Poor Little Holly Madison: A Disgruntled Bunny Explains Why Her Time at the Playboy Mansion Sucked

Dear Holly Madison,

I was so excited to read your newly-released tell all memoir, Down The Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny, about life at the Playboy Mansion. I used to binge watch episodes of The Girls Next Door while I was pregnant and I couldn't wait to get an even more intimate glimpse into all the hijinks and shenanigans, the glamor and of course the drama that pervaded life at the Mansion.

Well you got the drama right. LOTS of drama. Between all the cattiness with you and the "Mean Girls" to all the backhanded comments you make alongside the name-dropping, I had to double check the cover to make sure I was reading the right book! This book read more like an attempt at explaining why everything bad or unfavorable that ever happened to you at the Mansion wasn't your fault. I mean the whole "I was there for a chance at making something bigger for myself" story got old fast.

A lot of people claim you are a gold digger and I didn't get that vibe after reading this book. However, I did walk away feeling bad for you. Instead of walking away when you could have salvaged relationships and saved face you proceeded to stick it out for seven years and then seemingly burn a lot of bridges when you left and with this book. I feel like this was your revenge to Hef and yourself for not having used Playboy as the stepping stone for what you wanted.

I wanted more juiciness! More celebrity encounters! More tales of how fairytale princess you felt while rocking the iconic bunny costume! I don't know what I was looking for exactly, but I walked away from this book feeling sad for you. Clearly your time affiliated with Playboy wasn't what I imagined it was like. That makes me wonder what else in life isn't all it's cracked up to be? Sigh.

I am glad your story has a happy ending and that you have the family you have always desired. I am sorry that you had to suffer through seven years of unhappiness to get there.

Sincerely,

a bummed out reader

Spinster, In Praise of Women who Crave Their Solitude

Quick! What do you think when you hear the word spinster? Chances are good that you think of a never-married woman living with an apartment full of cats. Whatever image your mind immediately conjures up,  it's likely to have a negative connotation.

Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own by Kate Bolick takes a refreshing look at what it means to be a single woman by choice. It's less of a memoir and more of a history lesson on the kinds of women who have stood up throughout history to defy traditional female roles and stereotypes of Mother/Wife.

Spinster by Kate Bolick. Crown Publishing

Bolick presents the book as her own enlightening of sorts, she introduces us to the five women in history whom she relates most to because of their quest to define themselves first as individuals and then as women. These women are her five awakeners (whom are all writers of some variety and notoriety had either sworn off marriage or done so on their own, nontraditional terms). It's interesting for me, as a woman in her mid-thirties, to ponder what it was like to lack a choice in one's future. My generation grew up as the offspring of divorce, wedlock and normalized feminism and were probably the first group of women who honestly believed that they can tread any path that they choose, whether that means marrying and having children, staying single and focusing on one's career or any combination of both.

This book mingles the feminist historical context of what it is to be a single woman by choice as well as trace the author's own quest for self-discovery through re-examining the lives of her awakeners. She coins the term "spinster's wish" as her private desire "for the pleasures of being alone". And really what woman doesn't desire solitude from time to time? Whether that means a break from the kids/husband or the ability to fully immerse oneself in the things that fill one's life with passion?
Bolick encourages women of all states of coupling to take back the term spinster and make it into something positive.

Blogger note: I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. This review is entirely based on my opinion and contains my honest evaluation.