And hormone pills to help intervene with slowing down the aging process Frankly she was boring I just didn t care about her need and desire to wear high heels She literally injured her ankle by doing things she was doing She justified beauty BECAUSE she had brains The entire story was kinda thoughtless and indulgent Other stories were good. a couple of interesting stories about sex sex statistics in heterosexual marriages Truthful personal a variety of issues were brought up The overall collection were a mixed bag Some stories greatOne really badAnd others pretty goodKudos to Cathi Hanauer I think she s awesome 3. 5 rating 9780062389510 The collection is a follow up to a book published over ten years ago called The Bitch In the House which I haven t read I was excited to see some familiar names on the list of contributors.
Great book bad title Essays from women about finding happiness post 50 It s a sequel to a book about younger women The Bitch in the House which I didn t read But this books stands well on its own Stories abound of women who decide never to marry others who decide they will after all women who have or decide not to have children women in abusive relationships women in healthy relationships women in healthy relationships with men and women in healthy relationships with women All the topics are covered money sex career kids cancer The stories touch on questions you want to ask but wouldn t do couples stay together when one changes sex and how does that WORK And brings up issues you might never have encountered life as a Muslim whose marriage was arranged at age 14 Some of the essays were very relevant to me others completely foreign All were fascinating 9780062389510 In short they we difficult women we thinking women we women who finally have the opportunities and chutzpah to carve and design our own lives had looked inward to see what was there and what was not what we could live with or without and what we still needed And then we d adjusted our lives and expectations accordingly I can t quite believe it has been almost fifteen years since Hanauer put together the essay collection The Bitch in the House I found those essays maddening funny and often too close to my own life When I saw that Hanauer had put together a new collection I didn t know whether to laugh or cry How many of these essays would focus of the parts of life I am struggling with Well I am not sure that I related as closely to this collection but I found most of these essays fascinating I shared the first collection of essays with my book group and I might do so again These essays are well written and some are very thought provoking There are 25 essays in this book about women living in the 21st century These 25 women couldn t possibly write about every aspect of being a woman in the United States but they do cover a lot of ground There is humor tears triumphs and failures If you are a woman and like essays there has to be at least one in here for you Other readers may also find something of interest but I feel that the main audience for this book is women 9780062389510 I really like Cathi Hanauer editor of The Bitch in the House and The Bitch is Back Having read both these books now plus The Bastard on the Couch I d say the strength behind these authors short story contributions is definitely Cathi Hanauer In The Bitch In The House Professional authors offered up their truth about sex marriage motherhood work and frustrations. In The Bitch is Back nine of the same professional authors have returned plus new authors older midlife to offer thoughts on aging their growth thoughts about appearance infidelity cancer empty nesters giving back to society solitude friendships their parents adult children work and life lessons learned The first story by Cathi Hanauer was my favorite Funny. a medical doctor called her stupid I totally agreed with the doctor This bright feminist was so obsessed with beatifying herself wearing stilettos with a bad ankle getting Botox including two writers I love Jennifer Finney Boylan and Kate Christensen The book tackles issues like the decisions to have children or not and to marry or not sex motherhood and coming to peace with one s life 9780062389510 Review forthcoming in Library Journal I struggled with this book and I think in large part this is because it is not a book written for me What brings these essays together is a question about women in middle age late thirties to early sixties making major life changes toward what they hope will be greater happiness changes in their inner perspective in their personal actions in their relationships and so forth While there is a scattering of difference a lesbian couple here a black voice there a Muslim contributor a woman scraping by on poverty level wages the overwhelming majority of the writerly voices are white upper middle class women in primary relationships with men Most though not all are parenting Many seem deeply unhappy with their relationship options As an anthology this book had a few essays that charmed moved or otherwise spoke to me and not all of them were essays that I could relate to through lived experience One of the most powerful pieces I though was an essay by a happily partnered woman struggling to set boundaries with her ageing mother who refused to seek treatment for her mental health issues Overall though I felt this book mostly documented how far we haven t come in addressing sexism and ageism in our culture and how woefully we under support even couples with ample resources as they try to thrive as human beings in the context of parenting With one or two delightful exceptions these essays document the toll acknowledged by social scientists at the population level that becoming a parent takes on the happiness of straight couples and sometimes queer couples too in the absence of social supports for dependent care The lack of socialized support persistent internalized narratives of sex difference and poor communication between partners combines in many of these narratives into a toxic stew that leads to everyone s unhappiness Perhaps unfortunately the personal essay format leads to the feeling that solutions are individual self improvement or endurance rather than collective change 9780062389510
| The Bitch Is Back: Older, Wiser, and (Getting) Happier By Cathi Hanauer |
| 0062389513 |
| 9780062389510 |
| English |
| 368 |
| Hardcover |
