Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave | 
 enlarge | Creator: Ellen Sussman
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 307821
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Pages: 304
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.4 x 1
ISBN: 0393331954
Dewey Decimal Number: 810
EAN: 9780393331950
ASIN: 0393331954
Publication Date: July 21, 2008
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Product Description
B"Makes for seriously sexy (and smart) summer reading."#151;IElle/I/BBRBR"I behave badly to set myself apart. To test myself. To push myself. To prove something. To shock someone....I behave badly because I can." That's how Ellen Sussman describes her mischievous endeavors. In this anthology of personal essays, she's invited twenty-five other bad girl writers to share their stories. Ann Hood lies; Mary Roach confesses. Erica Jong, the original bad girl, challenges her own claim to that fame. Caroline Leavitt marries and cheats. These pages bristle with danger. The writers dig deep#151;bad behavior lies in their souls. And what they bring to the surface reveals telling truths about our psyches and our society. Reading group guide included.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Not bad, just smart, normal girls (3.75 *s) September 24, 2008
One Man's View (Lawrenceville, GA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Perhaps the notion of a book on "bad girl" behavior may bring to mind a version of "Girls Gone Wild," but with few exceptions the personal accounts in this collection do not involve sexual escapades. Much of the behavior in these essays falls into such categories as breaking rules, rebelling against authority, flouting conventions, and even self-destructiveness. A lot of the behavior could perhaps better be seen as pushing against constraints imposed by parents and institutions that make growing up difficult. Some of the behavior in these essays may be more painful to witness or experience than it is liberating. br / br /Many of the women write of the oppressiveness of school in their teenage years, especially religious and boarding schools. The resentment and difficulties of those experiences may be best seen when one author, Susan Cheever, returns to her school as an esteemed alumnus and proceeds to wear out her welcome by reading a sexually explicit passage from her work in front of an assembly of students. Family estrangement is well represented from Pam Houston's reluctance to attend her father's funeral to Susan Casey's skipping Christmas with her parents. Personal insecurities played out in the form of being a habitual liar or being bulimic are certainly more painful than bad. br / br /It is highly unlikely that the subject of "sexual awakening" would not be a part of a bad girl collection. Much of that occurs under the restrictions of the aforementioned schools and parents. In addition, both Mary Roach and M.J. Rose write of the sexual charged atmosphere of the confessional; Ellen Sussman writes of nascent erogenous feelings in make out sessions; Joyce Maynard, as a teenager, goes from good girl to being mistress of J.D. Salinger for a year; Maggie Estep, under the influence of a slutty girlfriend, is initiated to sexual experience by an older horse thief; and Katherine Weber experiences closeness on the top of the World Trade Center. More adventuresome are the exploits of Tobin Levy, who flies cross-country for a marathon sexual encounter, and Kim Addonizio, who taps a lucky stranger on the shoulder in a bar. br / br /Essays on listening to loud music and driving too fast don't work so well. In addition, Daphne Merkin's attempt to get up close and personal with male anatomy lacks focus. As in all such collections, the essays have mixed appeal, are often incomplete, and are a bit repetitious. Nonetheless, they do legitimately capture female experiences. br / br /Leave it to Erica Jong in the last essay to lend some perspective on bad girls. She contends, "The very notions of good and bad girls are dictated by male fears." In her estimation, a bad girl is no more than a "full human being." The essays back her up. They all depict real world, common behavior. These writers are all wonderful girls in their complexity and ability to communicate their experiences. Not a bad one among them. br / br /PS - To read perhaps more gripping stories than these, five of these authors are also contributors to "The Other Woman" ed by Victoria Zackheim. They are Cheever, Houston, Leavitt, Sussman, and Weber. Teenage "badness" pales in comparison to marriages gone bad. br /
BAD GIRLS ARE WORTHY... September 6, 2007
Lana M. Ho-Shing (NY. USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
As I read this Anthology, I was forced to look at myself really hard. There had to be a bad girl in me...where was she? I became frightened by the third or so story that perhaps my good girl had eaten my bad girl and now I must forever live a dull uninteresting life, with nothing to report. br /What would I be living for? Where was the "She" that put down my foundation? br / br /Every woman has a bad girl tucked away smiling and cocky.. These 26 writers had me laughing and crying and stunned all at once. Such an execellent read with a great bottle of wine...I unearthed my bad girl and plan to keep her aloft as a mentor. br /
 Funny and Sad and Wonderful August 26, 2007
Meg Waite Clayton (Palo Alto, CA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
These refreshingly frank essays will leave you crying and laughing out loud. From Kaui Hart Hemmings "Author Questionnaire" and Lolly Winston's "Turn it Up!" (the two funniest) to Erica Jong's "My Dirty Secret" and Ellen Sussman's "Consider the Slut" (two of the most thought-provoking) to "Carolynn Leavitt's "Bad Dancer" and Joyce Maynard's "A Good Girl Goes Bad" (both frank and moving), this collection will have you reconsidering and embracing the bad girl--in a very good way.
