Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women

by Elizabeth Wurtzel and Elizabeth Wortzel

Book Overview

From the author of the bestselling Prozac Nation comes one of the most entertaining feminist manifestos ever written. In five brilliant extended essays, she links the lives of women as demanding and disparate as Amy Fisher, Hillary Clinton, Margaux Hemingway, and Nicole Brown Simpson. Wurtzel gives voice to those women whose lives have been misunderstood, who have been dismissed for their beauty, their madness, their youth.

Bitch...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385484011
• ISBN13: 9780385484015
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

An exercise in self respect

What a great book! Not just for difficult women, but for all women. It deals with all the stereotypes women have dealt with for centuries. Sheltered or narrow minded women probably won't understand it and therefore will hate it-but who cares! I've still recommended it to everyone I know.

Original, Insightful, Humorous

I bought this book because customers tended to rate it at one end of the spectrum or the other. This, of course, shows that the book is controversial, and oftentimes the most controversial book is the most interesting to read. I was not disappointed here. Concededly, the author tends to ramble on and on at times over the same point(s), but this is truly original and gutsy writing!! I certainly don't agree with all of the author's opinions, but I think her ideas are refreshing and insightful. A welcome change from the "spiritual" and "new-age" natures of many books about or for women.

Intellingent, fierce; neither mutes nor is consumed by anger

An awesome writer, in full command.

This is a great book, chalanging and insightful.

Wurtzel changed my opinions on many things. I did find it a bit hard to read, so I hesitate to recommend it as required reading, but I've been forced to read much worse. Wurtzel's approach seems indirect, circling and tying in more threads to deal with subjects poorly suited to direct unflinching frontal attacks.The literary, movie, and music references are a kind of bonus tour.It doesn't surprise me that some gave it bad reviews, it is not easy to have your assumptions challenged.I heartily recommend it!

Being a "Bitch" takes hard work

It is what it is. Which is a massive rant more than an organized piece of literature. But, it's also incredibly thought-provoking (even if you disagree), and passionate. Which makes great reading. Her voice is representative of a generation of twenty-something women, struggling with age-old misogyny, their feelings on feminism, and the constant reflection, and influence of pop culture. Her obsession with these cultural figures (Amy Fisher, Nicole Brown Simpson, Delilah) is about allowing them their complexity. The result is a book that's hard to put down.