More than a decade after the New York Times bestselling anthology The Bitch in the House spoke up loud and clear for a generation of young women nine of the original contributors are back along with sixteen captivating new voices sharing their ruminations from an older stronger and wiser perspective about love sex work family independence body image health and aging the critical flash points of women s lives today Born out of anger the essays in The Bitch in the House chronicled the face of womanhood at the beginning of a new millennium Now those funny smart passionate contributors today less bitter and resentful and confident competent and content capture the spirit of postfeminism in this equally provocative illuminating and compelling companion anthology Having aged into their forties fifties and sixties these bitches bestselling authors renowned journalists and critically acclaimed novelists are back and better than ever In The Bitch Is Back Cathi Hanauer Kate Christensen Sarah Crichton Debora Spar Ann Hood Veronica Chambers and nineteen other women offer unique views on womanhood and feminism today Some of the original bitches OBs revisit their earlier essays to reflect on their previous selves All reveal how their lives have changed in the intervening years whether they stayed coupled left marriages or had affairs developed cancer or other physical challenges coped with partners who strayed died or remained faithful became full time wage earners or homemakers opened up their marriages remained childless or became parents or experienced other meaningful life transitions As a new wave of feminists begins to take center stage this powerful timely collection sheds a much needed light on both past and present offering understanding compassion and wisdom for modern women s lives all the while pointing toward the exciting possibilities of tomorrow The Bitch Is Back Older Wiser and Getting HappierGrabbed this one without too much thought I hadn t read the author s previous The Bitch in the House but this was clear honest and insightful appreciated reading these pieces have read several of their books Good to know 9780062389510 I may be late to the party but I lately I ve found myself really enjoying feminist writing I m also a sucker for essay collections. Yes there was an original The Bitch in the House and yes many but not all of the essays are follow ups to writings from the original book That being said this was one of those rare examples in my experience where the sequel truly is a standalone When needed Hanauer provides the reader a bit of a forward to essays that are follow ups giving the readers just enough information that they can put the essay in context but not so much that it would spoil the original essay I think there was only one instance in the entire collection where I felt that I had missed anything by not reading the original essay. Because all the essays are written by different authors I can t make a general comment about the writing Each essay did have its own voice and I did feel that all were well written and deserving of inclusion The very worst I can say is that there are a few essays that didn t especially resonate with me but that was not because of the essay or the author s treatment but rather that there was nothing in my life in common with the essay Even in those cases I still enjoyed the experience of reading the essay. Hanauer did an excellent job of curating and organizing this book As I said the writing was all top notch and I felt that the essays were organized in a way that they flowed in a logical sense None of the essays are either overly short or overly long if this were a short story collection I could say that there was no novella hiding in the pages I read one essay a night and I don t think any one work took me than 10 minutes to read. I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review I received no other compensation for this post 9780062389510 This book had a much different tone then the first I read it in a day I couldn t get enough of their personal stories My husband would frown at the cover and just kind of shake his head sure it was a bunch of man bashing I kept telling him it wasn t It was just about women and how they have dealt with their decisions I was happy to see the few authors who contributed to the first and interested in the new ones I was so intrigued by all the pseudonyms who could it be Kudos to Hanauer for following up 15 years later We all really do get a new perspective as time goes on The first book was much angrier and frustrated This one was peaceful and assured I liked it 9780062389510 I loved the bitch or the bitches in this case Full of bluster beauty and bravery A must read for women able to admit to being older 9780062389510 Summary These well written life stories from women slightly to very ahead of me in life were endlessly fascinatingThe Bitch is Back is a follow up to an earlier essay collection entitled The Bitch in the House Both collections feature essays primarily by women in their thirties The essays focus on the decisions these women have made in regard to their significant others their children and their careers Essays by women who wrote pieces for the earlier collections included brief introductions such that I never felt lost because I hadn t read The Bitch in the House first. I was a bit uncertain about how much I would relate to the women in this book In part that might be because I think of myself as much younger than people in their thirties although I m 27 myself I think it s because I still feel like I m at the beginning of my life though just out of grad school first job just married no plans to have kids Either way my fears were unfounded While I didn t always have experiences of my own that were similar to those described in these essays every single essay was well written enough to draw me in. I think these essays served an even important purpose for me than simply being relatable stories Because these women chose to share their varied experiences I got to hear from people who had made a wide variety of life choices and hear how that worked out for them Reading it made me think a lot about my own life and where I want to be in ten years Even though it didn t cause me to want to make any major changes I thought it was an incredibly useful collection of essays I d definitely recommend it to anyone but perhaps especially to women my age and older, but also very thought provoking One of the stories was by a female professional College President my least favorite, If you are interested in feminist writing I think this is a must read I enjoyed it enough that I started to farm the contributors list for new books to add to my TBR, For some other perspectives check out the other stops on the tour.So when this book came across my radar I immediately jumped.without realizing that it is of sorts a sequel.This review was originally posted on Doing Dewey 9780062389510.