Maya Chowdhry and Mary Sharratt have edited this collection of short stories all having the general theme of women anti-heroes. Bitch Lit is apparently an antidote for all the Dick Lit we’ve had to endure in the past.
The blurb claims that all these stories are tales of women and power, the opposite of cautionary tales. Bitch Lit is a celebration of women who take the law into their own hands, who defy society’s expectations, put their own needs first and don’t feel guilty.
Unfortunately when they say ‘take the law into their own hands’ what they actually mean is break it. The characters in these stories serially murder, steal, commit adultery and fraud or, if you’re lucky, are just extremely selfish or mean spirited. They’ve attempted to describe this book as feminist, but that’s like saying Hitler was male so if the world was a fair and righteous place we should have a female dictator who commits genocide and tries to take over the world. It’s just wrong!
As with any book of short stories there will be a mixed bunch. Some are better than others, but all of these left a sour taste in my mouth and stole some of the faith I had that human nature was basically good and kind. Ironically the authors who wrote the shortest stories were the most successful in fitting in a complete tale. Some of the longest ended leaving me confused and wondering what happened. It seemed they’d reached their maximum word count and just stopped. They might as well have stopped mid sentence for all the sense some of the endings made.
One thing this book does achieve is in provoking a reaction. I can imagine people who enjoy looking at a rubbish bag or an unmade bed as a new form of modern art would find this book extremely interesting.
If you’re like me and prefer to recycle your rubbish, do yourself a favour don’t buy this book and save a tree. [Angela Richardson]
Rating: 1 out of 5
Like this? Try This Is Chick Lit edited by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
