How to Be a Woman Author: Caitlin Moran | Language: English | ISBN:
B0068LYEHA | Format: PDF
How to Be a Woman Description
“Caitlin Moran is the profane, witty and wonky best friend I wish I had. She’s the feminist rock star we need right now.”
—Ayelet Waldman, author of Bad Mother
“Caitlin Moran is so fabulous, so funny, so freshly feminist. I don’t want to be like her—I want to be her.”
—Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter
Caitlin Moran puts a new face on feminism, cutting to the heart of women’s issues today with her irreverent, transcendent, and hilarious How to Be a Woman. “Half memoir, half polemic, and entirely necessary,” (Elle UK), Moran’s debut was an instant runaway bestseller in England as well as an Amazon UK Top Ten book of the year; still riding high on bestseller lists months after publication, it is a bona fide cultural phenomenon. Now poised to take American womanhood by storm, here is a book that Vanity Fair calls “the U.K. version of Tina Fey’s Bossypants….You will laugh out loud, wince, and—in my case—feel proud to be the same gender as the author.”
- File Size: 1204 KB
- Print Length: 323 pages
- Publisher: Harper (July 17, 2012)
- Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
- Language: English
- ASIN: B0068LYEHA
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,067 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #3
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Journalists - #5
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Journalists - #6
in Books > Literature & Fiction > British > Humor & Satire
- #3
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Journalists - #5
in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Professionals & Academics > Journalists - #6
in Books > Literature & Fiction > British > Humor & Satire
I read this book and laughed a lot while doing so.
Then I had to face the acid test. I handed it to my wife - the professional nay-sayer, the woman who thinks that puns are not funny - and told her to open it at random and start reading. I expected to have it back within seconds with a dismissive remark, but instead she started reading it, chuckling occasionally, and when she turned the page she put her fingers under the next page, the quicker to read it. I asked her what the chuckles were for, but she didn't answer and kept on reading. Then she laughed so hard she nearly fell off the floor. She looked at me and said, "She's good."
I said "I've finished it, you can read it," but she insisted that I write my review first. That makes sense, considering that she has a bunch of friends that she passes on books to that she thinks are important (books, that is). So here it is.
And the only thing I can say I said in the review title - Buy it. It's the funniest book I've read this year, and probably the last year as well. Billed as a "feminist" book, by American standards it is not academic enough and way too funny, yet it addresses some of the major issues woman have like what to name your sexual parts, your pubic hair and so on. There's also a great deal of stuff on how women are sucked up into the vortex of buying clothes and high heels, having Brazilian waxes, and plenty more. The book is a vague memoir of life since she was thirteen, living in close-to-poverty, yet she managed to win a national newspaper essay competition and get on the staff of the prestigious Melody Maker Brit-pop rag in just the next three years. She also started her career as a national newspaper columnist (most of which was spent in the London Times) and hosted some TV shows.
I AM A STRIDENT FEMINIST! There, I said it, as the author instructed. But it's true, and I have been, for as long as I can remember knowing what that even meant. And I have to say, this is the first "feminist book" that actually made me feel hopeful and happy and glad to be a woman. Others (such as "Crazy Salad Plus Nine" by the wonderful Nora Ephron) just made me angry - because so little has changed for women. We're still - 30+ years after she wrote it - marginalized and "different".
"How to Be a Woman" explains this 'difference' in a no-nonsense and hilarious way. For example, in the chapter titled "I Encounter Some Sexism!", the author says, "We are, physically, the weaker sex. We're not as good at hefting stones, killing mammoths, and rowing boats. In addition, sex often had the added complication of getting us pregnant and leaving us feeling 'too fat' to lead an army into India."
The author honestly and unflinchingly looks at many topics that plaque women:
~what happens when puberty hits (the periods! the hair growth!)
~the 'thin' vs 'fat' issue (and how the term "fat" is used as a curse and a slur)
~sexism (in the workplace and out)
~falling in love, getting married, and having kids (why you should, and why you shouldn't)
~abortion
~the "maintenance" we have to do on ourselves (waxes, etc.)
~and getting older
And it's all presented in an uplifting, positive, honest, and hilarious way. I did NOT want this book to end. And I want to give copies to everyone important in my life.
A few notes - as other reviewers have stated, there is all kinds of crude language as well as mentions of drug and alcohol use, none of which bothered me personally, but... this is, obviously, not for everyone...
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