Home
Five Little Bitches by Teresa McWhirter (Anvil Press $20)
Teresa Mcwhirter's fourth novel, Five Little Bitches is a Hard Core Logo-like travelogue.
We hit the road and the bottle and rock bottom with four female members of a punk band, Wet Leather, as well as one band member's estranged friend.
Having kicked drug addictions and other self-destructive behaviour, the estranged friend becomes their mother, big sister and landlord.
It's clear that McWhirter has toured with bands herself. She convincingly writes about Wet Leather gigs in Canada, the U.S. and Europe-leading to exhaustion, excess and exclusion in the male-dominated world of rock.
Though the storyline is at times frenetic, it captures the essence of a sub-culture.
Five Little Bitches introduces Maxine Micheline, lead singer of Wet Leather; then we meet drummer Squeaky Ladeucer, bassist Kitty Domingo and guitarist Fanta Geiger.
The foursome are authentically complex individuals that the reader can't help but admire on one page, and revile on the next. Although she is non-judgmen-
tal, McWhirter is not averse to softening the image of a movement associated with unmitigated recklessness:
"From Fanta's vantage point on stage left, she watches men pound each other in the crowd. A woman joins in and they pound her, too. They seem to find such joy in this violence. Though, when someone falls, everyone rushes to help them back up.";
The design of the text is as bold as its uncensored language. Every page is coloured with the chaos of punk rock shows, volatile relationships, pain, joy and humour - and illustrated with gritty black lines, graffiti art, band posters, set lists and photos.
It's not an inspiring tale of righteous women in the 1980s who don't wear bras or shave their armpits.
Rather, McWhirter presents women who, at times, abuse themselves and each other, and who occasionally compromise their well-being and their friendships at the promise of sex and drugs.
These are flawed, real women who are unapologetic. But as much as the characters of Five Little Bitches appear hellbent on being abrasive, this thoroughly modern feminist novel ultimately succeeds because it portrays human vulnerability.
978-1-897535-90-5
[BCBW 2012]
We hit the road and the bottle and rock bottom with four female members of a punk band, Wet Leather, as well as one band member's estranged friend.
Having kicked drug addictions and other self-destructive behaviour, the estranged friend becomes their mother, big sister and landlord.
It's clear that McWhirter has toured with bands herself. She convincingly writes about Wet Leather gigs in Canada, the U.S. and Europe-leading to exhaustion, excess and exclusion in the male-dominated world of rock.
Though the storyline is at times frenetic, it captures the essence of a sub-culture.
Five Little Bitches introduces Maxine Micheline, lead singer of Wet Leather; then we meet drummer Squeaky Ladeucer, bassist Kitty Domingo and guitarist Fanta Geiger.
The foursome are authentically complex individuals that the reader can't help but admire on one page, and revile on the next. Although she is non-judgmen-
tal, McWhirter is not averse to softening the image of a movement associated with unmitigated recklessness:
"From Fanta's vantage point on stage left, she watches men pound each other in the crowd. A woman joins in and they pound her, too. They seem to find such joy in this violence. Though, when someone falls, everyone rushes to help them back up.";
The design of the text is as bold as its uncensored language. Every page is coloured with the chaos of punk rock shows, volatile relationships, pain, joy and humour - and illustrated with gritty black lines, graffiti art, band posters, set lists and photos.
It's not an inspiring tale of righteous women in the 1980s who don't wear bras or shave their armpits.
Rather, McWhirter presents women who, at times, abuse themselves and each other, and who occasionally compromise their well-being and their friendships at the promise of sex and drugs.
These are flawed, real women who are unapologetic. But as much as the characters of Five Little Bitches appear hellbent on being abrasive, this thoroughly modern feminist novel ultimately succeeds because it portrays human vulnerability.
978-1-897535-90-5
[BCBW 2012]
Submitted on September 4, 2012 in By David.
