Women Unbound! Finale

i just finished the second and final book i committed to read for the Women Unbound! Challenge!

i joined the challenge at the Philogynist level: "read at least two books, including at least one nonfiction one." and i did it! i've never done a blog reading challenge, so i'm pretty excited to complete my first one successfully! :)

here's my review of The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd.

my sister (Eli at Need More Shelves!) told me to read this book years ago; i'm not really sure why it took me so long. i've never read The Secret Life of Bees, or any of S.M.K's other work, but i guess i should have known how well-written it would be. i don't know why that surprised me so much, but wow. this woman sure can paint a picture. i often have trouble getting psyched up to read non-fiction. i buy the book thinking 'oh, that sounds fascinating!' with great intentions of diving right in and expanding my mental acuity...and then i pick up a novel and never get back around to reading the non-fiction. it's a bad habit, i know. but from the minute i opened up this book i was right there with the author, word by word, minute by minute, wanting to find out what she said, thought and discovered next.

another surprise to me was the context of this book. sue monk kidd used to be an evangelical christian women's author. !! she was (in her words) a "good daughter" of the church. this book is the testimony of her transformation, transfiguration, reconstruction, her journey.

her story is funny, sad, scary and inspiring. it's the story of a feminist awakening. i got chills when i read the section, which was one of the turning points for the author, where she came upon her daughter being heckled by two men. she described feeling rage, indignation and an unwillingness for her daughter, any daughter, to experience a lifetime of subordination and patriarchal repression.

this is also a story about a religious awakening. the author's exploration of ancient religious traditions focusing on feminine symbols of divinity is fascinating- i ate it right up. couldn't get enough. it's just so...validating...to read the truth about the origins of modern religion and why/how the female-centered traditions were suppressed. validating to know that all those misgivings i've had aren't crazy. validating to know that there really are other women out there who question the 'our father's and 'in his image's we've heard for so long.

i can't even begin to do this book justice here. suffice it to say, S.M.K. describes a journey from complacency to the Sacred Feminine that isn't yet finished. her experience is not presented as a prescription, but rather as an example of one woman's experience, which is refreshing and inspiring. i don't necessarily agree with every final conclusion or choice of the author's, but that's ok. i DO feel a real connection and empathy with her journey, and an appreciation for the path she is blazing with courage.

i'm definitely a fan. there were some parts of this story that were, for me, a little bit hippy-dippy (i'm just too cynical, even when try not to be)...but generally speaking, there was something on just about every single page that resonated deeply with me.

do yourself a favor: read this book. especially if you grew up in the church and consider yourself in any way a feminist. you'll be glad you did. i sure am!

Women Unbound! Update

Well, I've finally finished my first of two books for the Women Unbound! challenge I joined this year! I've just completed The Robber Bride, by Margaret Atwood. Here are my thoughts:

I will admit- this book took me a little while to get in the groove. I loved two other Atwood novels, (A Handmaid's Tale, and Oryx & Crake), but hadn't read anything of hers that wasn't dystopian/sci-fi yet. Turns out, I sort of prefer that style to this one. The Robber Bride is the story of four women, friends since college, and the connections and disconnections throughout their lives, fueled by the antics of Zenia, the sexpot friend whose life is either enviable or pitiable, depending on whether she has stolen your husband yet.

I just felt like this story was a little bit anti-climactic. Atwood does (as always) create such realistic, identifiable and unique characters. These women are fascinating people. But their story unfolded a little slowly for my taste. Also, I wanted at least one of them to find their ultimate self-worth apart from their husbands (or the loss thereof). But they were focused almost exclusively on holding on to the men. As I read, I kept saying to myself, "Why do they let her get away with wreaking all this havoc on their lives?" The 'girl drama' actually became a little distracting, for me.

Overall, I did enjoy the story, but it didn't compel me. I appreciate the interesting female characters, (and they were interesting), but in the end, I was hoping for a little more adventure, and that just isn't the kind of book this was.

I definitely haven't been put off of reading Atwood. Her prose is always gorgeous, and I look forward to the next opportunity to read her work.

Women Unbound!

well this is cool!

Women Unbound reading challenge, recommended to me by my sister, (who, by the way, blogs at As Usual, I Need More Bookshelves. Check her out!)

hmm...i've never posted any book reviews, but this feminist reading challenge is perfect for me, because i can join the challenge at a lower level of commitment ("Philogynist: read at least two books, including at least one nonfiction one.") to just dip my toes in. :)

so i suppose i should pick a couple of books...i might have to cheat and choose from my sister's list (she is, after all, my personal librarian- i don't even bother picking books on my own any more!) ok, the two books i will ready by November 30, 2010 are:

Fiction: The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood
(yay! my sister had this on her list, which reminded me that i actually already have this book!)

Non-Fiction: ???
i confess, i don't read as much non-fiction as i'd like. (well, i don't read as much as i'd like PERIOD, but particularly not non-fiction.) but i think i've got something at home i can commit to reading...just need to choose. my non-fiction choice is TBA.

ETA: I'm going to choose from these three, apparently thematic, non-fiction choices:

Dance of the Dissident Daughter, Sue Monk Kidd

When God was a Woman, Merlin Stone

Out of the Garden: Women Writers on the Bible, ed. Christina Buchmann & Celina Spiegel

also, here's the Women Unbound meme to get us started:

1. What does feminism mean to you? Does it have to do with the work sphere? The social sphere? How you dress? How you act?
feminism, to me, is best summed up by the deceptively simple quotation "...feminism is the radical notion that women are people"
although i would probably add one clarification: feminism is the radical notion that women are people who are of equal value, worth and deserving of rights as male people.
doesn't that sound logical? reasonable? and yet it is still undeniably revolutionary.
this applies in every sphere, because in every sphere, women are treated unequally.

2. Do you consider yourself a feminist? Why or why not?
yes, yes, a thousand times YES.

3. What do you consider the biggest obstacle women face in the world today? Has that obstacle changed over time, or does it basically remain the same?
i personally believe violence against women is (should be) the most pressing issue for feminists. the gendercide (literally) of women across the globe is a direct result of the worldwide and historic de-valuing of women as people. when women are not considered to be equal in worth to men, they are abused. they are by default considered to be automatic prey, and unworthy of equal protections, rights and/or dignities. this doesn't happen just to poor women, or uneducated women, or bad women, or good women, or white women or black women or asian women, or straight women, or women who 'should know better' or women who 'asked for it' or to victims. it happens to every woman.

our very culture de-values women on a daily basis, as do cultures around the world.
male = normal and female = not (less than) male.

the more women and men who
1. live by example and treat women with equal respect and dignity every day, and who
2. speak out and stand up against violence against women in every form (verbal, physical, sexual, psychological, overt, covert, institutionalized, racial, religious, educational, professional, personal), and who
3. teach children that women do have equal worth, and sexism, violence against women and inequality are unnaccepatable...

the more quickly change will come.

thanks Eli!!!