Here's The Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice by Maureen McCormick

there is a rather large pile of books in every room of my apartment, waiting to be read. i am actively reading 3 of them, and sort of procrastinating reading a handful of the rest with others piling up in the meantime. so it is hard to explain why i decided to read this one over the three day weekend, but i did and i enjoyed it. i don't really know why i read this type of thing. i sort of think it's the same reason i watch julia roberts' movies--i like to keep track of popular narratives of femininity, i'm interested in how they function i guess and also sometimes find them entertaining in their absurdity. it all just seems very unreal and extreme. marcia brady, the character, is one of those creations. this book is interesting, in that it gives the woman behind the role of 'marcia marcia marcia' a voice. it goes through all this self-help-type stuff and there is also some jesus involved, but ultimately it is a story about a woman struggling to navigate a career/life in relation to a frozen feminine ideal that she represents. if you are a brady bunch fan, it's also interesting on that level. not a 'great book' or well written or profound, but still comforting to know that behind these flimsy cardboard-cutout versions of 'the perfect woman' there are real women who are profoundly alienated by the ideal they helped create and what it represents. it made me want to read a book written by one of the spice girls. but, no...there is too much on the shelf for that!