I love book clubs. There is something about surrounding yourself with folks who have the same passion as you – especially when the field is so broad (i.e. books) that you never ever run out of things to talk about and the opinions are never the same.
The end of January, I found myself in the middle of a pretty heavy reading streak – Willa Cather (O Pioneer series), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Americanah), Edith Wharton (The House of Mirth), Homer. I was ready for something funny, light, and easy.
Bitter Is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smartass, Or, Why You Should Never Carry A Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster fit the bill perfectly. Recommended by two different people on the Peloton Moms Book Club page, I checked the title out where I always check out titles – Goodreads.
I have found Goodreads to be one of the best resources for all thing book opinion related. It contains sufficient general book information (publication date, length, genre), great synopses, and reviews aplenty. I have to admit I have not given this site the attention it deserves. Changing that is a goal. If you are active there, let’s be friends https://www.goodreads.com/lionsbride
From Goodreads: This is the story of how a haughty former sorority girl went from having a household income of almost a quarter-million dollars to being evicted from a ghetto apartment… It’s a modern Greek tragedy, as defined by Roger Dunkle in The Classical Origins of Western Culture: a story in which “the central character, called a tragic protagonist or hero, suffers some serious misfortune which is not accidental and therefore meaningless, but is significant in that the misfortune is logically connected.”
In other words? The bitch had it coming.
The bitch is Lancaster herself. I was in.
There’s quite the divide between readers of this book. Lancaster is self reportedly obnoxious, rude, self-absorbed, petty, materialistic, and privileged. The messes that she gets into are nearly all directly related to her tone-deaf walk through her Prada life. There are readers who can’t stomach her for all these reasons.
I am the other reader. I think it is because I am also a writer. As a writer, I can’t imagine the head voices Lancaster had to quiet to get so real about herself. She pulls no punches – even though the heavy bag is her own flawed self. She is raw, authentic, open, honest. And she does so without being overindulgent, whiny, or pitiful. She isn’t looking for a pass or sympathy – she is looking for honestly and connection. I respect the shit outta that.
If you are looking to be pissed off at an overprivileged white lady, Lancaster makes it super easy to get what you want. However, I think you’d be missing the point. Lancaster (in an attempt to not give away the whole story) writes about her previous self with the advantage of her growing self. What results is a cheeky offering of her journey with an obvious understanding of how ridiculous her behavior was.
I enjoyed reading the funny way in which Lancaster offered up the previous version of herself in such a way that showed both unconditional self-love and a desire to be a better person. There may be better goals, but, in my opinion, this one is pretty damn solid.