The Barnes & Noble Review
Bitch, Elizabeth Wurtzel's second book, was written over the course of a year in which she lived in fou... read full description
Bitch, Elizabeth Wurtzel's second book, was written over the course of a year in which she lived in fou... read full description
reviews
Dec 16, 2009
Beth
rated it: 
Despite this book's many shortcomings, I loved it. Wurtzel is a complete narcissist, and she wrote this book while addicted to Ritalin, and it shows in the book's wild, rambling nature. But, despite the disorganization, I enjoyed her tribute to difficult women who refused to be selfless and submissive, many of whom I really admire (Madonna and Anne Sexton in particular). Granted, many of her subjects weren't exactly good role models, but you have to agree that society punishes women with these q
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Sep 11, 2008
Anita
rated it: 
I finished reading Bitch last night, and it was a total letdown. Which is such a shame because it had such great potential and started out so strong. I thought it was going to be a book about how women throughout history have been mislabeled as "bitches"- women like Joan of Arc, Marie Antoinette, Martha Stewart, the like- and how they were quickly branded as "bitches" when they were just trying to live their lives and do their thing- like men do, only women are identified as
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(10 people liked it)
Nov 23, 2008
Lani
rated it: 
Good sweet Jesus this book is... strange. I have read this at least once before and really enjoyed it. Since then I have read more by Wurtzel - specifically More, Now, Again, which basically outlines her breakdown while writing this book.
Reading this for the second (possibly third) time was suddenly eye-opening. The writing is frequently rambling, the references are repetitive, and the arguments are totally incoherent. I'm not entirely sure what ties the book together other than Wurt More...
Reading this for the second (possibly third) time was suddenly eye-opening. The writing is frequently rambling, the references are repetitive, and the arguments are totally incoherent. I'm not entirely sure what ties the book together other than Wurt More...
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Feb 12, 2009
Satia
rated it: 
I think the audience for this book is either very narrow or I am either not old or young enough to appreciate it. Here is my full review:
http://satia.blogspot.com/2009/02/bitch-...
http://satia.blogspot.com/2009/02/bitch-...
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Dec 03, 2011
Perhaps the less-than-rapturous reception of BITCH had to do with its timing: the proliferation of memoirs was already appearing on various literary pundits’ “Ten Worst Things About the Nineties” lists. Some argued that the form’s renewed popularity proved how pandemic contemporary America’s “culture of narcissism,” to use Christopher Lasch’s phrase, had become. Others point accusingly at a population of readers—and writers—who’ve grown too dimwitted or lazy to bother with fictional constructs l
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Feb 20, 2011
Hava
rated it:
I wanted to like "Bitch". I really did. The biggest problem with Wurtzel's book is that it gives up on its premise halfway through. It promises to dig in and give a hard cold look at why women get labeled "bitches", and she never follows through with it. She starts off strong with an analysis of the Delilah/Sampson bibilical story, but in the next chapter she devotes nearly 75 pages to Amy Fisher, who while certainly a victim, isn't anyone's idea of a bitch. She's a 13 year o
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(2 people liked it)
Jul 27, 2009
okyrhoe
rated it:
The title of this book is substantially misleading. It is not about 'bitches', not even by Wurtzel's concept of the term, and there is not much praise of her subject matter - the depressed and/or victimized women the author has selected for commentary and analysis. These women are not to be admired or imitated; they are far from the 'bad-girl heroine' status that the title claims Wurtzel is writing about.
Furthermore, this book is not a manifesto or tract, as some of the blurbs state, nor More...
Furthermore, this book is not a manifesto or tract, as some of the blurbs state, nor More...
Jun 06, 2011
Danielle
rated it:
I don't remember what the introduction said, but I remember it made me want to stop reading. I kept it up, and by part two I was enjoying it and learning things. There is a lot of information and a lot of good points. However, I am frustrated by the 90-page long chapters that at some times simply meander and at others kind of rant, so that I don't really know what the point of most of the chapters are. Also reading about 40-pages of victim blaming battered wives was sickening and her wistfully s
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Nov 30, 2008
Bridget
rated it:
By contrast to Prozac Nation, this book is a coke binge of great ideas about feminism and class and big ideas that was apparently ummm written on a coke binges. I thought it was fascinating and it is de facto responsible for my addiction to (the now defunct... le sigh) crimelibrary.com.
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Oct 09, 2011
Chantay
rated it:
Ah the ramblings of a 20-something never get old. I wanted to like this book and stand behind the bitchiness of it. I kinda of outgrew the cattiness within this book into a more refined, subtler, feminist bitch.
