I'm not necessarily a fan of Caitlin Moran. I read How to be a Woman a few years back and at the time it spoke to me, as well as being entertaining and somewhat amusing. It was an introduction to feminist writing that I needed at the time (this naivity has since been rectified by reading actual feminist writings). On a second read though, things didn't quite sit right with me. Follow this up with some controversy that surfaced on twitter a while back and I'm not quite sure where I stand. In this link to a post from Bitch magazine on why the cut an interview with her, Kjerstin Johnson pretty much sums up what didn't sit right with me - things like Moran's use of the word "tranny" and other comments I read made me feel uneasy.
But cut to me finding a copy of her fiction novel (that she admits is somewhat loosely based around her own life, except made up) and I decided to give her another go. I figured if she's writing prose rather than a column based around current events then maybe, just maybe, we'd get along better.
And I have to admit, I did kind of like this book. It's about a teenage girl who finds herself becoming emersed in music, mainly through renting CDs for 20p from the library. I can relate because I definitely used to do that. I did not, however, run off to London and become a music journalist before I was 16 after creating a new alter-ego for myself like the character in this book does. Johanna seems to become increasingly caught up in her Dolly Wilde side - drinking, sleeping around with musicians and only writing scathing reviews of bands she doesn't like, which results on her having drinks thrown over her. Ultimately, Dolly has her downfall and everything comes out in the wash.
After reading about Moran's life in HTBAW, I kind of felt like I knew the story and knew what was coming. It was predictable. No surprises, no twists and turns. It did have its relatable moments - as awful as it is, Johanna crying and spending hours in the bath as it was the only way to relieve her cystitis is a situation I'm sure many a woman can relate to. On the other hand, scenes like the opener when Johanna is masturbating while sharing a bed with her younger brother and later keeping her older brother awake because she is "itching" (with help from a hairbrush...ahem) made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and a little sick.
There were some times when I stopped and caught myself appreciating a certain turn of phrase or description and thinking "hey, this bird can actually write!". But the odd eloquent sentence or metaphor doesn't make your book amazing.
Putting my personal feelings for Moran aside, I can wholeheartedly say I did enjoy this book. But when I remember who wrote it, it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it was a reasonably fun and ultimately relatable read for someone of my age. But maybe that has something to do with me having extremely low expectations coming into it? Who knows.
No comments:
Post a Comment