Good Christian Bitches Hardcover – 31 Oct 2008

I lost intrest in the machinations of the shallow protagonists of this strange story early on, but kept reading thinking there would be a turning point and at least one redeeming character, or value, would be introduced. It never happened. The value system of every single character is based on money, "marriage-ability" and expensive clothing labels. This book made me, as the reader, feel sullied for having read it.

I picked this book up at Half Price Books and thought that it would be a very cool read. What I got was a bland, semi-humorous book about women in an affluent Dallas suburb. To be honest, I was reading this as a "fluff" book, and it did have its funny moments, but they were far between. There was very little in character development, which was fine as all of these women had no character, aside from being shallow and self-rightous. I think the worst part of this whole book was that the ending fell flat...as in there really was no ending. It just ended. Maybe the author ran out of time before deadline???

I do not know that I would recommend this book to a friend, unless they needed something to level out a piece of furniture. The title offered so much....and the book could not fulfill it.

For those who live in Texas, and are familiar with the prototype of "Hillside Park," the local references (and sterotypes) are a bit amusing -- at first. All the characters get old, fast. The perpetrators are on one hand, conniving, but on the other victims of the caste system into which they were born. The heroine -- well, I found it hard to feel sympathy for a woman who was raised with a gigantic silver spoon in her mouth -- even with a cheating husband. It was so formulaic...in the end, those with wealth (again) trumped those who were working for a living...not a happy ending, in my book! A truly amateurish effort.

I got this book to read it in preparation for ABC's "GBC" - Which is a lot better than the book. While it's not a great book, it's also not a horrible book. It starts out okay but after about six or ten chapters it starts to fall flat and reads like a young adult novel, that was written by Stephenie Meyer, so it's best to try and turn your brain off around that time so you don't get any headaches or kill off brain cells. It's not very well-written. It kind of looks like a first draft manuscript. It does go by fast though. You can skim it and still know what's going on.

There are a lot of people on here complaining about stereotypes and religion and the main character's kids, so I'll clear some of that up. Just because the title has the word "Christian" in it, doesn't mean it's going to be a religious story or even about religion. Next, the book is poking fun at the typical stereotypical white Texan Christian woman - self-righteous, hypocritical, shallow, materialistic, backstabbing and somewhat loyal to her family and friends. This book is not meant to be taken seriously and if you take it seriously then of course you're going to be disappointed. If you treat this as a silly casual read then you won't be so disappointed. It makes for a good laugh.

The book is about a woman who left her douche of a husband and moved back to her home town from California to "start over." She has two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy, Will, is what you'd expect just about every twelve-year-old boy to be - rude, snotty, obnoxious, not too interested in school, and somewhere between thinking girls are gross and hot, depending on the girl's appearence and personality. If you've been a kid or weren't a kid too long ago you'd know what I'm talking about. The girl, Sarah, is a typical green Cali girl - "health conscious", catty, weight-obsessed but sweet none the less.

Throughout the novel the main character, Amanda, encounters old "friends" from her past. She's obviously pretty and for some reason the women of the neighborhood seem to think that because of this, she's a threat to their husbands so two of them scheme to destroy Amanda's social life by making her chair of an annual charity ball called "The Longhorn Ball." The rest of the book follows Amanda's decision of whether or not to take on the ball, even though it was said to be ruined beyond repair, while also raising her kids, trying to get along with her traditional Texan mother and get on with the natives.

On the side we also have two women Amanda grew up with when she lived in Texas, Heather and Sharon, who scheme to ruin Amanda's life and they do so with one of the most powerful women in the neighborhood, Darlene - Kristin Chenoweth's character on "GCB" is a combination of Darlene and Sharon from the novel. Amanda also picks up a secret admirer upon her return to Texas.

So as said earlier, this isn't a book to be taken seriously. I'd suggest it as a light casual read for kicks and not as a moral spiritual journey. I also suggest you check out the show if you haven't. It's fun to watch, has a lot of cute and funny moments, has a good cast, and great fashion.

Frankly, I bought this book because of the title. I saw it mentioned on TV, and as a church-going Christian that likes a good laugh, I thought I would find it here. But after a brief mention at the beginning, as of up to page 143, where I decided I'd had enough, there was nothing about "Good" or "Christian". Church was only mentioned in passing. The "B's" of the title turned out to be the socialites of Dallas, and their fear of losing their husbands to the returnee from California, Amanda. Dallas sure sounds like hell on earth. Full of liars, backstabbers, thieves, and nut cases. And those are just the women. Not a single likable person in the bunch, not even Amanda's children. Her children are mouthy and rude, and she laughs when they talk back. Her nine year old daughter calls everyone in Dallas "fat." Her son says Dallas "sucks." Amanda thinks it's all funny. I thought it was pathetic. Church isn't the center of attention here, it's the Longhorn Ball. The book should have been called "The Longhorn Ball Bitches." If you really want to read it, wait till it comes out in paperback. Save your money. I paid full price and gave up in the middle.