Book Review: Bitter is the New Black by Jen Lancaster & Summer Reading Challenge Update

If you've been following, you know I set a challenge for myself back in early June to read 20 books this summer. This is to help fulfill my yearly challenge or 50 books. I failed miserably last year and thought if I took advantage of my time off in the summer, I could get a lot more read. 


I'd like to think that I'm right on schedule: I just passed the 10-book mark! I have not reviewed them all (yet) but the one I just finished is "Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass, or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office: A Memoir" by Jen Lancaster. 


Here's a synopsis (from Goodreads): 


This is the story of how a haughty former sorority girl went from having a household income of almost a quarter-million dollars to being evicted from a ghetto apartment... It's a modern Greek tragedy, as defined by Roger Dunkle in The Classical Origins of Western Culture: a story in which "the central character, called a tragic protagonist or hero, suffers some serious misfortune which is not accidental and therefore meaningless, but is significant in that the misfortune is logically connected."

In other words? The bitch had it coming.


My Thoughts:


I had high hopes for this book. It is the first one I have read by Jen Lancaster and her titles are always so funny. I will give her credit - she can be a pretty comical person. And she's honest: condescending, egomaniacal and self-centered are all very good words to describe her. The first chapter alludes to "the bitch had it coming," so as I was continuing with the book, I was hoping that at some point a lesson would be learned, she would change her ways or thoughts about others, etc. In the final chapter, she says something along the lines of "I've learned nothing." It's unfortunate and, again, true.
I found myself horribly irritated and trying to get through the middle part to find out how this horrible person would change for the better. I never fully got my wish. Granted, she does learn that money isn't everything and learns to find value in small things in life (and even makes a major career change due to her learning) but the "I'm better than you" and "You're disgusting, homeless, filthy, immigrant hippies" part about her never seems to go away. I can understand a certain level of aversion towards certain populations, but honestly much of this book bordered on offensive.
Maybe it's just because I'm a worthless, cretin social worker (surely, in Jennsylvania this would be true...) and I have an ounce of empathy for others, but I just did not find her mean spirited comments or self pity that entertaining or hilarious. I suppose if that's your type of humor, you'd enjoy this book. As for me, if I decide to read anything else by this author, I'll be getting it from the library (you know, where the poor people go?) and not spending $13 on the download. Disappointed.


Final Word: C-