It's Not That I'm Bitter . . .: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World [Hardcover]

Gina Barreca (Author)

Book Description

Release date: May 12, 2009

In a world where eye cream is made from placenta, Gina Barreca is the lone voice calling out “But wait, whose placenta is it?”  She asks the crucial questions: Why is there no King Charming? Why does no bra ever fit? Why are there no tutus in XL? Why do more intelligent women have trusted psychics than have trusted financial advisors?  While she definitely wants everyone to know that she's not bitter, Gina does want to know why no one realizes that Anne Bancroft was only thirty-six when she played Mrs. Robinson, the quintessential cougar. In "It's Not That I'm Bitter..." Gina shouts out her message to women everywhere: “You are smart enough to conquer the world, so please stop weeping when you try on bathing suits at T.J. Maxx.”  As Gina declares "The world lies to us and we want to believe.  We want to believe that, if we wear a pair of palazzo pants with a latex escape hatch built into the stomach area, we’ll appear five pounds slimmer instantly… We torture ourselves, even though we are smart broads."  In deliciously quotable essays on the ability of both chin hairs and tweezers to affect your life, the reason every woman believes she’s crazy, the possibility that the "glass ceiling" may just be a thick layer of men, and thoughts on intimate conversations she’d have with Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin, Barreca gleefully rejects the emotional torture, embraces the limitless laughter, and shows other women how they can conquer the world with a sharp wit, good shoes and not a single worry about VPLs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fans of Nora Ephron's I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman will find humor along with serious insights about women and aging in Barreca's latest challenge to women to stop obsessing over hymens, husbands, and hangnails and once again direct our attention outward to the larger issues of... the creation of genuinely significant opportunities for women in all workplaces. But Barreca (Perfect Husbands & Other Fairy Tales) is more about laughs than lecturing, as she addresses the mysteries of finding the perfect bra, the indignities of bathing suit shopping at TJ Maxx, her relationship with her hair and the Fifty-two Things I Learned by Fifty-one. Along the way, she points out what she considers to be the insipid concerns of holiday preparations or what exactly women may consider to be a waste of time (Why, oh why, didn't I organize my closet according to color and texture of garment?). Between the snappy observations, Barreca takes an opportunity to liken the progression of contemporary feminist thought to a car accident—it's not so much that we're in a backlash as we're in a whiplash. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

While some may debate whether Barreca’s collection of short essays are painfully funny or humorously painful, many will agree these eminently readable pieces will have people laughing out loud, then sighing thoughtfully. Her observations as a 50-ish woman focus on life’s sexual inequities: “If women had tufts growing from our noses and ears, men would bring exorcists to the house. . . . Professionals to drive the evil spirits from our bodies.” And on the subject of age: “Once we hit forty, women have only about four taste buds left: one for vodka, one for wine, one for cheese, and one for chocolate.” Using the first-person plural, she chronicles all-too-common collective foolishness: “Almost no woman would treat any of her acquaintances as poorly as she treats herself.” Many readers, especially women, will enjoy, discuss, and reread this quick, breezy work of commentary, a book that stirs up dust long after its covers are closed. --Whitney Scott

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (May 12, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312547269
• ISBN-13: 978-0312547264
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #596,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! Hysterical! summer reading June 3, 2009

By mechanical bird

Format:Hardcover

Gina's new book is incredibly funny--really stupendous summer reading!! I have too many favorite parts to list, but I'm particularly tickled by the GWDLTWWs (the Guys We Don't Like to Work With) and the chapter called "If You Don't Pay Your Exorcist, Do You Get Repossessed?" Your fellow sunbathers might look at you strangely on the beach because you're doing that snorty laugh you have no control over, but isn't it worth it? I mean really.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "Bitter" is just plain SWEET! June 5, 2009

By Maria S. Marmanides

Format:Hardcover

I love Barreca because her wit is hysterical, never caustic. It's everything you want out of observational humor without it becoming this myopic, "me, me, me" story - Eat, Pray, Love and Jen Lancaster, I'm looking in YOUR direction as I write this. Barreca shows that you can show male/female foibles in a funny, relatable, human way without isolating anyone, whether we can relate to chin hair, divorce, a wacky internal thermometer or not. I love this author and will recommend it every woman AND man I know!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hysterical and smart June 26, 2009

By Dan

Format:Hardcover

She's done it again. I was honored to see her speak in Hartford recently; she's a blend of Chris Rock and Joan Rivers, with remarkable quickness and improv. She's going to be around for a long time, and this book is an example, raising the bar on gender issues and humorous musings. Great book!