I debated between 2 and 3 stars for this book, but decided to go with 2 to balance the number of 5 star reviews. 5 stars for this book? Come on, now!

The essays are mostly all compelling to read-after all, they are all written by professional writers. And that is at the heart of the problem with this book. The essays on one hand seem all over the map (a whiny piece in which a 24 year old has mixed feelings about her boyfriend; a rumination on being fat) yet have this odd sameness to them. They are pretty much written from the same sensibility-white, middle to upper middle class, writers. The book would have been better if there were one main theme, for example, how marriage changes a woman, or the reality of marriage vs. societal expectations, but with different perspectives of age, class, profession, and race.

I also found many of the writers to be quite immature. I feel sorry for their children. The child or kids are just one more thing to fit into their overloaded calendars. Guess what? No matter how much of a feminist you are (and I am one), once you make the decision to have kids, it's your obligation to care for them. This applies to your husband or partner as well, though most of the men in this book were hardly more mature than the women. Though the recent book Happy Housewives kind of alarms me in some ways, I have more respect for that writer, who gave up (temporarily) her career as a TV producer or some such, to stay home with her young children, make good meals for them, play with them, etc. I know that all women don't have the luxury of staying home full time, and this is especially true for single mothers, but the many of the women in Bitch in the House, who can afford day care, nannies, etc.seem to regard motherhood as a nuisance, or at worst, something that fuels their anger.

I know these women are writing honestly, but for the most part the essays reveal their immaturity and self-absorption. Though fun and easy to read, the essays do not impart much insight. And "fun and easy to read" is not the same as writing gracefully. The voices all sound pretty much the same, which is probably due to the fact that they are mostly, as many reviewers have complained, white, privileged writers.

The only piece of writing I truly respected was not even one of the essays. It was a letter written to the first essayist from her mother, in response to the essay. Basically she told her daughter that she had it all wrong! The daughter had claimed that her mother was frustrated and quietly angry while raising her family, and the mother, now a satisfied professional, responded that the years of raising her family were the best of her life. So much for insight. What the hell does a 24 year old know of life? Especially those of today's prolonged adolescence generation?

Anyway, if you need a light book for a plane trip that is like a collection of magazine pieces, this would be a good choice. If you'd like a little depth with your whine, skip this book and just buy the latest issue of Oprah.

It will put you off relationships and I hope women are not this selfish and pathetic.

26 upper middle class women fantasize about being victims would be a more accurate cover note. I guess it is a writers talent to make "emcee birthday parties" sound like a daily chore. I'm sure that some women in this world are ready share their lives and not see life as a competition in their relationships.

Love is used often yet not one writer defined her definition of love.

The book contains many poor excuses for being a bitch so at least the title is accurate. I'm glad I don't live in NY.

The book is about anger. I felt anger reading the book so unless you are addicted to this emotion like many of the writers do not waste your life here.

To me, the lips painted in juicy red lipstick on the cover imply that the book is a racy provocative book and the theme of the book, women's anger, also promises more than it actually delivers.

This book is a series of essays by women, but most of the essays are about the relationships they have with their boyfriends or husbands and sometimes children. Also most of the women are writers and white upper middle class. So the essays share some commonalities but fortunately one of them is that they are articulate, though the amount of true self-analysis and therefore my interest in them varied. Some of the essays are brutally honest about the author's anger and its causes, while others seem to skirt around the underlying issues and make excuses for poor behavior.

I agree with the criticism that almost all these women have it better than most, and some of the essay authors acknowledge this. In fact the better more self-aware essays talked about how it was impossible to have it all, but many women get the message that having it all is the goal.

I think one of the goals of the books was to make it feel like conversations women might have with her girlfriends. Except with a girlfriend I'd know them and therefore be more interested in her experiences and unfortunately some of the authors did not write well enough and/or didn't understand that I was not automatically interested in hearing about their daily lives. Sometimes I thought "My god, are you really that petty?" So I also acknowledge the criticism that the book often felt too self-absorbed and poor little rich kid.

But all in all, perhaps because I am upper middle class, married and have two kids, I did enjoy reading the book, because it got me to think about my own anger and that I didn't want to be one of the women in some of the essays who yell at their husband and/or kids for no particular reason, because they refuse to take care of themselves out of some idea that this makes them a better person. It was more effective than reading a number of parenting books that tell you the same thing, because sometimes I identified with the situations portrayed in the essays.

It is a social commentary of our times. It was honest and the best part is that it is not patronizing. It does not tell me what is wrong with my life, rather it shares the experiences of women who are struggling to balance being a wife, a mother and a (successful?) career.

An frank and sometimes amusing look at modern woman and her efforts to cope with work, relationships and motherhood. These women write with extreme honesty and no bitterness.

The world has changed dramatically from the Victorian "Angel in the House" that Virginia Woolf railed against. And the fifties version of the same epitomized by June Cleaver. But all is not nirvana in the new world and the 24 essayist in this book address these issues in thought-provoking prose. All are involved in some form of endeavor in the written world and all can express themselves extremely well in that medium.

No matter the age or the stage the reader is, these essays resonate. My child rearing days are past but the book brought so many of the issues of those years tumbling back into my memory. Even in these days of so-called equality, it is difficult to manage the demands of career, relationships and children. The women in this book have the advantage for the most part to be able to afford some form of support and/or help. It is daunting to consider how it is for the less educated, well-paid mother who must work for a living (often at low wages) and still face the same challenges.

Witty and thought provoking.