Not that Kind of Girl - Lena Dunham
So there’s been some controversy about this book but I read it a few months ago before all of that came to light. Not to say I didn’t notice or agree with it but I just wanted to point out I didn’t read it because of that. I read it because I just binged on the last 3 seasons of Girls and wanted to.
I am not sure about my feelings towards Lena Dunham, but I’m not sure I like her and this book didn’t do much to help my decision. There’s all sorts of stories about her life, her writing, dieting, having an “existential crisis” by the age of 20. To be honest, the book pretty much annoyed me. It didn’t open me up to liking her in any way. Yes, Dunham is clearly an intelligent woman with an interesting way of expressing herself and some unique views on the world. But that doesn’t make her likeable. She’s dealt with mental health issues which is something I can understand and relate to and it’s good she is able to talk about those things and be honest - and if there’s one thing you can say about Dunham it is that she’s honest. She’s also a great writer. Despite awkward subject matter and controversial topics, the book was easy and entertaining to read.
Actually I’ve just read this review on Goodreads and part of it sums it up better than I could.
Here’s a quote:
“Uh. Why would anyone yell about a banana, even if it wasn't at someone dying a horrible, slow, visibly painful and tragic death? Is this supposed to be funny? Relatable? Is that banana anecdote supposed to make me laugh and say, Lena is so refreshingly honest! I can't count the number of times I've yelled at AIDS patients about bananas!? And then to go overboard to immediately skip hop over a real death to narcissistically view herself as the potential face of a disease as serious as AIDS, were she to have it? Is *that* supposed to be funny? Relatable? Deep? Are we supposed to be taken aback at her honesty about human behavior (and stupid, sometimes impulsive, ugly behavior like this?) and the dark places our minds go when thinking about death and the unknown? Is this refreshing and new?
In my opinion, it isn't. Her writing shows a life led with some of the worst kind of privilege – self-centered and lonely and generally indicative of a lack of empathy toward the suffering of others and a hyper focus on the problems of her charmed life (like food diaries and long distance dating woes.) Expect nothing about the glory of getting to bring your own TV show to life; but do expect stories about making out with the camera man and her private liberal arts college's parties. Maybe she's too cool to share the excitement and the very real, admirable and hard work behind having her own show, but she *is not* too cool to share with you what she ate for lunch literally every day for several days in a row in excruciating detail. Good lord. Why.”
And a link to the review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1025603125?book_show_action=true&page=1
I’m not going to discuss this any more. Because I don’t want to. I like Girls, mostly, but I don’t like this. It makes me feel weird.
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