Rating: 
Summary: Vagina! Vagina! Vagina!
Review: If Eve Ensler's vagina got dressed, it would wear a sign shouting "I Have Empowered Women Around the World and Started a New Wave of Feminism!"
I couldn't put the VM down: There were several outstanding monologues in it, including a collection of women's stories about getting their period for the first time, and one with a grandmother who shyed away from her vagina most of her life. I also enjoyed reading Ensler's commentary on the pieces. To be sure, the book made me more conscious of my feminist side and I felt a sheer sense of pride in being a woman after reading it. However, the content wasn't top-notch. There were surprisingly few segments and not each of them was great. I thought Ensler definitely could have expanded on the pieces themselves and done a lot more with her subject matter.
If one wants to judge the book by its actual writing and content, I wouldn't recommend it in particular. But I think that Ensler's real goal was to get women to understand about their femininity, their sexual sides, and, above all, their vaginas. And if that was what Ensler was aiming to accomplish, I would readily say that she achieved it in me and many others.
(I would love to see it performed live, too, whether by Ensler or others.)
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book but younger people should wait
Review: The Vagina Monologues is a beautiful book. It breaks the boundaries of convservative aspects. It shows women in a more different light because sometimes, we can't help but be stereotyped. It also goes into topics that we try to avoid. Like the vulva and such. Although it is a very unique book, I believe that it would be much appreciated as a play because the text is emphasized by the acting of women. I also think that you would appreciate the book if you are older. I'm still a teenager and I've read the book. I didn't understand some of the parts because I haven't experienced it. Like sex and orgasms. It's not easy to relate with it if you are still ignorant of the facts. I do appreciate the effort put upon the making of this book. It really shows what women are thinking. Let's face it. We all believe that vaginas smell like roses. We watch movies and read other books. Unfortunately, these kinds of sources sometimes exaggerate. The content in The Vagina Monologues comes from real women with unmasked thoughts. I rated it a four because you have to know something about what the book is talking about. If you're still a kid, you won't understand 40% of the content. Don't tell me, "Why did you read it then?" I read it because it is a celebration of women and not all of it is something I don't know. I didn't know a lot about female genital mutilation or circumcision before I've read this book. This book is great but I advise younger readers to wait for some years before you indulge the material.
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.
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