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March 24, 2006
Bitch Posse by Martha O'Connor
"Want to put the puzzle together?
Your weakness is your strength.
Lose your mind to find your heart.
Through rage, make peace.
Dig deep. Make it hurt. Make it bleed."
-- from the Bitch Posse Notebook
I must come clean with you. I am not a fan of Chick Lit, nor am I a fan of anything that is written in reaction to Chick Lit. I tend to shy away from anything with an excess of pink on the cover or a title that sounds overly hip or kitschy to make a point. Furthermore, I grow bored with books about shopping or shoes or women in their "Sex and the City" quest to buck the male-dominated society while still managing to "find" a suitable man who fits into their cookie cutter version of reformed-bad-boy-turned-sensitive-and-responsible (yet still blazing in bed!) perfection. Frankly, I find this type of blathering somewhat tiresome in life, so why would I want to spend my free time reading about it…even if I do happen to be on the beach?
Every once in a blue moon, however, I come across a book that in some way, shape, or form seems like a not-too-distant bedfellow to the aforementioned genre of Chick Lit/reaction-to-Chick-Lit Lit, and (gasp!) I actually enjoy reading it. Such was the case when I picked up Martha O'Connor's debut novel, THE BITCH POSSE. Yes, bare skin is shown on the cover, and sure, there happens to be a pink stripe off to the right of said bare skin, and of course the two women who belong to (once again) the bare skin happen to be sitting erotically close to each other. Fine. Now that I've pointed out that the externals of this book seem to represent everything I dislike about contemporary women's fiction, I will admit that I found my reading experience to be quite unabashedly satisfying.
THE BITCH POSSE chronicles the crisscrossed lives of three young women, first as seniors in high school, then as "grown-up" women in their mid-30s. As the point-of-view bounces from one girl to the other, back and forth between 1988 (their senior year) and 2003 (the present), the muddled puzzle begins to slowly piece together until, ultimately, readers are left with a no-holds barred, fully disclosed "Aha!" moment at the novel's conclusion. As we turn the last page, we not only uncover the dastardly, unmentionable secret that each girl has been separately yet collectively guarding since high school, but we also must grapple with the gritty, peeled back version of what each girl's life has unfortunately become and therefore fall witness to the fallibility of life, the indelibility of choices, and the delicate nature of the human spirit.
O'Connor's characters are anything but flat. Although a bit stereotypical at times and a tad over-the-top at others, most, if not all of the people we meet in the book, are vibrant (albeit twisted) and full of personality. The members of the badass Bitch Posse --- Rennie (the smart one who has an affair with her married drama teacher), Cherry (the cool one with the coke addict mother and the boyfriend who sometimes gets a little too rough during sex), and Amy (the reformed beauty queen/popular chick with the alcoholic parents, the super indulged retarded sister, and the not-so-surprising Xanax addiction) --- are exactly what we'd expect from a trio of no-nonsense, till-death-do-us-part friends. They are brash, equally outspoken in their own way, and are ready to take on the world no matter what the cost --- especially now that they've cemented their friendship by slicing their arms and dripping blood into glass jars. Ouch.
Fifteen years later, however, the girls are far from empowered…or friends. The once hot-to-trot Rennie is on the other side of a New York Times bestselling first novel with nothing but drivel to show for the follow-up. Instead, she's teaching at some second-rate college and having scandalous affairs with younger men who don't know any better. Amy is desperately trying to keep up appearances by living a so-called squeaky-clean, gingham clad life in the suburbs with her supposedly devoted husband and pending baby, inaptly named Lucky. I guess the combination of his affair and Lucky's death didn't quite mesh with her presupposed equation. Craziest of all, Cherry has firmly planted herself in a mental institution and spends most of her days doing measly arts and crafts with her fellow nut-job patients. Not exactly the embodiment of strength that she once was.
What happened to these three, you ask? What caused them to break the bloodied bonds that were so fervidly formed many years prior? Why, that dark, salacious secret, of course --- the night that could never be forgotten and the split-second decision that would change the course of their lives forever. It is this gnawing riddle that keeps the pulse of THE BITCH POSSE going at top speed, prompting even this most jaded reviewer to stay up until the wee hours of the night just to find out what happened next.
All in all, Martha O'Connor's first book is a thrilling ride and a searing look into the lives of three girls turned women as they scratch, scrape, and slash their way through existence. Aside from the author's excessive use of profanity and frequent scenes of hard-hitting sexuality (pun intended), THE BITCH POSSE is one chick novel you are sure not to forget.
Posted by zaianne at March 24, 2006 03:05 PM
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Posted by: Brian at May 16, 2006 03:23 PM
Posted by: Darion at June 3, 2006 03:53 PM