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Summary: Over exaggerated feminst account of the life of adolescents
Review: Mary Pipher bases her view of female adolescents on a small sampling of troubled girls. She extrapolates their experiences to a global scale blaming our male dominated society for all their troubles. She of course has no data to back up her extrapolation. Nor does she verify the accuracy of the stories these troubled, attention starved girls feed her. Pipher lives and practices in a rural community, yet her adolescent patients have all seemingly been the victims of rapes, insect, violence, etc. on an abundant scale. They are coddled and fondled in their schools walking to class, etc.Pipher clearly has a feminist political message to deliver throughout the book. Yet, she is clearly not a philosophical giant by any means. So, if you're buying it looking for some helpful advice on raising a child, don't waste your money. If you're looking for the ramblings of a bitter feminist, this is the book for you.
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Summary: The Covers Are Too Far Apart
Review: More females are always victims claptrap.
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Summary: A bleak picture and depressing book
Review: This book was a real wakeup call and gave me a chilling account of what it will be like when my daughter goes through this phase of her life. It also reminded me of my adolescent years and helped me make sense of what happened back then. However, the book didn't square completely when I compared it to the reality of my friend's children. Yes, they do have problems with teasing, etc. But they are not constantly in the depressing, "lose yourself of be ostracized" dilemma that Pipher describes. I think that she is describing the world that she saw when constantly being exposed to troubled girls. But while the themes are correct, I wonder if the intensity is true for most girls.
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Summary: Incredible...
Review: Having survived adolescence about 15 years ago I knew some of the challenges faced by girls of this age group. However, this book was an eye-opener. I learned a great deal and found it very beneficial for working with this age group as an adult leader. Outstanding - as a society this book is our wake-up call.
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Summary: An interesting, informative book
Review: Though I feel that this book is mainly aimed towards parents of adolescent girls, as a recent adolescent girl, I found this to be quite helpful in understanding why girls my age acted the way they did. I am a psychology major and currently in an adolescent development class, and this book has helped me understand many ideas presented in that class. However, as I thought more about this book (and any book that makes you think is instantly a winner), I realized that I agree with Pipher's ideas only to a certain extent. Either way, it is an interesting, informative book. Pipher does not sound as egotistical as certain other psychologists who have written books, too, so that was definately a plus.
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Summary: The book was interest, but it was repititous.
Review: I am a junior in college,and I have read this book in my Education 2403 class. I have enjoyed reading this book because by becoming a teacher and dealing with girls in your classroom, this book gave some very good examples to watch out for that will benefit you in the classroom. I believe that this book will be a great help for adolescents to read.
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Summary: is is male versus female opinion on this book?
Review: perhaps if i was a 18 year old female i could understand the female mindset in this book.but i am not i wasted 3 hours reading this book for my sociology class,what i brought away was not what females in my class did, i find this book repeating, in fact preaching ,i f i want to hear a sermon i will go to church,if this book is the author opinion then she is as far to the left as one can be without being in the pacific ocean.i am a very liberal person but as i said i dont need someone telling me what to think.
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Summary: Excellent Beginning, but not the whole story
Review: Reviving Ophelia is an excellent introduction to the victims that our children (all of our children, not just girls) have become to the consumer culture. Ms. Pipher shares case studies of young female therapy clients, whose problems range from suicide attempts, to eating disorders, abuse homes/boyfriends, pregnancy and STDs, even self-mutilation. She discusses how different parenting styles (both in terms of home situation ie.single parent, blended home, married parents and level of 'strictness') SEEM to help/hinder girls' development without making broad generalizations. Also included is a very important discussion of how the mass culture affects these girls (waif models, older men and younger women pairings in movies, etc.). Truly, it is a very eye-opening book for many people. There are many issues raised that all parents need to understand. I highly recommend that all parents of children read this book. That being said, I think that there are some caveats. 1.The author is very obviously a liberal feminist. Mostly, this is not a problem. The exception comes from her discussion of how parents should teach their daughters about their sexuality and the amount of freedom that their daughters should have to explore and experiment. Some parents will find this offensive. I suggest that the rest of the book is good enough to ignore this. 2.While the author does a good job at raising the awareness of parents to these issues, she does nothing to help point parents in the direction of what to do. Some readers who are used to being told what to do by 'experts' will have a problem with this. Personally, I find it refreshing. I want to suggest that the reason that many of us look to experts for what to do, is that we have been socialized to look, even in adulthood, for an outside locus of control. Most of us are afraid to think for ourselves and are convinced that we need someone to tell us how to do everything. If you want proof of this just look at the number of parenting books on the market. I'm sure that most of our grandmothers could not have conceived of needing a parenting book, let alone understood the number currently being published. All of this because we have been trained to look outside of ourselves for both value and guidance. It is unfortunate, that the author seemed to miss this point. Our girls are indeed in what she calls a girl-poisoning culture. However, if we could shift where we as adults look for guidance to ourselves and then teach our children to do the same, nothing in the mass media/culture could touch them at all. If you are interested in books that will raise your awareness about how deceived we are into "needing" so-called 'expert' help with things look up the books of John Holt or John Taylor Gatto. Also, feel free to browse my wish list, which you can get from clicking on my nickname above. I dare you to become an independant thinker!
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Summary: read this if you were ever 12 years old
Review: I wish I could give this book more than 5 stars. I read Reviving Ophelia when it first came out in 1995 and again recently ... each time I am unable to put it down. Pipher interviews many different women from all walks of life trying to pinpoint WHY girls who were active, happy, confident before the crucial age of 12 suddenly become unhappy, confused, have low self-esteem, etc. What she uncovers is the dirty secrets you will never read in the columns of YM or Teen. (Are the girls in those magazines real? I can't help thinking their letters are edited till it looks like there is no real problem there. That happened to me the one time I wrote in to a woman's magazine ---- two months ago! And then you don't need the advice because no one cares about the new sanitized problem.) Pipher also gives suggestions to the various girls to solve their problems and gain self-esteem in the process. This is a great book that should have been written when Eve was put on this Earth and then revised when the second woman appeared -- and published in a new edition every few years afterwards. It just explains so much --- and makes the reader relieved that it ISN'T just you who doesn't like being in junior high.
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Summary: Reviving Ophelia Book Review
Review: Reviving Ophelia is a 293-paged book all about the struggles of being a girl. It's filled with many different stories and situations ranging from boys, parents, friends, and divorce, to death, weight, appearance and popularity. It's a book that every girl will be able to relate to in one way or another. It's not one of those, everything turns out perfect in the end like all those silly fairy-tales, but instead real life stories that turn out the way things really do. I think that ALL girls should read this book either throughout their teenage years or as a grown woman. It gives you sort of a satisfying feeling to know that you're not alone. It's one of those books that Sunday afternoon you have nothing to do, you can pick this book up and cozy up on the couch and enjoy. It becomes pretty hard to put down once you find yourself relating to it. There are so many parts in this book that I just wanted to write down and show people so I found myself taking many notes or marking many pages. Guys should read this book is the feeling I was left with at the end, but I doubt very much that they would enjoy it. Still they would learn a lesson or two--hopefully. I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. It had very good information and was very addictive. By the end though it was getting very repetitive and the stories all stared to sound the same. This made the ending sort of drag on. Over all it was a great learning experience and a great book. Check it out for yourself!
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