Redefining "messy women" in books

We are a mess because the world is hard and weird and unpleasant for women

Commercial fiction (and media in general) is filled with storylines about “messy” women. But there’s often very particular ways women can be a mess or ways they can “blow up their lives” in fiction.

Check out this hot mess.

Very often “messy women” in books are borderline alcoholics who drink too much which makes them an unreliable narrator and generally …