Like a lot of iconic books (and this book IS iconic, whether you enjoyed reading it or not) I think I'd inflated it in my mind so the actual reading of it was probably a bit of a let-down. That's not to say it wasn't good - it was fine, and when you think about the time it was written (late nineties, when it seemed the entire mainstream media was trying to slap down third-wave feminism) it was very progressive and brave.
The book was in two halves - the first was the transcript of the original monologues, which were interesting, if a bit po-faced. The second half though was just a load of testimonials from people who had seen/been in the Vagina Monologues on the college days held in the early 2000s. This was as utterly tedious as reading the Acknowledgements section of a book and 100 o so pages could have been shaved off with the sentence 'Lots of people liked the Vagina Monologues and it changed some lives'. The barrage of bum-lickery that was the second half of this book was way OTT.
And obviously there's the problem of reducing the experience of being a woman down to the existence of a vagina. I didn't notice any specifically transphobic language (although this could be because I'm cisgendered - if anyone else has an opinion on this, please speak up), and I don't know what the author's views are, but it does have an exclusive feel. I think if the VM was written today, more would be done to include transgender women in the narrative. I'd like to think so, anyway.
Also, I personally think I'm the sum of a lot of parts, not just a vagina.
I do see why this book has had such an impact and I think that the first half is worth reading for its place in history, but I think readers should go into it understanding that this is now an old book and maybe shouldn't be used as a gender compass.
2.5 stars