You are here

Stepmonster - the book

Wicked2Three's picture

Someone was asking about summer reading and the book Stepmonster came up. I was intrigued so I bought it. I am currently about 100 pages in and it is FANTASTIC!

Is anyone else reading Stepmonster?

#2) I saw the book - "Stepliving for Teens" on the Book Reviews section of this site but there aren't any reviews. Has anyone read it?

Comments

Cheyenne Arizona's picture

What is the basis for Stepmonster? Sounds interesting..........

Wicked2Three's picture

So far in the book she has gone over the history of the Wicked Stepmother and folk lore. It's no wonder we can't catch a break! She says everything we are feeling but feel too evil to actually say out loud and then explanes why we feel the way we do AND that it's OK!

You can read a few pages on Amazon.com, but the book starts getting good about page 30.

From Amazon.com
Product Description

A groundbreaking and truly stepmother-centered way of understanding the tensions that seem to define relations between women and their stepchildren

Half of all women in the United States will live with or marry a man with children. And what woman with stepchildren has not—in order to defuse the often overwhelming challenges of the role—referred to herself as a "stepmonster"?

As Hope Edelman does in her book for motherless daughters, Wednesday Martin’s empowering and original Stepmonster unlocks the emotional mysteries of why stepmothers think and feel and act the way they do. Martin draws upon her own experience as a stepmother, interviews with other stepmothers and stepchildren, and fascinating insights from literature, anthropology, psychology, and evolutionary biology to reveal the little-understood realities of this most demanding role.

Stepmonster illuminates the harrowing process of becoming a stepmother, considers the myths and realities of being married to a man with children, counteracts the cultural notion that stepmothers are solely responsible for the challenges they encounter, identifies the "Five Step-Dilemmas That Create Conflict," and considers the emotional and social challenges men with children face when they remarry.

Finally, in an unexpected twist, Martin shows why the myth of the Wicked Stepmother is our single best tool for understanding who real stepmothers are and how they feel.

About the Author

WEDNESDAY MARTIN holds a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Yale. She was a regular contributor to the New York Post’s parenting page for several years, and her work has appeared in a number of national magazines. Martin, a stepmother for nine years, lives with her husband and their two sons. www.wednesdaymartin.com

The Principlist's picture

Ran out and bought the book yesterday after reading this post and googling it. I am in chapter 2 and am having to savor it because it is as if I wrote those very words. It is a reassuring comfort for me as I knew that I couldn't possibly be the only one feeling this way. I have found comfort on the boards, but it is also a wonderful thing to read it in print by someone other than yourself validating that no you are not the bitch or Stepmonster.

I hope the rest of the book holds my attention as the beginning has. I can't wait to finish it. I will post when I am done, but I am just :shocked: at how much chapter 2 echos my feelings.

Anyone can take the easy way out and blame others. BUT it takes a a person of character to take a look at one's self and actions and own responsibility for their part. ~ ME ~ }:-P