Rating: 
Summary: I WANTED IT AND I GOT IT
Review: I wanted this book, ordered it,read it,enjoyed it and then encouraged by my to read it although she was at first apprehensive. It is a humourous book but a sad book. I have recommended it to friends and we shared it on a weekend vacation by each reading a chapter aloud.The now want to do a dramization. Great book for a great cause.
Rating: 
Summary: it not only opened my eyes
Review: I can't even remember what had drawn me to this book. I only know that it opened my eyes and not only mine but my partners also. I read it all in one night, because I too became worried about vaginas. After I was done I told my boyfriend he needed to read it, he wasn't as inthrawled as I was, but it took a live performance to open his eyes. After doing so he pretty much relived the book from every sentence and managed to discover apart of our relationship that was so timid. It was well worth it. And the sex has only gotten better, because he loves all of me. Now I am giving the book to all the women I know so they too can have a chance to change not only their perception but someone else too...
Rating:
Summary: Vagina Power!
Review: Vagina, vagina, vagina!If you don't like the word, get over it! Otherwise you'll miss out on one of the most empowering and liberating works that I've ever read. Having Gloria Steinem add her two cents is just an added bonus. The Vagina Monologues don't put on the kid gloves. They give you an open and honest view of what women think of their vaginas. Why are women afraid or embarassed of their vaginas? Eve Ensler makes it a point to tell women (through the words of other people) that who they are and what they are is precious. The Vagina Monologues manages to take the reader from the heights of laughter into true stories of rape, birth, and sexual abuse. This masterpiece makes you giddy, makes you reflect, makes you sad...but what it really does is makes you think!
Rating: 
Summary: More a therapeutic triumph than an artistic one
Review: Warning: don't judge the artistic or moral merit of this book until you have read it or at least some of it. You might find yourself surprised about how you feel. Second warning: if you are offended by candid expressions concerning human, especially lesbian, sexuality, don't read the book. You will be offended. First, let me point to the clearly positive aspects of this project: --The money raised through various V-Day activities ("born in 1998 as an outgrowth" of the play's success) that goes toward helping women who are the victims of violence, especially in places like Afghanistan and the Balkans where the patriarchy is particularly loathsome. Everyone connected with this project is to be commended for whatever good they are able to accomplish there and elsewhere. --The therapeutic value of the play and this book for those millions of women who have been repressed by the socialization process from realizing their sexuality. --The value of breaking down a false taboo of reference and usage. --The entertainment value afforded college kids and like-minded others who get a kick out of shocking the bourgeoisie. The central part of this book (pp. 1-125) is the text of the play. But there is also a 11-page Forward by Gloria Steinem and about sixty pages of back matter, most of which is a section about V-Day by Karen Ober with empowered letters and stories from college students. The monologues themselves play off of the conceit of a talking vagina that expresses its trials and tribulations, its being neglected and mistreated and misunderstood. Ensler says she gathered her material through hundreds of interviews with women everywhere. Her language is candid and the juxtapositions she comes up with are sometimes striking. Some of the monologues are sad and poignant; some are pathetic. Some are funny. They are told from an avowed lesbian viewpoint. Indeed, the monologue beginning on page 77 tells of the liberating effect a 24-year-old lesbian lover had on a 13-year-old girl. The play works toward the empowerment of women, and as such is didactic rather than artistic. Yet this is not another tiresome "hate men" propaganda tract. There is even a monologue that recalls a father's love. In the Introduction Gloria Steinem takes a few obligatory but rather reserved potshots at men while recalling the dark ages from her "down there" generation in which words referring to the vagina were not "prideful." She also recalls her two years in India where she learned about the power of the yoni which she reports as having been "worshiped as more powerful than its male counterpart"--the usual radical feminist retro spin on history. (The yoni was equal in power to its male counterpart.) She follows this with a misstatement of what she calls "the central tenet" in Tantrism: "man's inability to reach spiritual fulfillment except through sexual and emotional union with woman's superior spiritual energy." There are many tenets in the so-called "left-handed path" of tantra yoga, the purpose of which is to find liberation from samsara (earthy delusion), through indulgence, or a giving in to one's desires. It is not imagined in tantra that women have "superior spiritual energy." They do have equal sexual energy that is exploited in tantra rituals. By the way, Steinem twice mentions the heart symbol (or valentine) as representing not the heart but the vagina. In this she is correct, but she misses mentioning the real connection from tantra, namely that of the triangle with one of its points aimed downward which is the ancient stylistic symbol of the yoni that evolved into the valentine shape. Bottom line: As I was reading this I was strangely, unaccountably and irresistibly reminded of the well-known line from the film Apocalypse Now (1979) as delivered by Robert Duvall: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!" Change one word (see e.g., pages 93-95) and you have the spirit of the monologues as conveyed by Eve Ensler.
Rating:
Summary: a life changing book!
Review: To say that The Vagina Monologues is an empowering read is an understatement! It made me laugh, it made me cry, and most importantly it made me think. As soon as I read it, I had to finish it again. Then, I had to talk about it with all the women I am close to--and many men too. Ensler examines women's lives and attitudes about themselves in ways that may push your boundaries, but in order to be empowered, women need that! We need to look at what aspects of ourselves are shameful or embarassing and question why. If this book makes you uncomfortable it's probably good for you!
Rating: 
Summary: Really Bad!
Review: This had to be one of the worst books I've ever read.
Waste of my money & especially my time.
1 star is being generous; would give it a zero if I could.
Dont waste your money or your time investing in this book.
Hard to believe this was a 'live show', and was put into a book. That women would discuss their vaginas is one thing, but to discuss on how to dress it, what it would say, etc was pretty much outrageous and needless to say disgusting.
Rating:
Summary: buy this book, borrow this book
Review: no matter what you do, you must READ this book.
Rating:
Summary: Don't mind the edition
Review: I love the Vagina Monologues. If it is ever being performed near you, I highly recommend going to see it. But, if that doesn't happen, go ahead and read it. It's almost as fun to read as it is to see. But I must say... there's nothing special about the "V-day Edition." If you're just looking for the monologues, then it's not even worth reading the other contents of the book. I thought the thing by Gloria Steinem was rather dull. The actual Vagina Monologues, though, is great. If this is the only edition you can get, go ahead and get it.
Rating:
Summary: Some may find it useful.
Review: I am seasoned enough (read old) to be unsurprised by most of the book. But, I also recognize that there are many people--men and women--who remain ignorant about the subject. To those, I would recommend that you read it--knowledge about this subject is very important. I found the last thirty or so pages, providing congratulatory letters, repetitious. For those who would like to join the Movement, you will probably find those same pages reinforcing.
Rating:
Summary: I expected it to be better
Review: I'm not sure what I was expecting, really, but I guess I expected it to be better than it was. That's not really the book's fault, but rather mine. Some of the sections are great, some boring, and the book as a whole is rather short. I'd say it is worth having on my shelf, but not anything really special.
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