Our Shared Shelf discussion

I just received the book (a little late) from my university library. I'm having such a hard time getting through it as it is so dense (and that is coming from a Sociology minor). I love the stories and myths, but I cannot jive with her analysis. She continually repeats the same thought and has too many adjectives to count, at least so far. Both of these things are distracting from the point she is trying to make. Hoping this lessens as I move forward as it is such a lengthy book and I would love to really get sucked into it as I did with all the other OSS picks.

Really looking forward to discovering some new ideas and feelings throughout, but not quite there yet. :)

Heather I feel exactly the same. I got it about at week ago after ordering online and I do feel like she repeats herself a lot and it is such a big book to get through so I'm constantly thinking to myself 'get to the point' or 'you've made the point!'.
I am only a quarter of the way through I do hope it gets easier to read. The stories that pop up are keeping me going and so far I am enjoying it (minus the above rant)
:)

i think she made her point from the beginning - that our true nature as women is wild and wonderful, not trapped and stifled. she has collected a myriad of stories from all over that repeat and reinforce this point from many angles.

they also want explaining as to the underpinnings of our psyche, all the convolutions and connections that touch on our wildness, our nature even to a cellular level. when i read this, i simply try to absorb it all into my bones, let it stew and renew me.

this is the second time i'm reading it, and i just want to let it speak to me at this point in my life. i read it some 10 yrs. ago, and i was a different person then for many reasons. so far, it has reaffirmed what i've battled for, and makes me stronger.

I read this before in my youth and I don' think I appreciated then as I do now.

I have read this book several times. I read it for the first time almost ten years ago and was surprised to see how many people thought of it a horrible book. It is horrible but I saw it as the perfect example of female survival.

I've read it before years and years ago. however, I wanted to re-read it for this group but I am having such a hard time staying focussed. wah

I'm really not sure how I feel about this book. It has taken me a while to get through and I must admit it was a bit of a slog in areas. I couldn't honestly say that I enjoyed reading it.

For me, the parts of the book that I did really enjoy were the old stories and folk tales that were collected within the book and distrbuted throughout the author's own narrative. However, a lot of the Jungian physcoanalysis and theories really washed over me. There would be the odd bit that would jump out here and there but I often found myself reading these passages and thinking, is this for real? There is a passage in the chapter 'Homing: Returning to Oneself', where the author writes;

"I always laugh when I hear somone quoting early anthropologists who claimed that menstruating women of various tribes were considered 'unclean' and forced to leave the village until they were 'over it' All women know that ieven if there were such a forced ritual exile, every single woman, would, when her time came, leave the village hanging her head mournfully, at least till she was out of sight, and then suddenly break into a jig down tha path, cackling all the way."

I re-read this because I couldn't actually believe what I had read the first time. Not only did this definitely happen across many cultures and continents, but it still does until this day. Look at Nepal, where the chaupadi tradition forces menstruating women to sleep outside in sheds, outbuildings, caves, or with animals and girls are kept out of school. These women can die of exposure, illness caused by the conditions they have to stay in, isolated and devoid of touch as they are 'contaminated' by menstruation. These women and girls are not breaking into jigs and cackling, rubbing their hands together at the thought of some alone time, and to insinuate otherwise is dangerous and damaging. I might be reading too much into this but this is just one example where I found this book to be dismissive of issues which are REAL and affect many women around the world, and it really put me off the book.

It appears to me that unless you can completely buy into the author's view that we are all 'wild' at heart, running around barefoot and chanting and drumming and howling like wolves, then you're doing it wrong, this whole womanhood thing. And I don't buy it.

Did anyone else have any struggles/issues with this book? I think most of the posts I have read seem to really love it so I may be in the minority here, but I found there to be so many conflicting lines of argument put forward in it and I wasn't really a fan.

Claire wrote: "I'm really not sure how I feel about this book. It has taken me a while to get through and I must admit it was a bit of a slog in areas. I couldn't honestly say that I enjoyed reading it.

For me, ..."

Okay, so we're both in the minority. I didn't even finish it.
And that's the problem with "early anthropologists": You have to check the data again, and it is really awful to not be more specific. It is also hard to imagine that women are happy about it in their cultures, it's at least not everywhere the case. So, to summarize it: Very flawed.

Keith wrote: "MeerderWörter wrote: "Okay, so we're both in the minority. I didn't even finish it.
And that's the problem with "early anthropologists": You have to check the data again, and it is really awful to ..."

I'm reading there all the time, Keith. I need to look after everyone:)

Keith wrote: "MeerderWörter wrote: "Okay, so we're both in the minority. I didn't even finish it.
And that's the problem with "early anthropologists": You have to check the data again, and it is really awful to ..."

Normally I don't read much, but I read everything in all the topics that I write in.
And I didn't read your comment as mansplaining. You just wanted to remind us of something:)

Yes! I read this book in 1992, after it had first come out, with my mom and her book club. I was 17 and it was an amazing and great shared experience. Since then have read sections throughout years and just recently read again in full. So many transitions between my first reading and now, so many changes, so much more that radiates at this stage in life than when about to graduate high school...yet the same. Absolutely one of my top 5 books.

I read this book 4 years ago as research for something that is just now coming into being. I thought it was phenomenal - I still think it's something every woman should read.
But something very interesting happened while reading it that I thought I might share. I read it publicly and openly - and I have never been judged by strangers and friends - almost entirely male friends - more often for reading a particular book. I don't know what they saw on the cover, but I know that they started treating me differently after seeing me with it - like maybe I wasn't a very smart or "cool" woman after all. I find that telling.