What do You think about Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches From The Frontlines Of The New Girlie-Girl Culture (2011)?
Throughout this entire book, I just had an overwhelming urge to scream "get a f**king life!!!"... She is the extreme of a completely unnecessary method of denying her child standard luxuries in life. Too much, just much too much. How dare she take that choice away from her daughter?! Guiding your child and helping them make the right decisions is one thing but this woman? Jeez, I'm just glad she's not my Mum, put it that way. And yet, like watching a car crash unfold before you, as horrid as it is, you can't help but stand agape and continue to stare at the monstrosity before you... A macabre curiosity on my part perhaps. She made a couple of valid points and did make me think about things in a different perspective, so not all was lost. But I really think she was a tad too harsh on her girl. Interesting and potentially (for the right reader), enlightening. For me, a thought provoking window into the mind of a madwoman. There is nothing more I can say for this book.
—Faisal
This was a hard/great book to read over Christmas, the mega-marketing time of year. I admit that I started this book of essays thinking, "my daughter isn't really into princesses, so we have escaped all this mess..." No, we have not! Orenstein presents excellent questions about the role of media in shaping girls' identities. She looks at everything from Barbie to Disney to social media to beauty pageants...in the end, I feel disgusted by this world we live in and full of despair in how to empower and protect my own daughter as she navigates though it. But I also feel confident that going forward eyes wide open, with more agency (and less helplessness) will make the road a bit easier.
—ironweasel
Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars
—jaya
