#BookReview: Bitch is the New Black - Helena Andrews

I hate to jump on the bandwagon for anything.  Twitter was all abuzz about this book earlier this summer and I refused to put it on my to be read list just because I'm stubborn like that.  I'm a book snob at times and no one whose opinion I really valued had read or reviewed it, so I figured it might or might not be worthy of a read, but it could languish on my list until the library or publisher sent it my way.

Let me say that I neither loved or hated Bitch is the New Black.  I read tweets from some people that said they wouldn't read it based on the title alone.  I had no problem with the title.  I did have a problem with the author's delivery.  I'm a big fan of snark and I think she was going for snark, but fell short.  It's almost as if she was trying to be the professional version of Angela Nissel (Broke Girl Diaries) and didn't quite make it.  Broke Girl was hilarious.  This was just meh.

Billed as a memoir, it's really a disjointed series of shorts about her being raised by a nomadic, lesbian mother and her conversations with her BFF.  In between are stories about her dating adventures and the unexpected death of a close friend.  Though some of the stories made me cackle lightly, none produced any laugh out loud moments.

What did you like about this book?
It wasn't my cup of tea, but I think it's important in that it gives readers a broader view of young, African American women.  So many characters in popular lit are down trodden and living in poverty.  With the book being optioned by Shonda Rhimes, creator of Grey's Anatomy, it's nice to know that the story of the everyday black woman will be told.

What didn't you like about this book?
It didn't flow well at all.


What could the author do to improve this book?
It's her memoir. What can you tell someone? Live better?

241pp
Published June 2010

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