"Bad girls are not born but made." August 20, 2007
Luan Gaines (Dana Point, CA USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
I began reading about bad girl behavior (although "girl" is a bit disconcerting) with a favorite author's offering, Susan Straight's "Reckless". Returning to the wild days of rock and roll, fast cars and a brother who shared the heady freedom of her childhood, Straight describes the heart-racing thrill of flying over a dusty road, pedal to the metal, music blaring, the scent of cannabis in the air. Because I came of age in the same area and experienced a similar joy in racing my mother's car on back roads, I could easily empathize with such abandonment, if only temporary, touched by the personal loss that remains part of those sweet memories. br / br /Katherine Weber writes about the night she and a close friend climbed an as yet unfinished tower of the World Trade Center, ready for the future from the ninety-ninth floor, the wind howling in the night. Years later, she remembers the exquisite sensation, one of the first people to enjoy the stunning view, the foolish plans of untested youth before the changes the years bring. So far my "Bad Girl" selections have proved nostalgic, but I've yet to encounter any really naughty behavior as promised in the title. Perhaps Erica Jong will restore my faith in "My Dirty Secret". Uh, oh. Jong's bad girl is, after all, a fraud: "She is my self-created monster." Rather than a revealing essay, Jong renders an apology on female writers, claiming women writers are treated similarly to female politicians: "damned for being all the things they need to be in order to be heard", for example, Hillary Clinton, Arianna Huffington, and feminist history's heroine, Queen Elizabeth I. br / br /In "Lying", Ann Hood sits through a makeover in Bendel's, lying about every aspect of her life to appear more mysterious. Staring at the visionary creature in the mirror, long-lashed, full-lipped, Hood manufactures the appropriate persona, not a suburban woman who will soon be boarding a train to Rhode Island. Proudly claiming a heritage of self-professed liars, Hood confesses to indulging all the time, but "I never lie about things that matter". Desperate now, I turn to Elizabeth Benedict's "The Thrill of a Well-Placed F***". What was I thinking? Benedict shares her struggle to balance language with propriety and the sheer joy of a string of expletives. Looking back, she is more judicious, not particularly anxious to pass this habit along. br / br /Eventually I discover a few gems, like Daphne Merkin's intriguing essay on male anatomy, but the pithy topic is weighted with innuendo and a temptation to snicker, even after all these years. At least Merkin fulfills the title's promise of sizzling hot confessions in this compilation. Though the collection is thoroughly entertaining, I was hoping for a bit more salacious material, somewhat disappointed but engaged as well. Perhaps what seems so exciting and dangerous when we are young only evokes nostalgia through the bifocals of time. If this is all we have to share with our daughters, they will never believe that we engaged in the spontaneity and questionable judgment of youth, that we too thought we could change the world. Luan Gaines/2007. br / br / br / br /
Don't miss it! July 18, 2007
S. Goodman (New York, NY USA)
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is a must read book. The different essays will make you laugh and cry, but mostly they'll make you think about your own "bad" experiences. Couldn't put it down.
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