Skip to main content

“Freeland’s memoir is unique … Her style is friendly and conversational; you’ll feel like the two of you are close friends having a ‘girly’ conversation over several glasses of wine.” —Readers’ Favorite 

—∞—

After reading The Ins and Outs of My Vagina: A Penetrating Memoir (Karin Freeland Publishing) by Karin Freeland, I feel like I really know the author. No, I mean REALLY know the author! How can you not with a title like that? But what you have here is a refreshingly open and honest memoir about all things related to growing up and becoming a woman. It’s kind of like finding someone’s diary and then guiltily reading every page. Except you’re supposed to!

In fact, Freeland, a self-described recovering corporate workaholic and now an author and life coach, says at the very beginning of the book’s introduction, “We’re about to become very intimate with one another … I hope you are ready for some gut-busting, jaw-dropping, mind-blowing mishaps and misadventures!”

In fact, what follows is just that. As I was reading, it brought back so many memories of my own mishaps, misadventures and embarrassing moments. Boy, can middle schoolers be cruel and teenage boys be clueless. We can make decisions we regret and ones that lead us down the road to happiness. I love the tongue-in-cheek section and chapter titles in the table of contents, which include To Womb It May Concern, Bushwacked, Cysterly Love, Down Under, and Good Vibrations — all of it definitely fun! Of course, these have much more meaning once you read the book.

Freeland’s writing is very conversational, entertaining, humorous and engaging. It’s certainly not for the faint of heart, as things can get quite graphic, but it is about so much more than her vagina (which actually shows up in the book as a character named “V”). It’s about self-discovery, sexual experimentation, life choices, relationships, family. 

ABOUT MORE THAN JUST A CERTAIN PART OF THE FEMALE ANATOMY

Freeland talks about how she came to write the book:

Many people have asked me, “How on earth did you come to write a book about your vagina?” First, I would tell you that this book is about so much more … It’s about growing up and going through puberty, learning to experiment and push your boundaries, finding love and creating life … It started out as a joke between my husband and me, while I was pregnant with our first child. My husband was always amazed at how clueless I was about how my vagina worked…

Freeland also says, “My intent is for this book to provide a sense of comfort and camaraderie for women.” It does just that. Growing up, I never really knew what was “normal” and what wasn’t. It’s nice to not feel so alone anymore in the awkwardness of figuring things out. I personally have never had children, but I fully appreciated the candidness with which Freeland spoke about pregnancy and birth. And it certainly wasn’t all fun and games, as she also addresses some more serious moments she experienced.

By the time I (sadly) finished the book, I felt like I had made a new girlfriend. Someone I could go out and have a drink with. And I could definitely see a sequel in the future — ”V” and menopause, anyone?

Genre: Book Club Network, Humor, Memoir, Nonfiction
Barbara Wilkov

Barbara Wilkov has a varied career background, having worked in education, sales for several start-up magazines, fundraising and event planning for the American Heart Association, and marketing, communications, PR, and social media for a congregational church, a children’s non-profit, and an emergency and specialty veterinary hospital. Barbara is also the co-founder of an award-winning website, Motherrr.com, that focuses on healing difficult mother-daughter relationships from the adult daughter’s perspective. Look for a Motherrr.com book in the not-too-distant future! A Stamford, CT, native, Barbara has an undergraduate degree in Psychology and English, and an MS in Education. She loves to act and is honored to be a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

Leave a Reply