"Bitter Is the New Black" Review

Bitter Is the New Black
a memior

By Jen Lancaster

5/10

My Synopsis:

Jen had a wonderful job, a wonderful home, and a wonderful, designer label life.  That was then, this is now.  Now, Jen is unemployed, struggling to pay the rent, and hating her life.  With her boyfriend Fletch by her side, Jen tries everything from networking and answering job ads to downsizing and selling her purse collection on ebay.  (All but the Prada one, of course.)  She even tries her hand at volunteering.  Vice president Jen never dreamed she’d be drinking boxed wine and attempting to gain employment as a dog walker.  Will Jen ever find a job again?  Will she ever find happiness again?  Will she ever get over her shoe obsession???

My Opinion:

The full title of this memoir 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 which totally sums this book up.  Jen is a spoiled rich girl that I hated from the beginning.  Who knows?  Maybe that’s what the author was going for but I could not relate to her character at all.  She has a bad case of entitlement which has caused her to lose touch with reality.  Things we consider luxuries, she considered dumbing down her life.  When they downsized their home and still wanted a million different ammentities, I was sick to my stomach.  It is hard to feel pity for Jen.  In the end, I’m not even sure she learned a lesson from it all.  The whole thing left me ticked off at those who consider what average American families deal with on a regular basis (like taking the bus) to be a hitting-rock-bottom tragedy.  Wake up Jen.  There are people out there that live like you did at your lowest point everyday of their lives.  I have to admit I did love Jen’s smart-ass attitude at times but overall, it did not make up for the rest of her personality.  I usually love memoirs for their “this-actually-happened-to-someone” factor and realistic dialogue.  While I did like some of the witty banter, I just never got there with this one.  It says a lot that the only characters I really liked were Loki and Maisy the dogs.  5 out of 10.