How to Build a Girl

by Caitlin Moran

I should have known how filthy this book would be just by looking at its cover. Here is the blurb that should have warned me: “I have so much love for Caitlin Moran.”—Lena Dunham.
Anyway, this is the story of Johanna Morrigan. The year is 1990, and Johanna is fourteen years old. She is overweight, unpopular, and has just embarrassed herself on a local television program.

Additionally, her family is poor, and Johanna fears that her family’s benefits may be cut. How can she make money to help support her family? Writing.

Johanna is already a good writer. She decides that she will write music reviews and reinvents herself as a sexy, snarky, cigarette-smoking rock critic. Her new persona’s name? Dolly Wilde.

What follows is the tale of a young woman who has no idea of what she is doing. She only knows why she is doing it.

The language is horrible, but there is something likable about Johanna, and that kept me reading.

4/24/15