The Bitch in the House

This is one of those cleverly titled packages that work better in print than as an audiobook. A husband (Daniel Jones) and wife (Cathy Hanauer) capitalize on the success of Hanauer's tell-all women's essay compilation, THE BITCH IN THE HOUSE, with a new collection of essays read aloud by the mollified and mortified husbands living today's version of middle and upper-middle-class life. Most of these skilled writers (yet very unskilled readers) belong to the latte-and-angst club, questioning the balance in their marriages as they juggle home, job, kids, budget. Here's where the battle of the sexes meets yuppie hell...so if you love daytime talk shows, buy this audiobook immediately. D.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

June 17, 2002
In the spirit of Virginia Woolf, who wrote of killing the "Angel in the House," these 26 women—mostly professional writers—focus on the inner "bitch": the frustration, anger and rage that's never far from the surface of many women's lives. They sound off on the difficult decisions of living with lovers, marrying, staying single and having children. Those who haven't chosen the single life are almost always frustrated by their mates' incompetence or their toddlers' neediness. (They reserve special scorn for overly laid-back live-in lovers content to live off a hardworking woman's checkbook.) While a handful of entries touch other sources of anger—being criticized for one's weight, simultaneously caring for ailing parents and a young family, coping with a husband who's out to win his baby daughter's loyalty—most focus on the love vs. work problem. For many of these women, this means a struggle over the right to be a bitch and inflict unpleasantness on others for the sake of a higher goal (one's work) versus the feminine imperative to "make nice." While unbridled rage is terribly cathartic—even in print—it's the quieter moments that provide more food for thought. Daphne Merkin's observation that she's "more equipped to handle the risks of loneliness than those of intimacy" and thus better off divorced, or Nancy Wartik's thought that "some compromises might actually be healthy," will ring true for many readers. Others may find it comforting to know that even smart, articulate, successful women can have deeply unsettled inner lives. Agent, Elizabeth Kaplan. (On sale Sept. 17)Forecast:With a classy list of contributors (ranging from Natalie Angier to Vivian Gornick), and first serial rights sold to
O magazine,
Elle,
Glamour and
Self, this one will find an enthusiastic readership.