Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned" in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Sep 30, 2014 Jen (NerdifiedJen) rated it liked it

Shelves: memoir

I'm going to say some things that I guess you could call spoilers. I mostly complain about the things Dunham doesn't talk about. If you think that is spoilery, then don't read on.

Ok, here we go. Lena Dunham is someone I generally like. Although I'm not a big fan of Girls, I find her character, Hannah, pleasant (for the most part, and in comparison to the other awful characters). What I do really enjoy about Dunham is listening to her talk about her approach to the creative process. I enjoy the I'm going to say some things that I guess you could call spoilers. I mostly complain about the things Dunham doesn't talk about. If you think that is spoilery, then don't read on.

Ok, here we go. Lena Dunham is someone I generally like. Although I'm not a big fan of Girls, I find her character, Hannah, pleasant (for the most part, and in comparison to the other awful characters). What I do really enjoy about Dunham is listening to her talk about her approach to the creative process. I enjoy the "behind the scenes" stuff on HBOGO much more than the episodes themselves. She talks about building the relationships between the characters and her writing/directing/acting choices. The unfortunate thing about this book is that Dunham doesn't talk about her creative exploits, except as background for her personal stories. She never talks about getting her start or the process of making Girls or any of her movies.

I admire Dunham's honesty more than any other thing about her. She really puts herself out there, tells the whole story. Although admirable, the stories she tells aren't the ones I want to hear. She mostly talks about sex. Not really in a sexy way either. Much like the sex scenes in Girls, I am left feeling uncomfortable rather than titillated. For someone so COMPLETELY OBSESSED with sharing her sex life with the world (for what reason, I don't know), she doesn't seem to enjoy sex all that much. Dunham has sex because she feels like it is the thing she should do.

Here's how I see it. Dunham always wanted to be a writer, and she subscribes to the kind of Kerouac writing style of "write what you know" and heaven forbid you use your own imagination when you can just make horrible life choices and then use them as fodder for the tell-all. Dunham is without filter, but she also seems to be without boundaries or common sense. Her whole life has led up to writing this book of personal essays. From the character of Hannah (essentially Dunham herself), this much is obvious. No life choices appear to have motivation apart from "gee, wouldn't this make a great story for my eventual book of essays?" Her tagline for this book is such a self-fulfilling prophesy: "There is nothing gutsier to me than a person announcing that their story is one that deserves to be told". What exactly made your story deserving of telling, Lena? That you've had a lot of sex and managed to make a controversial HBO show that you barely mention? The answer is: because she said so. Because she's gutsy. Didn't you know? She told you that before you started reading. Now you can't complain about this book being a narcissistic mess because it was so GODDAMNED GUTSY of her to write it in the first place. She has overcome all that white, upper-middle class, urban oppression.

Wow, that went to rant town quickly. All of that being said, a few of these essays are definitely worth reading. Her chapter on being raped and then being uncertain of what to call it later is important work. No one deserves to be treated that way and it can be a very confusing gray area. The childhood stories were good too, as she had a somewhat unique upbringing.

The book kept me engaged all the way through, though I sometimes wanted to throw it. I was listening to the audiobook, so I guess that means I would have to throw my phone, or crash my car into a tree. I guess it made me have enough of a reaction to write this longish review, which is probably what Dunham wanted in the first place. Damn her. ...more

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Nov 04, 2014 Booktart rated it liked it

Shelves: contemporary

Much like Girls, the book's privileged tone at times annoyed me, but there were other parts that I related to and I was entertained overall. ...more

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Dec 28, 2014 Megan rated it it was ok

Shelves: nonficadu, memoirs, finished-2014

Meh. Soooooo muuuuch navel-gazingggggg zzzzzzzzzz

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May 25, 2015 Anastasia rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, womens-issues, 2015

A jumbled collection of mostly very interesting musings, recollections, and lists. I'm still not sure what the point was, other than taking a peek into Dunham's brain. ...more

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Oct 05, 2014 Gabrielle S rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: e-books

I am one of the few people these days who doesn't have a strong opinion one way or another about Lena Dunham. The book was intriguing and it probably does explain a lot about her including why people don't like her. I thought it was an entertaining read. ...more

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