Born on a Rotten Day
 Hazel Dixon-Cooper
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2003 A Fireside Book/Simon & Schuster
 ISBN: 0743225627
 

Illuminating and Coping with the Dark Side of the Zodiac.

Many a true word is spoken in jest & Hazel Dixon-Cooper, a member in good standing of the American Federation of Astrologers, has whipped-up a funny & telling indictment of just how crabby, mealy-mouthed, manipulative & aggressive we all can be--no matter under what sign we are born. It's the Cuspers, & I'm one of them, who get the double whammies!

It's rather relieving to thumb through the pages to your favorite people's signs & read up on just how icky they can be. After all, you already know it, it's nice to know someone else knows!

Then, do yourself a favor, take a look at your own sign--what's that you mutter? You're the epitome of perfection? A veritable saint? You betcha!

Each sign has a worst-case headline such as Welcome to the Twilight Zone or My Way, or the Highway. (that's mine!) Then comes the academic information (the author is, after all, a professional astrologist) like Quality & Symbol before serving up such delicacies as Dream Job & Key Phrases.

Onto the Approach with Caution segment in which the sign under the microscope is scoped out in all its negative, grizzled details. This is followed by:
If You Love One--Man & Woman--wherein your best beloved is gloriously trashed.
If You Are One--in which you meet the same fate!
It's All Relative--re: dysfunctional families explained.
Office Party--re: work relationships-who's the Boss & who is not!
Can't We All Get Along?--on how to share space with these tyrants.
Tips for Emergencies--what to do when...
& finally, infamous grouches are listed under each sign.

Seriously, folks, an exposure to the dark side of the Zodiac has long been needed--something to give balance to all those annoyingly cheerful, eternally charming, nasty little goody-two-shoes booklets we inhale at the drugstore & supermarket checkout stands, & which secretly we all know have been needing a reality check, & Born On A Rotten Day fits the bill!

Hazel Dixon-Cooper has a marvelous way with words, she puns, she bunts, she uses metaphors like sledge hammers & her grasp of homonyms, personification & simile is blushingly acute.

Great fun & wittily informative. For everyone who has ever gotten out of bed on the wrong side, welcome to grouchland!
(07/06/03)

Rebecca