She's Just 'Not That Kind of Girl'

OMG Lena Dunham is amazing! I requested this book for Christmas and was lucky to receive it from my Mum, then I promptly read it. I love autobiographies because they always feel real and you get to understand a well known person more as more of a whole than the media portrays them. The only thing that I don't like about autobiographies is that they often get hella depressing and I hate depressing things (for the most part). That's where hilarious female comedians books come in. I've previously spoken of my love for Tina Fey's Bossypants and now I'm highlighting Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham. Amy Poehler's book is totally next, after I've read Hamlet for school *crying emoji* 

I like the fact that this book isn't linear, instead it is written as a series of essays that each depict a story or experience from Lena's life. The book is broken up into five sections titled Love and Sex, Body, Friendship, Work and The Big Picture. As you could imagine, Lena has hilarious stories for each. Some of the stories are actually laugh out loud, side splitting stuff. Have you heard about third graders being forced to pretend to be slaves during the Civil War? I have and I cry laughed. She employs the whole concept of punchlines perfectly, often ending her essays with one smart ass line that just pulls the whole thing together and makes it even funnier. The essays are mostly written in a short story form, so basically just like you would expect a book would be, paragraphs. Some of them are different and written as lists or, in one case, a meal plan (it's far more interesting than it sounds). 

On top of it being funny and inventive, the book has a lot of heart to it. It is as though Lena is actually trying to use her experiences to influence other people and help them to become better people. She talks about her own mistakes and how even though she made those mistakes, she still managed to become so successful so young. There is a lot of moral ground to the book and because of that it is far more relatable than it would be if it just were a series of funny stories. The cutest thing about the book is how much Lena loves her family and her boyfriend, I find those things so nice and they just all seem like great people. 

I have this book in hard back and I hate the dust cover, ugh they annoy me so bad. Other than that I have absolutely no issues with this book. Obviously if you don't like Lena Dunham and her sense of humour you're not going to like this. Seriously, don't bother. But if you are up for a laugh, a lesson and you're not too uptight and conservative, this is a great read. 

Have you read Not That Kind of Girl? What did you think of it? 

Lots of Love, 

Shannon