Bitter Is the New Black

After reading the other reviews I was a bit skeptical, but I really enjoyed this book. It was fun, irreverent and sarcastic - all the things I love in a book!

Overall, I found Jen Lancaster the character to be pretty unlikeable. Mean rather than funny and not as clever as she thinks herself. I did get through the entire book, and it looks up. There is some redemption and humility nestled in there somewhere, and post 9/11 job market was pretty much just as she describes. There's a lot in this book to like, the main character just doesn't happen to be one of them.

This book me to tears. I had a 24 hour drive and thought I couldn't be bored listening to a book, but this was terrible. She is not an intersting character, her life is less than intersting and the guy was a humdrum.

At first when I started it, I thought, I hate this lady! But it got better. Yes she is kind of a pill but as time goes by, she starts to change. I enjoyed it.

Jen Lancaster is very funny and the book is written really well - Great Job! I also loved the narrator who can make or break a book. I had to not listen to this at night, because it was so good I didn't want to go to sleep. There are other books that I only listen to at night, because they are so boring that they put me to sleep ;-)

I keep reading about Lancasters "Sharp wit"
I didn't hear it, she sounds like the teen queens on every rich kid high school series since 2000
She laughs about stealing a bag from a "smelly" homeless man.
After that I wanted her to fall, and hard. She really didn't suffer much, and seemed temporarily chastened but when things looked up became almost as obnoxious as she was before. Revolting on all levels.

Chances are you know someone like JEN. She's on top of the world and savoring all the perks that come with it. She doesn't mind rubbing her success (and her designer handbag) in your face. Even though her own life is great, don't think she won't scream at the barista for not retrieving her latte fast enough. JEN is more important than you and it's time that you realize it.

Until she's not. Here comes sweet revenge. It's hard not to enjoy JEN's inevitable slide from bad to worse to as she tries to hang on to the smallest trappings of her old life while everything goes wrong. And then a strange thing happens. You kind of root for her. She is a survivor and manages to pull herself up from the very bottom. Like a parasitic worm, JEN has burrowed into your skin with her sharp stinging barbs which are actually quite funny (when not directed at you). You can tolerate her and even like those comments that are far from political correctness that you would never say out loud.

While her Grinch heart has not grown 2 sizes, she's no longer that toxic bitch you avoided in the restroom.

Until she is again(???)

Jen is very funny and while I don't agree with her point of view on many (or any) things, she puts her experiences and her voice out there, even if it means ridicule for the actions of JEN before the fall. You can feel her personality strongly in her writing. Narrator Jamie Heinlein does an excellent job channeling Jen and making you feel like she's right there with you.

I was conflicted between 3 and 4 stars. I liked it, and thought Jen Lancaster put together a great autobiographical story, but I often asked myself, "What is the point of this?" Or, "Why do I care?" On the other hand, I couldn't stop listening, and want to hear more from her. Because of that, I gave in with the 4 stars.

Her attitude, her tone, ugh. So irritating! I really wanted to like this book.

She was fine. Maybe too fine because she voiced this terrible person to a tee.

Some of the humor wasn't insulting.

Let's just say I wouldn't want to be friends with Jen. I will be requesting a refund. Waste of a credit.

I've read "Bitter" 3x with the paper book. It is by far one of my favorite books of all time! Listening to it- the only drawback is the narrator gets a little..."Charlie Brown teacher." Listening to Jen's newest book, which she narrated herself, was better due to the fact that Jen emphasized things differently- the way she intended. The footnotes peppered through the book are also hard to understand with an audio book...unless the reader is ready for them.

Overall- still an entertaining, laugh out loud book.