Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women

Don't even attempt to read this book, unless you can deal with rants. Elizabeth Wurtzel's second book, she writes about the trials and tribulations of "difficult women". The cover of this book has her appearing naked. That should brace you for what's inside. Instead of chapters, she writes in huge sections. It's a lot of rambling, but some of it makes sense.

Her sections include one on biblical women, Amy Fisher (Lolita syndrome), Nicole Brown Simpson, and one on creative troubled women (Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, etc).

It was written while she was speeding and coked up, and you can tell. My best attempts at reading it (I had to more than once, as it is one of my sources on a book I am writing) were when I had an overflow of dopamine in my system, or while a bit manic.

“From a distance, we all admire the insane person, the creative genius and colorful type. But up close, no one wants to be bothered.” — Elizabeth Wurtzel

Elizabeth Wurtzel's first book was Prozac Nation.

I'm still plowing through Bitch. It's a lot of work. Often-times I want to yell, "I can't tell if what you're saying is utter bullshit or too profound for me to comprehend." She starts off with Samson and Delilah and how Delilah got a bad rap, and that’s about where I’m at now.

Some memorable parts from just the first section(titled: “He puts her on a Pedestal and She Goes Down on It”) include:

“But in Basic Instinct—for which Sharon Stone should have been nominated for an Oscar—it is the softness and sweetness of a woman who is supposed to be all harsh blonde angles, all starched slim dresses, all sangfroid, that make the movie more than mere exploitation.

“I mean, if pussy power is so potent that it can be the ruin of a British administration, that it can cause John Lennon to make some seriously unlistenable albums and pose for some embarrassingly pale-assed pictures, and if it can make Samson . . . weak and wobbly-kneed and a slave to his lust, if men are this easy to manipulate, then why did it take us until 1920 to get the vote.”

“So, as I was saying, I am not nor have I ever been a femme fatale, and I am certain I’m probably missing out on something big.”

I agree with Juliet that it’s kinda difficult to read, but there are some interesting and insightful/inciteful sections often split up with sections of sheer idiocy. I’d borrow it from the library or a friend, if you can.

ISBN for the trade paperback: 0-385-48401-1, published by Anchor Books.