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It would be nice to see Moran write about something a little different but this was still a wonderful book
on 4 December 2015
This is the second book I’ve read from this brilliant, wholly funny author and I really enjoyed this book which is supposedly not based on her life *hmmmm.* The book follows Johanna Morrigan brought up in a council estate in Wolverhampton who decidedly wants to be a music journalist. Leaving school and Wolverhampton behind she travels to London to find her dream job. During this time we see Johanna deciding to go through a life makeover changing her entire identity into the crazy, party loving, wild child Dolly Wilde. Dabbling in drugs, alcohol, sex, and bands (lots of bands) we watch as Johanna/Dolly struggles to find who she really is.
Did I enjoy this book? Overall it has to be an outstanding yes. It’s hands down, laugh out loud funny and reading this travelling on the train to London I did get a few funny looks. There are a number of quite explicit sex scenes and this mixed with her upbringing in Wolverhampton which looks at the deperation of her father to make it big in the music world, her potentially gay brother and the mischief of her younger siblings it’s a lot of fun.
My only wobble is this is so much like How to be a Woman I had to stop a few times and make sure I hadn’t accidentally picked up the same book and was reading it again. Apparently Moran struggled writing this book and I think it may be due to how much of a similarity it was to her previous which I thought was really brilliant. This feels a little like a re-hash to get another book out, a little like Charles Bukowski. For me I still adored it; the writing is strong, written with humour, sarcasm and conviction. It draws you in and makes you feel part of the story and as with How to be a woman I was very much involved in the book despite the similarities.
Would I recommend this book – yes I would. I got a lot of excitement reading this and adored the writing. It would be nice to see Moran write about something a little different but this was still a wonderful book. A really good read, maybe not as original as hoped but still a great gem of a read.
Did I enjoy this book? Overall it has to be an outstanding yes. It’s hands down, laugh out loud funny and reading this travelling on the train to London I did get a few funny looks. There are a number of quite explicit sex scenes and this mixed with her upbringing in Wolverhampton which looks at the deperation of her father to make it big in the music world, her potentially gay brother and the mischief of her younger siblings it’s a lot of fun.
My only wobble is this is so much like How to be a Woman I had to stop a few times and make sure I hadn’t accidentally picked up the same book and was reading it again. Apparently Moran struggled writing this book and I think it may be due to how much of a similarity it was to her previous which I thought was really brilliant. This feels a little like a re-hash to get another book out, a little like Charles Bukowski. For me I still adored it; the writing is strong, written with humour, sarcasm and conviction. It draws you in and makes you feel part of the story and as with How to be a woman I was very much involved in the book despite the similarities.
Would I recommend this book – yes I would. I got a lot of excitement reading this and adored the writing. It would be nice to see Moran write about something a little different but this was still a wonderful book. A really good read, maybe not as original as hoped but still a great gem of a read.
on 14 July 2014
A typically funny read from Caitlin Moran, although I could have done without the frequent references to the subject's frantic teenage masturbation...especially when conducted rather disturbingly next to her younger sleeping brother.
I was also disappointed to find a duplicated passage (literally word for word) from Moranthology - the description of her job interview with a newspaper and joke about the line from the film Annie. I haven't finished the book yet so am hoping there won't be any more repetition.
I was also disappointed to find a duplicated passage (literally word for word) from Moranthology - the description of her job interview with a newspaper and joke about the line from the film Annie. I haven't finished the book yet so am hoping there won't be any more repetition.
on 21 July 2014
I'm probably in the minority here, but I haven't read any other Caitlin Moran. I'd heard about this though, both good and bad reviews...
To be honest, how you approach this book probably depends on your own teenage experience. Johanna is the girl I wanted to be, or maybe even was, when I was growing up - following bands around the country, lying about my age, ending up in house parties with complete and utter strangers for 48 hours. I think this is what kept me going... there are lovely glimpses of reality in what is mainly a soppy nostalgia fest. I wrote a short story when I was 11, about rebellious girls and the dangers of class A drugs (all of which I had learned from the telly, rather than experience), and this really reminded me of it. I also thought about the book I ripped off, 'Junk' by Melvin Burgess, which was brilliant and pretty groundbreaking. The characterisations in 'How To Build A Girl' are so obvious and cliched that they become a painful fantasy. I wonder if this was what Caitlin was trying to achieve? It almost makes me sad to think that this will only appeal to 30-something women, clamouring on to 90s nostalgia and also dealing with being a real adult. Reading it has made me feel even more separated from the teenage girls of today... Anyway, I don't think this is a terrible read at all, it's funny and compelling in places - and I for one, have no problem with the word 'wank'.
To be honest, how you approach this book probably depends on your own teenage experience. Johanna is the girl I wanted to be, or maybe even was, when I was growing up - following bands around the country, lying about my age, ending up in house parties with complete and utter strangers for 48 hours. I think this is what kept me going... there are lovely glimpses of reality in what is mainly a soppy nostalgia fest. I wrote a short story when I was 11, about rebellious girls and the dangers of class A drugs (all of which I had learned from the telly, rather than experience), and this really reminded me of it. I also thought about the book I ripped off, 'Junk' by Melvin Burgess, which was brilliant and pretty groundbreaking. The characterisations in 'How To Build A Girl' are so obvious and cliched that they become a painful fantasy. I wonder if this was what Caitlin was trying to achieve? It almost makes me sad to think that this will only appeal to 30-something women, clamouring on to 90s nostalgia and also dealing with being a real adult. Reading it has made me feel even more separated from the teenage girls of today... Anyway, I don't think this is a terrible read at all, it's funny and compelling in places - and I for one, have no problem with the word 'wank'.
on 22 August 2014
I feel horribly disloyal about writing this. But I didnt think much of this. I loved "How to be a woman" but this is a bit 'samey' and not that good.
