The Bitch in the House audiobook

Why is it that, when we come home at the end of a long day at work and our partner offers to cook dinner, we refuse and then stomp around the kitchen resentfully whipping up a fancy meal? Why do we get angrier and angrier as we wait for our partner to notice the pile of unwashed dishes instead of just asking him to help out? Where does this "irrational" behavior come from, and how do we deal with the problem of having it all--career, marriage, children--when having it all becomes too much? A lot of these essays really made a lot of sense to me. I could have written an essay just like this. I especially liked: - E.S. Maduro's "Excuse Me While I Explode" - Kate Christiansen's "Killing the Puritan Within" - Jill Bialosky's "How We Became Strangers" - Helen Schulman's "My Mother's Ring" - Kristin van Ogtrop's "Attila the Honey I'm Home" - Elissa Schappell's "Crossing the Line in the Sand"These essays spoke to me the most because, first of all, the authors' voices sounded most like me, and because the events they're describing are things I either recently went through or am soon to go through (marriage, children): it was like a Preview of Coming Events in the sense that I could totally see myself being as angry and stressed as these women write about being. They're kind of terrifying essays in that way. But these women also write about joy, and about trying to work through the anger to appreciate the wonderful things in their lives and how lucky they are.I also liked Vivian Gornick's piece on independence, which closes the book. Gornick, as an older and unmarried woman, reflects back on the life she's lived and the choices she's made. Here's a passage that particularly touched me:I am, simply, a person living a life partly that I chose and partly that chose me, a life that, though filled with friends and family and colleagues, is primarily one of solitude, one lived autonomously. And though this is far from ideal at all times--and though some days loneliness plagues me--for the most part, this is a life, my life, that I have come to embrace and appreciate. For how impossible it would have been to live it only fifty years ago! And what a privilege it has been to live it now.Overall, I highly recommend this book to all the smart women in my life, and I am also making F read the essays mentioned above.

When you read a book of compiled essays, it's natural to connect with some more than others. The Bitch in the House is no exception, but worthy of a read and discussion? Absolutely.Being only a female of my early twenties, I have yet to experience much of this book's content, such as marriage and childbirth. I will say, however, as a feminist of a younger generation, this book really did touch upon rapidly growing concerns of mine, such as gender and domestic roles. A few of the essays (most notably, the first by E.S. Maduro) really spoke to me, while others were, to be honest, a bit dull and uninspiring. But with 26 contributors who are surely quite different from one another (and, well, me!), you can't realistically expect to be enthralled by every single story.I read at least one fellow Good Reads reviewer that said they were bothered by the fact that all of these women shared an occupation as some sort of literary professional. This didn't bother me, personally. Every one of them were completely passionate about the lives they lead outside of their romantic relationships or general domesticity. For them it is writing, but that could easily be replaced for us other women as something else. The point is, it is a difficult task to balance the two for many of us modern women, and I felt connected with them for that very reason, writer or not.

The unfortunate downside of the feminist movement is that there isn't enough time in a day to "have it all," which really, really frustrates and in some cases enrages the essayists in this book. However, the overarching theme seems to be a positive one. Sometimes, through the process of writing about it, these women seem to have come to terms with the prioritizing and compromise involved with being a wife, mother, and an employee (or choosing not to do any of those things). It's also comforting and enlightening to the reader to know that "you are not alone" and "we are all still trying to figure this out" as well as "this is what I've learned." I recommend this to everyone, particularly every woman.

