On a miserable January morning Sarah is sitting on a plane to Tenerife – dickheads’ destination of choice – for a week-long getaway. She’s just realised that she’s very angry and becoming a bitter bitch, despite being just thirty years old. With her on the plane she has a copy of Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying and wishes it were 1975 instead of 2005.
Sarah never intended for things to turn out the way they have: she just dreamed of love like everyone else. But now she’s sitting here, thinking about all the injustices she’s suffered. Thinking about how thoroughly fooled she was by the promise of love – the one that makes us want to start a family. Thinking about all the women she knows who, like her, were drained of all their energy by family hell – an inheritance passed down directly from generation to generation, from her restless mother’s eczema-covered dishpan hands to her own nervous over-achiever complex.
Angry and candid, Bitter Bitch is an uncompromising novel, at the heart of which is one of the most important women’s issues: how can we ever have an egalitarian society when we can’t even live in equality with those we love?
Sarah never intended for things to turn out the way they have: she just dreamed of love like everyone else. But now she’s sitting here, thinking about all the injustices she’s suffered. Thinking about how thoroughly fooled she was by the promise of love – the one that makes us want to start a family. Thinking about all the women she knows who, like her, were drained of all their energy by family hell – an inheritance passed down directly from generation to generation, from her restless mother’s eczema-covered dishpan hands to her own nervous over-achiever complex.
Angry and candid, Bitter Bitch is an uncompromising novel, at the heart of which is one of the most important women’s issues: how can we ever have an egalitarian society when we can’t even live in equality with those we love?
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Reviews
This is one of the books that really gets at you. And it is entertaining. (...) It is not just a polemic, not just divisive, not narrow-minded. After Bitterfittan the discussions round the dinner table can do more for equality than all the extremist speeches in the world.
The book's strength lies in Maria Sveland's honesty and conviction - her anger, sorrow, powerlessness and rebelliousness reach out to us in a way that feels absolutely genuine.
There should be a law demanding that all parents-to-be must read this book.
If Maria Sveland's very first book isn't among the paperback bestsellers within six months, then I'll be surprised. Because here there is something sweet and something salty for everyone.
A compelling and thought-provoking read.