Chicken Soup For The Woman's Soul: 101 Stories To Open The Hearts And Rekindle The Spirits Of Women (1996) - Plot & Excerpts
I'm a woman, so this book applies to me right? Or at least that's what I thought. However, I think the authors of this book have a very narrow sight on what it means to be a woman. But more on that later. This book is one of the very many versions of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books out there. These books are known for their uplifting short stories that are meant to inspire, make you feel good, or just make you cry.Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul takes stories about women and fills a number of places with them. The chapters range from being about Overcoming Obstacles, Motherhood, Marriage, Attitude, and Love. There are stories about mother's doing whatever they can for their children, to becoming a mom for the first time, to finding the love of your life and marrying him. Far and few between however, are stories about women who stay single and don't have children. There are a few, but barely any. The majority of the stories focus on motherhood and marriage. One of those few that was not however, was about a woman pilot, and that actually was an inspiring story. But then there was one of the first stories in the book, about a man who was inspired by his wife to take his mom out to dinner and other activities, but kept calling it dating his mother, which was kind of creepy (the story may have been innocent but continual references to dating your mother just doesn't sit right).Since these are short stories we don't really get a sense of all the people. After all, you're seeing them through biased eyes without a lot of description. Everyone seems to be glowing. And mothers and married women are especially revered (are you sensing a theme here). But there are a lot of good people mentioned in these books. People who do good for other people. And there's even a few that are inspiring.So obviously my main complaints with this book are its representation of women. I'm not saying that it's wrong to have a section on marriage or on motherhood, but I think equal status (and a devoted chapter) should be given to the single career-oriented and the non-mothers. They do a lot of good in the world too. And there's already plenty of Chicken Soup for the Mother's Soul books. It's almost like they're saying women who don't follow those choices in life aren't quite women. And that's heartbreaking. This is a Christian based publication, but this one didn't have too many stories that were preachy, which was nice. It was approachable in that way at least.Not my favorite of the Chicken Soup books. Maybe I'm a little biased, but I just wish this book had been for ALL women.Chicken Soup for the Women's SoulCopyright 1996328 pagesReview by M. Reynard 2013 More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
I was given this book as a gift, and when I realized it was a collection of heartwarming stories, I ended up reading it to elderly people in an assisted living facility for "storytime". It was PERFECT for that! In fact it was so perfect, I ended up buying more of these Chicken Soup books to read to the dear elderly people. Sometimes the stories were touching and inspirational, sometimes the people listening would ask me to read "just one more, please!" And sometimes the stories sparked memories in the people and ended up being a catalyst for conversation and remembering. I would give this 3 1/2 stars if I could. Super easy reading.
What do You think about Chicken Soup For The Woman's Soul: 101 Stories To Open The Hearts And Rekindle The Spirits Of Women (1996)?
A friend loaned me two Chicken Soups', the one for the Woman's Soul and the one for the Golden (both of which I definitely fit). I started them out of guilt (I wanted to return them and knew I would get questioned) and finished them out of enjoyment. They are composed of brief essays by an assortment of people, most of who deal with the motivational. I thought they would be horribly pedestrian (and some parts are), but most are entertainingly written and all have a moral. Kind of an Aesop's Fables for the Twentieth Century (they are not recent books!).
—Joyce
A selection of many short stories and comic strips which are divided under these categories: Love, Attitude and Self-Esteem, Overcoming Obstacles, Marriage, Motherhood, Special moments, Living Your Dream, Aging, Higher Wisdom, and finally Across the Generations. The stories are so inspiring; and what's funny is that I probably wouldn't have picked this book up at the bookstore myself; I mean neither the cover nor the title is eye-catching.. so thanks for my book club for suggesting this. It was a very nice read =)
—Soma Al-Dossary
I would never have read this book if it were not chosen by my book club. That is a good thing. One of the purposes of the club is to expand our horizons. Although I did not like the book, I do believe I got something out of reading it. I understand some people a little bit better, my family especially. I am often confronted by my family with the ways that I do not act like a "woman". They are waiting for me to "grow up". To them, my life is like an extended adolescence. This is despite the fact that I have a decent job in the career that I have chosen, I have been with the same man for 8 years, we own a house, and we are making good progress on our savings. I am still not an adult to them, and I will not be until I am married and have children. They get really sappy when they think about this future that they imagine I will have once I give in to their expectations. My father told me this weekend that my desire to not have children was just like when I was 8 and I didn't want to learn to ride a bike. He told me that I was just scared, and once I had a child I would love being a parent. My father would love this book. Being a woman does not mean being a wife and a mother, and I really have a problem with the glorification of sacrifice as it applies to the long-suffering caregivers that inhabit its pages.
—Andrea
