Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same: The Life and Times of Some Chickens [Hardcover]

Sloane Tanen (Author), Stefan Hagen (Photographer), Matt Lenning (Designer)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 5, 2003

Chickens show off their human side in Sloane Tanen's irresistible dioramas.

With more personality than most people have to spare, New York artist Sloane Tanen's tiny yellow chickens negotiate the tricky modern world, filled with three-headed blind dates, menacing KFCs, playground popularity battles, and annoyingly crowded yoga classes. They perch amid doll furniture, in scenes photographed in glorious color and brilliantly captioned- and their lives will strike you as strangely familiar...

Charming, spiky with off-kilter wit (or waxing jobs gone terribly wrong), and somehow larger than life, these chickens win the hearts of all who behold them.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Wee, bright yellow, plastic chicks complain about shopping, calories and boyfriends in this sassy volume by visual artist Tanen. The collection features full-page color photographs in which the author's tiny, beady-eyed chicks confront a hilarious selection of modern (and sometimes fantastical) situations. In one picture, for example, a chick expresses frustration over a crowded exercise class ("Maude was peeved. Her 3:30 yoga class was full again. Didn't anybody work in this town?"). In another, a princess chick stares at the frog sitting on her bed and decides to terminate their relationship ("Anastasia was through making out with Ian. He was never going to change.") The chicks are darling, and the dioramas in which Tanen places them are perfect. This satirical take on the trials and tribulations of the modern, urbane female is sure to please the very sort it gently teases.
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About the Author

Sloane Tanen's work has been exhibited in a number of shows and can be found in private and corporate collections in Manhattan, Boston, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. She received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and holds graduate degrees in literary theory from NYU and in art history from Columbia University. She lives with her husband in New York City.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 80 pages
• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA; 1St Edition edition (November 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582343764
• ISBN-13: 978-1582343761
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 9.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,767 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

SLOANE TANEN is the creator of the bestselling adult book Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same as well as four other books for adults and children featuring her clever chick dioramas. She received a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and holds graduate degrees in literary theory from New York University, and in art history from Columbia University. She lives with her husband and son in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deceptively simple idea, but really, really funny, August 31, 2004

By 

Andrew S. Rogers (Stamford, Connecticut) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same: The Life and Times of Some Chickens (Hardcover)

It's a little hard to explain this book to someone who hasn't seen it: "See, she takes these little plastic chicks and surrounds them with dollhouse furniture and takes pictures of them, then writes these hilarious captions...". About this time, the person you're talking to is giving you an odd look, and you close lamely with "You'd just have to see it. It's really funny."

But the thing is, it IS really funny. I gave it to my lovely bride as a birthday present after she kept returning to it at the store and laughing at one image after another. Now, we're taking turns browsing through it again and again. "Sleep with one eye open, mother." "Princess Gwyneth's money was on Puff." Great stuff.

"Bitter with Baggage" kind of reminds me of the Monty Python fish-slapping dance sketch: it's a good test of whether someone has even a rudimentary sense of humor. If they do, they're sure to get at least a chuckle out of this, and maybe a lot more.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do the Chicken Dance, January 7, 2005

By 

Jill Zimmer "Bean" (Columbus, IN United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same: The Life and Times of Some Chickens (Hardcover)

Not every one will GET this book. It is sort of like puns - and how some people like Seinfeld, and some hate him, etc. But this book is totally imaginative and artistic. Personally, I laughed hard. Put it down. Picked it up and laughed again. It is particularly funny if you used to play with those little fuzzy chickens made of fuzz and glue from the Easter baskets.

If your sense of humor is somewhat whacky, the book is more than well worth it. Besides, it will make you smile.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great gift for that whacked friend..., June 3, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Bitter with Baggage Seeks Same: The Life and Times of Some Chickens (Hardcover)

I read this whole book while shopping at the mall, bought it for a friend, then took it home and read through it three more times. I don't want to mail it; I want to keep it and read it every day after work. Maybe I'll buy another one for myself.