Sign in with Facebook
Cyrus's Reviews > I Feel Bad About My Neck, And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
I Feel Bad About My Neck, And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman
by
by
I Feel Bad about My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a [Rich White] Woman [Living in a Bubble of Privilege on the Upper East Side]
I like Nora Ephron (her politics, movies, etc), and I really wanted to enjoy this book. But it's painfully dull, and her "witty insights" are bland/overtrodden enough to make Andy Rooney seem cutting edge.
Worse yet, many of her complaints are offensively tone-deaf to the realities most people face.
- Nora Ephron sees a homeless woman on the street? Time to complain at length about the price of her weekly hair and nail appointments, and joke that she's just a few missed beauty treatments away from becoming a "bag lady". (Kinda horrifying that a feminist icon would completely ignore — and hell, mock — the humanity of a homeless woman).
- Ephron gets surgery done by one of the world's best surgeons? Time to complain about how she wishes she'd had her plastic surgeon present to help avoid a small scar.
- NY passes law changing rent-control regulations? Time to complain about how her salary, which exceeds the new $250,000 threshold set by the new law, means the rent will increase on her 7-room Manhattan apartment.
The last third of the book is tolerable; she's best when writing about death, the joy of reading, or reminiscing about her days as a young woman in sexist work environments. But it's not enough to overcome the book's overall flaws. In short, these are the ramblings of an old rich person complaining about old rich person problems.
I like Nora Ephron (her politics, movies, etc), and I really wanted to enjoy this book. But it's painfully dull, and her "witty insights" are bland/overtrodden enough to make Andy Rooney seem cutting edge.
Worse yet, many of her complaints are offensively tone-deaf to the realities most people face.
- Nora Ephron sees a homeless woman on the street? Time to complain at length about the price of her weekly hair and nail appointments, and joke that she's just a few missed beauty treatments away from becoming a "bag lady". (Kinda horrifying that a feminist icon would completely ignore — and hell, mock — the humanity of a homeless woman).
- Ephron gets surgery done by one of the world's best surgeons? Time to complain about how she wishes she'd had her plastic surgeon present to help avoid a small scar.
- NY passes law changing rent-control regulations? Time to complain about how her salary, which exceeds the new $250,000 threshold set by the new law, means the rent will increase on her 7-room Manhattan apartment.
The last third of the book is tolerable; she's best when writing about death, the joy of reading, or reminiscing about her days as a young woman in sexist work environments. But it's not enough to overcome the book's overall flaws. In short, these are the ramblings of an old rich person complaining about old rich person problems.
Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read
I Feel Bad About My Neck, And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman.
Sign In »
Reading Progress
February 21, 2015
– Shelved
Started Reading
February 22, 2015
–
Finished Reading
Comments Showing 1-4 of 4 (4 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Melissa-Kristine
(new)
May 15, 2021 10:13PM
Thank you for writing this. I felt the same way. I actually got angry while reading the book and wondered why it was suggested to me. I thought this would have nice life lessons about ageing but instead it was filled with oblivious priveledge. Gross.
reply
|
flag
Ephron was a good writer; witty and entertaining. But yes, she was stuck up and privileged ALSO. Sometimes it makes it hard to read her work without getting infuriated. That apartment whose rent went up? Not only was it SEVEN ROOMS (almost unheard of in NYC) but at the ALTHORP -- the epitome of luxury apartments. I think she inherited it from her parents, meaning... it is also rent controlled and probably so cheap you'd cry. (If the rent went up due to her high income, it was probably a few hundred bucks... in a city where a studio can easily rent for $3500 a month.)Hair going gray? How shocked can you be at age 65? she was born in 1941, hence 65 when this was published. It is NORMAL to have gray hair at 65. Frankly.... you don't have to dye your hair at that age. You could let it go gray, have it cut beautifully at the salon and maybe a few lowlights and call it a day. (After a certain point, dying your hair dark brown makes you look OLDER, not younger. Sad but true.)
Obviously she chased the youth butterfly HARD and for a long time, having plastic surgery and ingesting over her neck. I have read earlier pieces by her, and she was quite a beauty in her teens and 20s, and I imagine it is agonizing giving up that "pretty privilege" that most of us could only ever dream about.
The problem with THIS particular book is it feels like a rich, spoiled woman asking for sympathy when she has more than 99.9999% of humanity can ever have. And that honestly made her look clueless and spoiled.
Thank you!! I finished it despite despising most of the book. Totally agree with you on the last third, it was its only ‘salvation’, but I couldn’t get over the rest - so 1 star it is.
Thank you for writing this. I'm honestly feeling the same way. Quite disappointed for I really like When Harry Met Sally -I still enjoy watching it. Not her other movies though. And I'm not going any other of her books.
