Tag Archives: memoir

Book Review: How To Be a Woman

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How To Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran (pub date 7/17/12)

“What is feminism? Simply the belief that women should be as free as men, however nuts, dim, deluded, badly dressed, fat, receding, lazy, and smug they might be.  Are you a feminist?  Hahaha.  Of course you are.”

Caitlin Moran is my new personal hero, and I only just heard of her four days ago.  She’s a British journalist, broadcaster, and TV critic with one hell of a personality.  And she worked for “Melody Maker” magazine in the 90s during the height of the Britrock era, which was my absolute hands-down dream job all throughout eight grade and most of high school.  But I digress…

Aside from living the life I wanted during my pubescent years, Moran is the author of this part memoir, part feminist manifesto How To Be a Woman.  First published in the UK last year, this hit title made its way across the pond this week.

In her book, Moran shares her most memorable personal experiences from age thirteen to adulthood, experiences that shaped the woman she became.  From discovering the joys of masturbation, to body image issues, sex, marriage, pregnancy, and her first encounters with sexism, Moran relates her life to the bigger issues women face every day.  She ponders the things that are supposed to make us “womanly,” like Brazilian waxes, big weddings, and an interest in fashion.  She also argues the pros and cons of strip clubs, and lists the best and worst words to call your vagina.

What I loved most about this book was its perfect mixture of humor and seriousness.  While Moran’s hilarious observations had me cracking up, her chapter on abortion was reverent and thought-provoking.  And while she is a mother of two, I still want to give a big thumbs-up and thank you for her chapter defending the childfree lifestyle.

So what is the book’s overall message?  Every woman is a feminist!  Moran asserts that if you have a vagina and want to be in control of it, you are a feminist.  It’s not about maintaining a certain image or about hating men (this is NOT an anti-man book, just in case you were wondering), it’s about freedom and equality.

I don’t read many memoirs, but I loved How To Be a Woman.  If you’re a woman, you should read it.  There will definitely be something in it that you can identify with.  Fans of ‘The Bloggess’ Jenny Lawson will be able to appreciate this book’s sense of humor.  Some people may find the British slang a bit tricky, but it won’t affect your understanding of the book.  And if you’re thinking that you’re not a feminist, you need to read this book even more, because you’re the ones it was written for.

Book Review: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

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Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (pub date 4/17/12)

“People with anxiety disorders are often labeled as ‘shy’ or ‘quiet’ or ‘that strange girl who probably buries bodies in her basement.’”

In my recent post about the BEA Bloggers Conference, I wrote about Jenny Lawson’s entertaining and heartfelt closing speech at the conference.  She struck me as one of those people who is just naturally funny, and her delivery and comedic timing cracked me up all throughout her speech.  But even as she discussed more serious issues like her battle with anxiety problems, she still captivated the audience with her honesty and unique perspective on life.  After receiving a copy of her book at the conference, I knew I wanted to read it right away.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is Lawson’s (mostly true) memoir.  It’s a composite of events from her childhood, stories from her experience as a human resources rep, random arguments with her husband, phobias, and obsessions.  With a poignant wit, she describes growing up poor in rural Texas with a taxidermist father who also enjoyed bringing home live wild animals.  She moves onto meeting her husband Victor and how on the night he proposed she was convinced he was going to kill her.  Later in the book are side-splitting stories from her HR days, and various calamities that you feel bad for laughing at, like the time she had to bury and then exhume her beloved pug Barnaby Jones.

Though humorous at heart, the book has its tender moments as well.  Lawson writes about the misfortunes in her life, like her multiple miscarriages and battle with anxiety disorder, with a voice that lets you know she is using humor to deal with the pain.  She fears going out in public, and when she does her obsession with fitting in causes her to unintentionally make a scene.  Her descriptions of these events are hilarious, but you somehow feel bad for laughing.  Yet in the end it’s OK to laugh, because she is laughing along with you.  Lawson also describes the joys in her life, like the birth of her daughter and her love for her husband.  Moments like these give a lot of substance to the book, and let you know more about who Lawson is as an individual.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is probably the funniest memoir you’ll ever read.  With chapter titles like “Stanley the Magical Talking Squirrel,” “If You Need an Arm Condom, It Might Be Time to Reevaluate Some of Your Life Choices,” and “Thanks for the Zombies, Jesus,” you know you’re in for a real treat.  It’s dark, it’s offensive, it’s gross, and it’s also human.  It’s about the moments that we wish we could just forget, but ultimately make us who we are.  It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you have a twisted sense of humor and an appreciation for the macabre, you definitely need to read this book.  And check out Jenny Lawson’s blog The Bloggess, the thing that started it all!

Book Review: Mother’s House Payment

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Mother’s House Payment by Ronnie Schiller (Kindle only, 2011)

“Depression follows mania.  A manic person falls like Icarus, plummeting away from the sun into the depths of the sea.”

One of my professors recently said something very simple yet very brilliant about the difference between fiction and nonfiction:  we want our fiction to be realistic and we want our nonfiction, especially memoirs, to be larger than life.  There is some truth to that statement in this short but powerful memoir by the author of the Infernal Stock series.

Mother’s House Payment is the story of Schiller’s own life, and how she struggled to overcome her traumatic childhood.  Born to a mother who never wanted her, Schiller’s childhood is marked by abuse, neglect, and being passed around among parents and step-parents.  Still fighting deep emotional scars in her teen years, she experiences mental illness which leads to self-harm and eventually hospitalization.  As an adult, she finds difficulty in maintaining healthy romantic relationships, and tries to finally break free of her unhappy, co-dependent marriage.

This is not an easy book to read.  It’s raw, gritty, and uncomfortable.  But it’s also very well written, and a story that deserves to be told.  It shows just what happens to victims of abuse when they grow up, the burden they carry with them into adulthood.  And the sad fact is that there are many abuse victims who were not as fortunate as Schiller to have gotten help and turned their lives around. 

Mother’s House Payment is a sad but hopeful memoir, and I give a lot of credit to the author for finding the strength not only to help herself, but to share her story with the world.  The book is currently selling well in the Kindle store, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it got picked up by a larger publisher sometime in the future.