A review by mamalemma
How to Build a Girl by Caitlin Moran
5.0
The tale of a rocky, raunchy launch to adulthood of naïve, ungainly, awkward and poverty-stricken Johanna Morrigan, aka the savage and fearless music critic/party girl Dolly Wilde, is a study in masquerade. As awkward Johanna reinvents herself as ferocious Dolly, so too does the book masquerade its inner heart with an aggressive mask. Filled with shockingly blunt language and descriptions of bad behavior, you would never guess from its surface how deep is the content. There are great, meaningful truths here, all presented in a coming of age story that would be horrifying to live through (or watch happen to a family member). This is smart, moving commentary on what it means to grow up, and hilariously funny to boot. There were lines of prose so meaningful that I had to stop listening just to write them down — a first for me among audiobooks.
The characters are fully drawn, with surprising depth. The audiobook narration is outstanding; one of the finest I’ve ever heard, imbuing the characters with urgency, confusion, defiance and melancholy that brings the story to life. This is not a book for everyone, but for those undeterred by strong language, it’s terrific.
The characters are fully drawn, with surprising depth. The audiobook narration is outstanding; one of the finest I’ve ever heard, imbuing the characters with urgency, confusion, defiance and melancholy that brings the story to life. This is not a book for everyone, but for those undeterred by strong language, it’s terrific.