Unbecoming
Written and Narrated By: Anuradha Bhagwati
Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
Hmm… Would it be possible to haaaate this any more than I do…?
I know! I’ve read the glowing reviews; I’ve seen the near-perfect ratings. This book has ostensibly “changed lives” and such all. And the Publisher’s Summary! Oh. My. GOD. Apparently, this book, written by the amazingly brave Anu Bhagwati, tackles hard subjects, and shows that she’s a woman to make the country proud. Proud, I say!
Uhm… no…
Let’s start with how much, how very MUCH, the woman whines. She starts the book by complaining about her parents, blaming them for every character flaw she has. A shaky sense of self? Parent’s fault cuz they instilled in her that getting less than A’s was unacceptable (Okay so, like, my dad did also, but that didn’t send ME off to see a “Donkey Show” where women are comPLETEly debased… Oops, I’m jumping the gun on the Donkey Show stuff, am I not? Out of context, I see). Her mother was the victim of rape… and Anu is driven nuts because Mom will NOT get over it. She’s all, scarred by the experience, what IS Mom’s problem? And naturally, Anu turns Mom’s tragedy into something about herself: Mom can’t see what her weakness is doing to her. Mom and Dad had expectations, damn them; they had values, double damn! They paid for college. Oh triple damn them because she wasn’t happy at college.
Never mind the fact that the only reason she got into officer’s school in the Marines was because of her stellar education. Otherwise, she would be just another recruit. And oh how she moans about her time in the Marines. Aaaaall the times she coulda said scathing things when men said things about her being a woman. Such as: Dammit, Bhagwati; if you weren’t a woman, I’d beat the shit out of you. She is silent, bravely takes it, but, she tells us, she should have said something about how she could run circles around him any day of the week. Okaaaay. But let’s go back a step and see why he wanted to thrash her soundly: She fell ASLEEP on duty! Excuse me, but aren’t you supposed to stay awake to protect your comrades?!? Dunno, just saying.
She moans about trying to be like one of the guys and goes with them to see women popping items outta nether regions. She whimpers that she gets excited and turned on by this, but it’s the guys fault for taking her there. She moans about her time as a “leader” whom women turn to, but won’t actually say anything, at the proper time, to back them up. It’s always: I should’ve said, but I didn’t.
And through the whole book, she turns every single person’s catastrophe around to make all things about herself. Other women were brutally raped? Well, she knows how THAT feels cuz she f-***ed men and hated them the whole time. So OBVIOUSLY, Anu says that she has just the same PTSD (By the way, there’s one egregious account where she’s interacting with a woman who had limbs blown off in combat. But they both agree that Bhagwati’s PTSD is oh so much worse than the PTSD of IEDs and amputation).
I’d better stop. Cuz I’m getting ticked all over again. You want to listen to the book, expecting a brave and resilient advocate? Apparently, a PLETHORA of people got that from this book. I, however, got a whinging woman who falls apart in a heartbeat, is the moooost self-absorbed person I’ve listened to; a woman who’s abusive to those who’ve been in her corner from the get-go, and she trashes everyone without giving them the credit they ultimately deserve.
Puff puff puff
Oh?
But the narration is fine.
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