You could read 'How to be a woman' and skip this book, as all the humour and jokes are pretty much the same, and the stories are pretty parallel. I am unsure as to the point of this book. There are very few new ideas.
Its a shame as I love Caitlin Moran. But this felt lazy.
Read 'How to be a Woman' dont read this.
You could read 'How to be a woman' and skip this book, as all the humour and jokes are pretty much the same, and the stories are pretty parallel. I am unsure as to the point of this book. There are very few new ideas.
Its a shame as I love Caitlin Moran. But this felt lazy.
Read 'How to be a Woman' dont read this.
on 5 August 2014
As with HTBAG, you'll feel like you've read this review before, as I don't have much to add to those 1-3 star ones already. I feel cheated and betrayed. Cheated by Moran, who has basically padded out the adolescent phase of HTBAW with a bit of wanking and an insufferably unfunny caricature of a father and betrayed by Zoe Williams, who gave this a cracking review and called it laugh out loud. I like Zoe Williams' writing, but now I am sad.
Moran has been at great pains to stress that this is a work of fiction. Why then, is so much of it lifted from non-fiction i.e. HTBAW and Moranthology? It was with a growing sense of weariness that I plodded through Wolverhampton (grey, industrial, yes, yes; lots of us grew up in similar places) encountering yet more of the same stuff I read - and thoroughly enjoyed - in HTBAW. I almost couldn't be bothered to finish it; which is rare. Spoiler alert: I'm assuming the next book will be about how 'Johanna' gets to be annoying on the telly for a bit, and the third one will be about how she forgets she grew up poor and on benefits to work for than well-known champion of the poor: Rupert Murdoch. There will be much shagging of famous and semi-famous blokes, because Moran was the only girl ever just to shag random blokes in the 90s. Granted, most of us had to make do with the plain non-famous ones.
So, to reiterate what others have said, if you've read HTBAW and are tempted to pick this up: don't. If you're new to Moran's writing, go and read her non-fiction; it's much more fun. I'm just glad I got this out of the library.
Moran has been at great pains to stress that this is a work of fiction. Why then, is so much of it lifted from non-fiction i.e. HTBAW and Moranthology? It was with a growing sense of weariness that I plodded through Wolverhampton (grey, industrial, yes, yes; lots of us grew up in similar places) encountering yet more of the same stuff I read - and thoroughly enjoyed - in HTBAW. I almost couldn't be bothered to finish it; which is rare. Spoiler alert: I'm assuming the next book will be about how 'Johanna' gets to be annoying on the telly for a bit, and the third one will be about how she forgets she grew up poor and on benefits to work for than well-known champion of the poor: Rupert Murdoch. There will be much shagging of famous and semi-famous blokes, because Moran was the only girl ever just to shag random blokes in the 90s. Granted, most of us had to make do with the plain non-famous ones.
So, to reiterate what others have said, if you've read HTBAW and are tempted to pick this up: don't. If you're new to Moran's writing, go and read her non-fiction; it's much more fun. I'm just glad I got this out of the library.
on 1 March 2015
I am a huge fan of Caitlin Moran and loved her previous books (How To Be A Woman & Moranthology) and I was really looking forward this novel.
However it all seems too familiar right from the start. A girl who's a bit of an outcast raised by a large family on a council estate who becomes a music journalist? Isn't this the same story we've heard time and time again in her other books?
It's her life as described in HTBAW just with names changed and exaggerated in parts.
I have to say overall I did like the book and it made me laugh at loud in parts, I was just disappointed Caitlin didn't take a new direction.
However it all seems too familiar right from the start. A girl who's a bit of an outcast raised by a large family on a council estate who becomes a music journalist? Isn't this the same story we've heard time and time again in her other books?
It's her life as described in HTBAW just with names changed and exaggerated in parts.
I have to say overall I did like the book and it made me laugh at loud in parts, I was just disappointed Caitlin didn't take a new direction.
TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE VOICEon 2 December 2014
I have mixed feelings about this. I enjoyed reading it. It was an easy, entertaining read, which is a massive plus. On the other hand I do feel other critics of the book are right in that this is old ground for Moran. She is an incredibly talented writer. She can write very movingly and can also be screamingly funny.She really needs new material though. If you've been a fan for a while, you will pretty much know this story by now, and good though it is, it tires a bit in the re-telling.
on 18 October 2014
Improves as book moves onwards but a bit "me, me, me". Not exactly Booker prize winning literature but good fun easy reading.
on 12 August 2015
This was a good enough read, funny at times but also unrealistic (a music magazine giving an unknown 15 year old girl a writing job - really?) But I cannot believe no one has picked up on the glaring error in it - to quote Princess Diana's 'three people in this marriage' line in a scene set in 1993. The interview with Diana didn't happen until 1995. I think the editors were asleep on this one which is a shame because it could have been so much better.
