Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What Shes Learned

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For readers of Nora Ephron, Tina Fey, and David Sedaris, this hilarious, poignant, and extremely frank collection of personal essays confirms Lena Dunham the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBOs Girls as one of the brightest and most original writers working today.
If I could take what Ive learned and make one menial job easier for you, or prevent you from having the kind of sex where you feel you must keep your sneakers on in case you want to run away during the act, then every misstep of mine was worthwhile. Im already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you, but also my future glory in having stopped you from trying an expensive juice cleanse or thinking that it was your fault when the person you are dating suddenly backs away, intimidated by the clarity of your personal mission here on earth. No, I am not a sexpert, a psychologist, or a dietician. I am not a mother of three or the owner of a successful hosiery franchise. But I am a girl with a keen interest in having it all, and what follows are hopeful dispatches from the frontlines of that struggle.

Reviews

Its not Lena Dunhams candour that makes me gasp. Rather, its her writing which is full of surprises where you least expect them. This is a fine, subversive book David Sedaris

Always funny, sometimes wrenching, these essays are a testament to the creative wonder that is Lena Dunham Judy Blume

Dunhams writing is just as smart, honest, sophisticated, dangerous, and charming as her work on Girls. Its essential quality is a kind of joyful super-awareness: of herself, the world, the human. Reading her makes you glad to be in the world, and glad that shes in it with you George Saunders

Very few women have become famous for being who they actually are, nuanced and imperfect. When honesty happens, its usually couched in self-ridicule or self-help. Dunham doesnt apologise like that she simply tells her story as if it might be interesting. The result is shocking and radical because it is utterly familiar. Not That Kind of Girl is hilarious, artful, and staggeringly intimate; I read it shivering with recognition Miranda July

Frank, fearless and funny made me want to cry out with thanks that a talented, intelligent woman has said and done worse things than I have and is repeating them without a scrap of shame Not That Kind of Girl is funny, empowering and as good a millennial guide for navigating and laughing at your foggy adolescence and murky twenties as there can be. I only wish it had been around earlier Sunday Times

I love Lenas book more shocking than I was expecting, sadder and more beautiful anyway; within a few pages Im charmed, anxious, furious and totally committed Nina Stibbe, Observer

Very funny and imbues the gloom with hope Having it all need not mean hitting narrow markers of success the perfect job/man/body but instead being able to own your experiences: the good, the bad, the ugly. All of it Independent

Dunhams first book is seldom less than very funny Iona McLaren, Sunday Telegraph

Author Bio

Lena Dunham is the creator and star of the critically-acclaimed HBO series Girls, for which she also serves as executive producer, writer and director. She has been nominated for 8 Emmy awards and has won 2 Golden Globes, including Best Actress, for her work on Girls. Lena has also written and directed two feature length films (including 2011's TINY FURNITURE), created two web series, and is a frequent contributor to the The New Yorker. Lena graduated from Oberlin College in 2008.