While scrolling through Goodreads, I stumbled on a popular bookshelf titled “Feminine Rage.” Curious about which books would fall under this category, I clicked it, only to see that many of the listed books were ones I had already read and loved. I hadn’t known the term for it yet, but I do indeed love books centered around the female experience, especially those with complex, dark, unorthodox protagonists who experiment with shedding societal expectations.Â
These are some of my favorite feminine rage books, each marked by raw honesty, poetic prose and vibrant main characters who, despite everything, will make you think, “She’s just a girl.”
Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata
“When something was strange, everyone thought they had the right to come stomping in all over your life to figure out why.”
A quiet story about a woman who finds comfort in the routine and familiarity of her job at a small convenience store in Japan. She’s under endless scrutiny from those around her, urging her to advance her career and tie the knot already. Her rebellion is a quiet one: she knows what she likes, and she sticks with it. She’s unmarried, childless and an unbothered queen.Â
Circe, by Madeline Miller
“It is a common saying that women are delicate creatures, flowers, eggs, anything that may be crushed in a moment’s carelessness. If I had ever believed it, I no longer did.”
A Greek witch named Circe is banished to a remote island, where, finally free from gods and men, she funnels her frustrations into mastering her witchcraft. I won’t spoil it, but when unwelcomed men step foot on her island, she uses much more than just pepper spray to reclaim her peaceful solitude.Â
Animal, by Lisa Taddeo
“The world had set me up to believe that it was women who went mad. It was simply women’s pain that manifested as madness.”
Rage, rage, rage. Decades of unresolved trauma and dismissive men, Joan is driven to commit a crime. She is messy, wanton and at her core, she’s a woman grieving over the life she never had, and bitter about the hand she was dealt.
Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion
“I am what I am. To look for reasons is beside the point.”
Grieving and disillusioned, Hollywood actress Maria Wyeth drifts numbly through her days, adopting a nihilistic view of the world. She understands every event and decision as a roll of the dice: driven by pure chance and lacking reason. This book captures grief in all its alienation, emptiness and absurdity.Â
The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath
“The floor seemed wonderfully solid. It was comforting to know I had fallen and could fall no farther.”
Nineteen-year-old Esther Greenwood lands an internship at a fashion magazine, but, feeling dissatisfied, decides to return home. She’s then rejected by the writing program she hoped to attend and begins to feel her identity unravel. Paralyzed by choice and afraid of the future, she falls into a worsening depression. Few books have narrated my own thoughts as closely as this one. It’s poetic and just so relatable.Â
I hope you try some of these recommendations and find comfort and empowerment! These novels show how frustrating it can be to navigate a male-centric society, but they also remind us that we’re not required to obey it. Femininity can be picturesque, unsightly, quiet or explosive, but the beauty is that all expressions are valid, even the rage that comes.Â