Absolutely wonderful! Must read for tired, overworked moms and wives! Hilarious, easy, true, real life

I particularly resonated with the essay subtitled "Staying Bad. Staying Married" and "My Marriage. My Affairs." They seem to resonate with a soulful understanding of life that acknowledges that "clear communication" and so-called "healthy" workshoppy skills are not the key to a satisfying relationship. They're good to have, but we all crave artful chaos uncertainty and mystery, maybe more than we crave openness and "I statements." Oh and that suffering is both a natural and unavoidable part of life. At the same time they are deeply loving essays- the women who wrote them are full of hard-fought love for themselves and vast, abiding, and intensely supportive and freely-given love for their partners. The crazy dark mysterious glorious landscape of love requires honoring energies and narratives that are ancient and closer to poetry and witchcraft than they are to a self-help book. I am grateful these women wrote these things and offered me some insight into some what it might look like to have that kind of love in a long-term relationship. The book in general reminded me to be grateful for all the ways I've loved and been loved and for what a pleasure it is to be as free I have chosen to be, and not to close my heart or judge myself based on a too-narrow definition of what a woman is supposed to want or how a woman is supposed to be.

Cathi Hanauer found herself angry all the time: about her job, her children, her husband. She had a great life, on paper, so she wondered where all this anger was coming from and how to deal with it. She wondered if other women felt this way. This book is the result.Filled with essays from over 20 different women from different walks of life and the choices they made, The Bitch in the House is as absorbing, amusing and sobering as the subjects it addresses. The voices of the different women ring out passionately from the open page, each one detailing the options she chose and why she felt justified in doing so. Women have come a long way since fighting to gain the vote but this book shows the struggle isn’t over yet. However, great strides have been made and each woman essayist comes off as a silent victor in the battle that was her right to express (or suppress) anger and love.

This is an engrossing collection of 26 accomplished women's meditations on the conundrum that is life as a professional woman/mother/wife in contemporary America. I loved that each story was its own window into an entirely personal and unique struggle that at the same time is inherently universal. Though several of the authors fall into the same work/family category, the fact that each offered a fresh take on the central issues of equality and personal fulfillment speaks to the plurality of women's experiences as they are shaped by each woman's own upbringing, personality, and desires. The essays compiled here avoid prescriptiveness, thank god--I found them enlightening (even comforting) rather than preachy, and all were well-written and engaging. I plan to add this book to my collection for future re-reading.

Love! I'm surprised that some of the reviewers found it hard to sympathize with these women. These essays echo the voices of most of my professional friends. How can I balance my career and family goals? Where does drive become selfishness? Why, in this era of shared parenting, does it still seem that I'm the only family member who can locate the batteries? And why the hell am I the only one struggling with guilt each time I have a late work meeting or out of town trip? Great, thought-provoking reflections on modern day womanhood.

For anyone who enjoys fabulous female authors, short essays, and the truth about what it is like to be a woman...

Some essays are better than others, but all are revealing, touching, and resonating, this is a great book to come for any woman in her life. The essays don't offer solutions, but they offer peace in understanding where her emotions, passions, frustrations might be coming from.If you read only a few, choose: If you have a boyfriend or husband... "Excuse Me While I Explode" by ES Maduro If your work personality is totally different from your home personality.. "Attila the Honey I'm Home" by Kristin van Ogtrop If you are thinking about having kids... "The Myth of Co-Parenting" by Hope Edelman If you have kids (or spend a lot of time with kids) "Crossing the Line in the Sand" by Elissa Schapell Or any of the last 4 essays, if you are not sure that boyfriend, husband, children, and/or any other kind of family are right for you.

Nitko tko me poznaje neće se začuditi što me privukao ovaj naslov :) Ali bila sam jako sumnjičava... Naslov je, ruku na srce, malo lejm, naslovnica je neopisivo grozna i sve mi je mirisalo na neko self-help smeće. A kad tamo... Plač, smijeh, zabrinutost, oduševljenje i cijeli niz drugih emocija pratio me dok sam čitala ove toliko iskrene i duhovite eseje. Zamjerka ide činjenici da su većinu eseja napisale žene koje imaju kakav-takav prihod, aktivne su na tržištu rada i vrlo su samosvjesne i osjeća se da su sve redom Amerikanke, ali bez obzira na navedeno, knjiga zaslužuje veliku peticu!

I loved reading all the different perspectives from the women in this book. I have so many topics to reflect on--I only wish I had read this in a book club with some other women!