Not That Kind Of Girl (Lena Dunham)

I bought Not That Kind of Girl purely on the basis that it is written by Lena Dunham and I absolutely love her hit show Girls which she writes, produces and stars in. It is described as being a collection of personal essays that follow the many struggles girls face whilst growing up from puberty, to losing your virginity, first loves to coping with death. Now this all sounds great to a girl who herself has faced the same things in life and I expected to connect with Lena throughout as she encountered her own tales. However, I was left feeling very disappointed, the book does give us an insight into the life of Lena growing up but also leaves you feeling very worried for her own sanity! On many occasions Lena recounts a story that you will find hard to believe happened, or at least if it did, wouldn’t be something you would recount to millions of people. For example, and this has been picked up on in the press recently, Lena recounts a time when she became fascinated with her little sister’s vagina. Yes, she was only about 6 at the time and her sister a baby, but it is definitely something which is slightly strange to reveal to others. But there shows Lena’s true self. She is not afraid to speak the truth, or talk about things that others may shy away from, which is fundamentally why she is so popular, but while these qualities have helped her with the success of Girls I feel that her honesty in this book has brought herself down. At least it has in my eyes.

Lena is certainly a strange character; she takes tablets to control her OCD and often feels like she is outside of her body looking down on herself (particularly during sex). She had a therapist for most of her teenage years and has a weird fascination with death. She is very much like her character in Girls and though she seems to be a lovely girl, having now read some of her inner thoughts, I don’t think I’ll be able to look at her the same way again.