It was interesting reading about the apparent downfall of stars who know have great comeback careers and are hotter then they were in their youth. Wurtzel name-checks Portman, Barrymore and shields. Barrymore and Shields we all know led tumulus lives. One of them even had Tom C More...
It was interesting reading about the apparent downfall of stars who know have great comeback careers and are hotter then they were in their youth. Wurtzel name-checks Portman, Barrymore and shields. Barrymore and Shields we all know led tumulus lives. One of them even had Tom C More...
Sep 19, 2011
Beth
rated it:
Okay. No. That's it. I'm done.
I have spent three weeks of my life slogging through this book, patiently deciphering its murky arguments, wrinkling my brow at Wurtzel's occasional bursts of hypocrisy, hoping and hoping and hoping that all would be redeemed in the end.
But when you start in with the victim-blaming, when you cannot differentiate between domestic violence and consensual BDSM, when you write things like, "Eventually I realized, through Chrissie Hynde's exa More...
I have spent three weeks of my life slogging through this book, patiently deciphering its murky arguments, wrinkling my brow at Wurtzel's occasional bursts of hypocrisy, hoping and hoping and hoping that all would be redeemed in the end.
But when you start in with the victim-blaming, when you cannot differentiate between domestic violence and consensual BDSM, when you write things like, "Eventually I realized, through Chrissie Hynde's exa More...
Nov 02, 2011
Erin
rated it:
It will difficult to be objective writing this review. I wish people I knew had read this book, so I could discuss more of the salient points.
I feel I could have written this book if I were born 10 years earlier. Whether this arrogance on my end or a slight at the author, it seems the blend of highbrow allusion and celebrity critique are up my alley even if I did not matriculate at Harvard.
That being said....
Difficult is an excellent word for women. As far as we'v More...
I feel I could have written this book if I were born 10 years earlier. Whether this arrogance on my end or a slight at the author, it seems the blend of highbrow allusion and celebrity critique are up my alley even if I did not matriculate at Harvard.
That being said....
Difficult is an excellent word for women. As far as we'v More...
Apr 15, 2010
Meika
rated it:
I think it's easy to dismiss this book as some coke-head nonsense. Crazy bitch ranting about stuff that pisses her off. But as a non-coke-addicted peer in age group and relative socioeconomic status, I have to say she hits the mark. If you take the trouble to follow her, it's relevant.
I read the reviews here before picking this up, so I was prepared for the stream of consciousness blogish ranting that comprised the primary style of this book. She didn't always get her facts straight a More...
I read the reviews here before picking this up, so I was prepared for the stream of consciousness blogish ranting that comprised the primary style of this book. She didn't always get her facts straight a More...
Dec 22, 2009
Jaime
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
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Jun 10, 2009
Meridith
rated it:
I'm not sure if it's because this book is fifteen years old, but I feel like it's not only outdated, but it's not offering any value as far as feminist prose is concerned. The first 80 pages goes on and on talking about how women in biblical times were oppressed -- to me, this is not new or even enlightening information. I also had a difficult time with Wurtzel's writing style; her use of commas and run-on sentences make it (in my opinion) unreadable. Overall I was disappointed in the content an
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Apr 18, 2011
Morgan
rated it:
Written neither fluently nor translucently. I as yet don't wonder why it took me so long to finish it, rather how and where I found the courage to finish it at all. Where the subject of the book is a point of interest for me, the manner in which the author wants to yet fails to make hers repeatedly doesn't attract me, let alone commends her writing efforts. Of the many things that are wrong with the book I object mostly to the use of casus to illustrate and prove her theses. In normal circumsta
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Apr 09, 2010
Brokenshoelace
rated it:
Dont actually remember much about this book, it was so long ago. Not nearly as memorable or insightful as Prozac Nation. I do remember I pulled a full sized promo poster of the book cover out of the recycle dumpster of University Bookstore. I affixed the poster to the interior cargo wall of my Postal delivery truck. My coworkers enjoyed the decoration as did I until I was ordered to remove it by the station manager. Poster was unsalvagable, wish I could have saved it.
Mar 22, 2011
Sara
rated it:
I was surprised at how much I disliked this book, because I really liked her memoirs.
Wurtzel is way, way off base with so much of this. She spends the big part of a section ranting about how Hillary Clinton's career is OVER because she's "the wife" and how women who aren't working are all unhappy. HAH. This book was written in the last 90's - I bet she's eating her words now, with Ms. Clinton, Secretary of State, Almost-President.
