In the recent renaissance of reading books as a pastime hobby, a new genre emerged from the suburbs that looks into the extent of women’s emotions. We like to refer to it as “the female rage”.
If you’ve watched and enjoyed “Jennifer’s Body” and “Gone Girl”, these movies depict what feminine rage is about. And if you found yourself rooting for the female characters and their unhinged decisions, this reading list may be up your alley.
A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers
We’re starting this list strong with a female main character (MC) who transitions from a food critic to a man-eater. And by man-eater, we mean it quite literally.
In this book, we are reading Dorothy’s narration, written from prison after being convicted as a serial killer. She talks about the meals she has had in the course of her career, including the men she has consumed sexually and literally.
While the subjects discussed in this book may be too grim for some readers, Summers makes them seem humorous and satirical, which will keep you reading until the end.
Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
“Go out in the woods, go out. If you don’t go out in the woods, nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin.”
This nonfiction book is for the intuitive, impossible-to-hold, and wild women. Published in 1989, Women Who Run With the Wolves is a collection of empowering myths and stories that claim to explore one’s wild feminine spirit. This hard-to-put-down book is a reminder of women’s innate strength and their ability to be raw and creative.
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
If time’s not your friend to sit down and read a full-length novel, this short story collection may be for you to devour.
Her Body and Other Parties is Machado’s genius debut that explores a woman’s body’s existence in the world, written in an eerie and provocative tone to uncover the horrors of women being unable to obtain autonomy over their own bodies.
This collection of eight short stories may leave an unsettling impression as they refuse to shy away from the brutal experiences and expectations women face.
Out by Natsuo Kirino
While you may have heard of this book being about a young woman strangling her abusive husband to death and seeking the help of her co-worker friends to get rid of the body, it also offers a critique of Japan’s socioeconomic class and women’s desperation to finally have control over their painful and unsatisfying lives—even if it means abandoning their morals.
This 1997 crime novel brings the discourse on the grim reality of Japanese society to light, including the restrictive views on women, the backbreaking shifts in factories, the prominence of loan sharks and yakuzas, and the gruesome criminal life.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
“For Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d buy a gun.” This book is the epitome of female rage.
Gone Girl is a thriller book that delves into a woman’s unhinged abilities after discovering her husband’s infidelity. The story revolves around a meticulous plan where the female MC fakes her death on their fifth wedding anniversary, frames her husband for it, commits murder, and tells readers how psycho she can be.
If you’ve read and loved this, you probably know the “cool girl monologue” by heart.
