Rating: 
Summary: Require reading for men that are involved with women
Review: This book reveals the "man behind the curtain".Is your partner unable to explain her anger/rage. Is nothing you do correct? Has your sex life become banal? The included twenty-six essays are real eye openers. You will learn something about the woman in your life, you might even learn something about yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Save your money
Review: The book is a total waste of money. But at least the title is appropripate. It seems to perfectly classify the writers. The stories are negative, whiny and depressing. I do not have time for this kind of garbage! The stories are far from uplifting. I bought the book after reading some positive reviews. I thought that I would purchase the book and share it with my friends and daughters, maybe even buy them a copy. I don't know anyone that I care about that I would give the book to. Save your money.
Rating: 
Summary: a sample from one stratum
Review: "The Bitch in the House," comprised of 26 essays from educated, highly articulate women, speaks to the dilemma of finding a successful blending of career and wife/mother roles. Many of the essays also bring to mind a quote from "A Midwife's Tale" by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. Martha Ballard, a real-life colonial midwife, finds that after an overnight childbirthing, "Came home at 10 a.m. to find my house up in arms against me. Did not sit down till 2 p.m." Many women will smile ruefully, as I do, at that diary quotation. As someone who entered college when older attitudes still held sway, and who left graduate school as feminists ideas began to take root, my college friends and I have a foot in both worlds. In negotiating with our spouses about who would play what role in our households, we made differing arrangements. No one has found a perfect solution. Recent research in sociobiology, which cannot be denied no matter how much hard-core feminists scoff at it, has shown that physiologically,hormonally,and emotionally, women are geared to be the nurturers. Freud was of course incorrect when he baldly stated, "Biology is destiny," and in every recent generation, bright women have made their mark. It seems that every generation has had to negotiate and--yes, that ugly word---compromise. From reading these essays one would conclude that for these women under 40, the negotiations have not gone well. Perhaps some ancient folk wisdom needs to be applied, along with the most recent socio-biological data. Women need an opportunity to be fully themselves, and so do men, but neither gender has the right to expect the other to behave like its opposite. If that occurs, much anger and bitterness will follow. I probably will be criticized for saying these truths, but anyone reading "The Bitch in the House" will find ample evidence to support this position. In a successful marriage and in successful parenting, it seems, negotiations need to be ongoing, with forgiveness, restraint, and acceptance expressed on both sides.
Rating:
Summary: Sanity Check...
Review: I read this book on the recommendation of my best friend: It didn't disappoint! I LOVED the variety of the book, and the different viewpoints were comforting in that I found things to identify with in nearly every essay, which always helps to give you the 'I'm NOT the only person who feels like this and maybe I still have my sanity!' feeling. I found it thought-provoking, comforting, funny, insightful, and sometimes irritating. This isn't a curl-up-and-read-by-the-fire book, however. No matter how much you might identify, reading this like a standard novel can wear thin on your attention span and, frankly, your nerves. This is a great 30-minute at a time read, or before-bedtime read. And just imagine the non-verbal value of someone seeing THIS in your bookshelf!
Rating:
Summary: honest
Review: I'm intrigued that so many feel that this collection of essays is somehow lacking in awareness. Yes, I agree that many of the authors seem privileged, but they haven't always been so, and most of them are conscious of their status, if not guilty because of it. They are attempting to reveal their inner thoughts, wants, fears--which means they might not always follow the "party line," whether that be of the compassionate woman, wife, mother, or feminist. It is this vulnerability, this abilty to show doubt at their comeptence in any of these roles, that I found refreshingly honest, even when their fears were not grounded in what might be pereceived by contemporary society as "rational" thought, in spite of the hyper-intellectualism and education they supposedly "suffer" from. It was a joy to read, and it was nice to see that others in conflict with their roles, with themselves, with society, are so willing to share it.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled, every woman can relate to these essays!!
Review: This is a book every woman should have - single, married, whatever, it will save thousands in therapy! I only wished it had been published when I was first married - I would have saved myself a lot of heartache, as I thought I was the only woman with these problems! Don't let the negative reviews fool you - this book is a MUST HAVE for every woman.
Rating: 
Summary: Starts out strong, funny and insightful but ....
Review: then it turns into a complete whinefest. I loved the beginning of the book - especially the introduction. As I was reading, I was thinking, if men read this book they would understand what their women were thinking. However, after a while all of the stories seemed to blend into one another and it got boring. I think this is a book that tends to read better if you read a few essays and put it down and then pick it up at a later date rather than try to read it all in one sitting.
Rating:
Summary: Made me feel normal!
Review: Okay, so I'm feeling a little bitchy in my life right now, trying to keep it all together as a working professional, loving wife, and mom to two young boys. Yep, just a bit bitchy right now... just a teeny, tiny bit. And so it was a delightful emotional release to see that I'm NOT THE ONLY ONE out there who feels like this. That maybe I'm just a normal woman trying to get along in life, encouraged by the brave admissions of these women. From the first essay to the last, I felt like I was at a dinner party where we'd all just dropped our social masks and admitted how we really felt.
Rating:
Summary: So honest--everyone must read this.
Review: The Bitch in the House is fantastic. So many of these women's essays resonate powerfully with me, even in the cases where their lives--choices they've made, etc.--aren't like mine. Several of the essays make me cry even on second reading (Pam Houston, Natalie Kucz, Helen Schulman). Others make me laugh out loud (Karbo, Schappell). And others are just so eloquent and smart (McClay, Maduro, Gornick). The honesty is so startling it makes you nod with recognition time and again. It breaks down so many of the myths about marriage and our expectations of being able to handle it all (career, marriage, children, etc.). I wish I'd had this book ten years ago--I could have entered my work and marriage and motherhood years with a much better sense of what lay ahead! I'm telling everyone I know to read this book. And I'm so grateful to these writers for their honesty.
Rating: 
Summary: waste of time to read
Review: This book was a waste of time for three reasons. First, I have enough stress in my life and I don't need to hear or read about the stress of other women. I have to do a lot of reading as it is and don't need to come home to do more reading from women who couldn't cut it. Second, if you want to stop being a b.... then take a vacation or take some time out to just do nothing. You don't need to read this book to realize that. Usually when we take a step back from our life we can put things in a larger perspective and move on. Third, these women are too stuck on themselves. If you feel you have to experience the problems of others to help yourself, volunteer at a non-profit -- that way you'll see real world problems and be helping someone else at the same time.
| 