WRONG-O - some women (like myse More...
Wurtzel is way, way off base with so much of this. She spends the big part of a section ranting about how Hillary Clinton's career is OVER because she's "the wife" and how women who aren't working are all unhappy. HAH. This book was written in the last 90's - I bet she's eating her words now, with Ms. Clinton, Secretary of State, Almost-President.
WRONG-O - some women (like myse More...
Sep 30, 2010
Jessica
rated it:
This book is awful. Maybe if I had read it when it first came out in the 90's and not in 2008, I could have liked it. I am not sure that would have helped. The concept is good, that being a difficult woman is ok, but she picks some of the worse examples of difficult woman. This wouldn't have been that bad if she had made a better argument. Instead she spent the whole book bitching and didn't make any solid arguments before she was moving on to a new rant.
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Apr 23, 2011
Sarah
rated it: 
Wurtzel is your really pretty smart friend that you are proud to know but also so f$%#ing smart and perfect you want to smother her in her sleep. Between this and Beauvoir, not only can you become hated by every feminist on either side of the pond, but you can simultaneously be stripped of any allegiance with the trad and therefore really fortify your alienation and piss off any friends you still have.
Nov 06, 2009
Deanna
rated it:
An utterly engaging and entertaining read. I actually knew very little about the book or its author before I picked it up, so it wasn't at all what I expected. Wurtzel makes a lot of brash, overgeneralized and (in many cases) simply untrue assumptions to make her points, and I had some trouble with her rambling, manic tone in certain sections. But overall, she makes some valid points about the way our society objectifies or tears down women who fit the "bad girl" image.
Oct 31, 2011
Ashlee
rated it:
I read this book as a teenager because I had read (and loved) Prozac Nation (Wurtzel's first book) and I loved this one even more. Interesting sociologcical look at women in society without feeling like you are in sociology class. Wurtzel is funny, and very intelligent, I have loved every book of hers that I have read.
Jun 27, 2009
M
rated it:
I read this in 2004. It blew me away. So ladies, those of you that call yourselves, by this moniker and refer to others and use it in conversation, take a good look at yourself after you read this book.I never subscribed to this word. Never.
Read it--it's about us in an articulate non catty no nonsense yet compassionate way.
Read it--it's about us in an articulate non catty no nonsense yet compassionate way.
Sep 05, 2011
Jacqueline
rated it:
Read this in college a long time ago and felt like reading it again when I was looking on my bookshelf tonight:-) People are so quick to ascribe labels to women and box us into little corners that make sense to them instead of just celebrate who and what we are as individuals.
Aug 04, 2010
Rlgraban
rated it:
If you have ever cheered for the difficult women in history, the ones we are not supposed to love and the ones we can't get enough of, then you need to read this book. It was brilliantly written even though Wurtzel was in the middle of an out of control cocaine addiction.
Aug 23, 2007
Loren
rated it:
It doesn't matter if this book was written on a wild coke bender three months past deadline. It's soulful, urgent, insightful and practically jumps off the page and chokes you to death with hyperbole that, being somewhat hyperbolic myself, I find endearing rather than annoying. The Hillary Clinton and Amy Fisher chapters stand out in my mind as particularly powerful and insightful. This book is less "in praise" of difficult women than an inquiry into why it is so very difficult to live
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Jan 07, 2012
Kate
rated it:
I read Bitch when I was in school and it was probably the first 'feminist' text I ever read. I doesn't hold a special place in my heart for that so much as the passionate, somewhat unhinged tone of the book. That said it was a good, if lightweight, intro to feminist ideas. Yhe focus is on social and celebrity issues rather than the political but at least that makes it accessible.
Wurtzel revealed in her second autobiography More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction that she was taking a l More...
Wurtzel revealed in her second autobiography More, Now, Again: A Memoir of Addiction that she was taking a l More...
May 22, 2011
Maggy
rated it:
I read this gem a while back, I'm a big Wurtzel fan so for me this had to be a five star. Apart form her deliciously cutting prose it stirred some rebel-girl anger inside me that I still haven't been able to shake and I love it.
Mar 24, 2009
April
rated it:
The only thing I took away from this book was the laugh I got from the chapter title "I Used to Love Her, But I Had to Kill Her". It didn't hold my attention, and had nothing really useful to contribute.
Jun 08, 2011
Mori
rated it:
funny and intelligent wurtzel from prozac nation but with a feminist historian feel. this wasn't much of an entertaining read but more of something i'd expect a ballsy women's studies professor to recommend. it was good but not great.
