Review: Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned"

Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned" by Lena Dunham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There's a bit on an episode of Family Guy where Peter Griffin, the father, confesses that he doesn't like The Godfather. His reasoning? "It insists upon itself."

Thus my feeling on Not That Kind of Girl.

I come into this liking Lena Dunham's work on a whole. She's perhaps a little too arsty and big-I-Important for a lot of tastes (mine included), but Girls is great and Tiny Furniture was great, so why not?

The problem is that this is really just in Dunham's voice throughout, and there are just a lot of really frustrating things about her and her personality that ring throughout. If you find Dunham insufferable, you'll want to shake her when she talks about college boyfriends or summer camp. If you find her charming, her stories from childhood will be inspiring and fun. Those who pick up this book already have an opinion on Dunham, and it's just going to transfer onto the writing, for better or for worse.

With the controversy surrounding this book (in context, it's not nearly as bad as it's portrayed regarding her sister), it's hard to simply read it, so kind of take everything in stride. Honestly, unless you're really into Dunham both as an artist and a person, this isn't something you'll enjoy. I found it to be what it was, but I don't think I feel great about picking it up, either.

Closer to a 2.5.

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