Today’s book review comes at the request of the author Alana Munro after she read my review of Hanna Gray Gordon’s book, The Vu. I must have done something right for her to request it knowing that I will be brutally honest about it. To be fair, this is about as honest as I’ll get. Don’t be scared of what I’ll say, but don’t be surprised by it, either.
Women Behaving Badly is a book that had me thinking hard after I was done reading it. For non-fiction, it moved along at a good pace so I wasn’t bored out of my mind before the first five pages were done. It is a book full of truth and insight that too many women don’t see in themselves or in those who they are friends with.
It also had me looking at myself in a new light. I’m not as bad as some out there who manipulate others and try to take control of everything whether they are wanted or not. Perhaps that is why I, like the author, was never really accepted into a group of women. Or, if I was, never there for very long.
Book Blurb from Amazon:
Have you ever been hurt by a woman? Are you fed up with the constant bitching, gossiping and manipulation between the females in your life? Do you want happier and healthier relationships with females? Do you wish to weed out the toxic women and seek out only positive women?
If you have ever wondered why some women are complicated creatures this book will offer you straight talking answers. This book will highlight all the strange, controlling and spiteful behaviours that some females specialise in. This book attempts to understand what actually drives women to be cruel or bitchy to each other. It attempts to make sense of the huge expectations women place on each other. How can we avoid toxic women? What bad behaviours should we be looking out for? This book explores every cruel behaviour possible and attempts to understand what is really going on between the females in our life.
Alana goes into depth about the different types of bad women out there. She covers everything from the forces-of-nature types who have to be number one in everything and the center of attention, to the one who do little but gripe about one thing or another whether it pertains to them or not. (Something which I am guilty of) She speaks of women who get all snobby and angry because (OMG) your life gets in the way of the special event that they spent so much time making perfect.
You know, I can be accused of many things, but being that kind of person? No way, I’d be slapped silly by my mom and I‘m in my 40s, now.
She goes on to explain that the way the world views us as ‘the fairer sex’ and we are not allowed to seem too strong or be labeled as a, pardon the language, a bitch and not worth the attention or too weak and be considered less than what we are. The world sees women in the light that we are not allowed to fight, we must keep the peace. We are allowed to show emotion and boy do we show it. With everything that we must do on top of being mom, sister, nurse, doctor, housewife, cook, maid, what have you, there’s no reason why we explode and behave like we do under stressful conditions.
All in all, I found the book worth purchasing. There are many points in there that struck a bell and she points at herself as much as she does anyone else. The stories she adds to emphasize her point at the end of each section set in stone what was just explained.
It isn’t a big book. I read this on my smart phone using the Kindle app. So, whatever 1991 is broken down to in a regular book would equal to something shy of a chapbook, roughly 117 pages.
Will I read this book again? Maybe. It will be a good reference to get an idea of how a forceful personality shows, or how a motherly type works when a jealous type are talking. But, I’ll be loaning this book to my sister-in-law who really should be taking notes on how to behave from this book.
For my star rating, I’m going to be honest here, non-fiction is not my favorite kind of reading and it always (including this book) requires the effort to open the book and continue reading after interruptions. That being said, I give it a 3.5 on the star scale. It’s good, but the overall tone made it difficult for me to not just yell at the phone while I was reading. Still, I like it and will recommend it to others who also find themselves on the outer fringes of a group and don’t know why.
P.S.
Now, because of this book, I am stating this now; I am sorry if my behavior was bad, or if I said something that wasn’t considered good or even right. I have always been told to speak up and try to be as honest as I can.
Which brings to mind the trip to Wichita last year… the behavior I showed in the car going there, constantly bringing up the story idea, that was very bad and not like me at all. I was both nervous and excited about being included (which rarely happens) and it showed in the worst possible way. Feel free to give me a brain-duster if it ever happens again. That is, if I’m ever included again.
My thanks to Alana Munro for creating this book. Someone needed to do it and I hope to see other works from her soon.
Candace Gauger 