Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
This makes for a very dense read., 6 Sep 2003
During her publicity tour for 'Bitch' (recounted in the later book 'More Now Again'), Elizabeth Wurtzel became intensely irritated with repeatedly being asked who she considered to be the great bitches. It tells both her and us two things. That the interviewers hadn’t read the book and that for many people the idea of a ‘bitch’, a sort of Margaret Thatcher / Alexis from Dynasty are very different to the kind of woman this book is about. Over the course of five essays Wurtzel tries to capture why it is that women are described with this kind of negative branding and described as manipulative when in fact they’re not really doing anything any more scandalous than their male counterparts, and that frequently they have to give up their independence as well, piggybacking on a man. The mood of the book is perfectly captured by a story at the centre. She describes how Bill and Hilary Clinton drove into a garage, only to find their car being services by one of Hilary’s childhood sweethearts. The ex-President apparently turned to her and said: “If you’d married him you’d be the wife of a gas station attendant, “ to which she replied, “No, I wouldn’t. I’d be married to the President of the United States of America.” One of the stronger themes in the book is that behind most strong men there is an even stronger woman just behind. And that most of these strong women are also basket cases because the masculine presence creates an emotional glass ceiling; they literally can’t live with him or without him. In fact, in this case the title is as much a verb as the assumed noun. There is a lot of venom on display in the book; Wurtzel is ultimately disappointed with the poor showing of her gender on occasion after occasion. In the essay dealing with Anna Nicole Smith, who could diplomatically be described as the late wife of OJ Simpson, it’s clear that she can’t understand what Smith was still doing in the relationship, especially when ‘spousal battery’ (her words) are on the agenda. She offers examples from the popular culture (notably the musical Carousel) in which violence in a relationship is portrayed as acceptable, even as a display of affection. But this is a book which doesn’t even try to provide answers. It just thoroughly explores the questions as much as possible. This makes for a very dense read. Like a channel changer on a tv, three different subjects are covered one page, then another subject is described slowly over twenty-five, which also causes things to be slightly uneven. And Liz really bangs away at those subjects. In place, I felt that a point had been made well enough, but it was still given another a five pages to breath through. This kind of repetition makes things quote difficult in places. But it’s so gloriously well written that you don’t really want to skip ahead in case you miss something interesting.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
worth reading, 3 Aug 2007
let me start by clarifying a couple of points made by other reviewers.
Anna Nicole Smith was deffinately not O.J. Simpsons wife in any shape or form, it was Nicole Brown Simpson, who is written about in the book. Also another reviewer says Elizabeth 1 would have made a good example, she is deffinately mentioned in the book, ok she doesnt get a full chapter, but she is not glossed over either. A constant critism seems to be that Ms Wurtzel chose to write about mainly american women, of course she did, she is american and grew up hearing about these women, she understands american values and culture. she couldn't write the book from the stand point of african women beacuse she is what she is. So although women from all over the globe are mentioned in the book, it is mainly americanised. Sometimes while reading the book the authour goes over the same material so many times you get a sense of deja vu. And sometimes Ms Wurtzel never seems to know exactly what she is trying to say, yes she wants to stand on her own and be under no mans rule and then she seems almost whimsical about wanting to find the right man. All in all though a very interesting read.
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8 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Confused and confusing, but with nuggets of insight, 7 Feb 2003
The subtitle of the book, "In Praise of Difficult Women", is misleading if it is judged by the examples of so-called "difficult" women that Ms. Wurtzel pushes forward onto her stage... I would rather Ms. Wurtzel had chosen women that were "difficult" because they strove mightily to be masters of their own lives, made a significant impact on the societies they lived in, were otherwise "normal", and died of natural causes with assured places in human history. As an amateur student of England and all things English, two remarkable women immediately come to mind: Eleanor of Aquitaine and Elizabeth I. The former (and my favorite), first Queen of France then Queen of England, confounded the lives and kingdoms of her two royal spouses, was divorced by one and imprisoned by the other, yet managed to outlive both with honor, possessions and identity intact. The latter, daughter of Henry VIII and Queen of England, had no man as master during a long reign that saw the beginnings of Britannia's rise to superpower status. I'm sure there must have been (and are now) women of other nationalities and cultures that Ms. Wurtzel could have chosen. (In all due fairness to Hillary Clinton, she doesn't fit into either category quite yet. However, she's got a long way to go before she's anything other than a footnote to history and Slick Willy.) Also, the author didn't always seem quite convinced that her ideal, feminist world could, in fact, be realized. At several points in the narrative, she'd appeared almost willing to regress into a more traditional role simply because it would take too much of her life's energy to do otherwise. This backsliding rendered her message ambiguous, and the point she was trying to make with this book exceedingly murky. Of course, being a man, I probably just don't, and can't, understand. With all this said, however, and despite Mr. Wurtzel's style that was too often rambling and directionless, I very much enjoyed her occasional nuggets of wisdom and insight, especially in those chapters that had Hillary and Nicole as the main players. After all, I finished the book, and that makes it at least a "6" on a scale of 10. Life is too short, with too many books to read, for anything less.
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