after awhile I got tired of reading the word vagina all the time.
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Read in April, 2008
This book makes me proud to be a woman.
In her introduction, Eve Ensler talks about the end of violence against women--that what has been done for the last 10 years via grassroots movement of V-Day is on rescue rather than transformation.
"It is the culture that has to change--the beliefs, the underlying story and behavior of the culture." This is because, in Ensler's words, "We have not penetrated the mindset that, somewhere in every single culture, gives p...more
In her introduction, Eve Ensler talks about the end of violence against women--that what has been done for the last 10 years via grassroots movement of V-Day is on rescue rather than transformation.
"It is the culture that has to change--the beliefs, the underlying story and behavior of the culture." This is because, in Ensler's words, "We have not penetrated the mindset that, somewhere in every single culture, gives p...more
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recommends it for:
People who giggle at the word vagina
Meh. What can I say? I found the book quite patronising. It seemed intent on making women believe that their vagina is the most important part of them, if not the only part. It was quite boring too. Perhaps I'm not closed minded or sheltered enough to enjoy it. If you feel uneasy and up tight about your vagina and what it represent, or about being a woman or anything like that, then maybe you will enjoy it. For someone who doesn't feel repressed or prudish, it seems pretty much a waste of...more
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Throughout reading this, I was bothered repeatedly by one major error: she frequently uses vagina when she means VULVA! It makes me cringe that a play dedicated to freeing women from shame about this most intimate of body parts can't even name it correctly.
I also didn't really connect with the monologues and no doubt that's because they were meant to be seen performed, not read. I would probably only buy this if I had already seen and enjoyed a performance.
So why 3 stars ...more
I also didn't really connect with the monologues and no doubt that's because they were meant to be seen performed, not read. I would probably only buy this if I had already seen and enjoyed a performance.
So why 3 stars ...more
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Read in April, 2009
This collection of monologues, written as a response to hundreds of interviews with women of all ages and sexual orientations, has been performed locally a couple times, but I was too nervous to go see it. It's not a play, exactly, in that there is no arc of action, no clear beginning middle or end. But it is dramatic, at turns funny, horrifying, sad, and life affirming. It would, I imagine, elicit a response; nobody would fall asleep. The monologues are about what the title says - the title ...more
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Read in November, 2002
i think for her target audience (middle america's sorority girls) they're revolutionary. for me personally, i felt like they essentialized women to their genitalia and were problematic in that sense. i've also had to sit through the play 5+ times, so perhaps i'm just burnt out on cunt-love
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quotes from this book
"...to speak of them out loud, to speak of their hunger and pain and loneliness and humour, to make them visible so that can not be ravaged in the dark without great consequence."
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