#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MICHIKO KAKUTANI, THE NEW YORK TIMESNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, AND LIBRARY JOURNALFor readers of Nora Ephron, Tina Fey, and David Sedaris, this hilarious, wise, and fiercely candid collection of personal essays establishes Lena Dunham—the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO’s Girls—as one of the most original young talents writing today.In Not That Kind of Girl, Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one’s way in the world: falling in love, feeling alone, being ten pounds overweight despite eating only health food, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, finding true love, and most of all, having the guts to believe that your story is one that deserves to be told.“Take My Virginity (No Really, Take It)” is the account of Dunham’s first time, and how her expectations of sex didn’t quite live up to the actual event (“No floodgate had been opened, no vault of true womanhood unlocked”); “Girls & Jerks” explores her former attraction to less-than-nice guys—guys who had perfected the “dynamic of disrespect” she found so intriguing; “Is This Even Real?” is a meditation on her lifelong obsession with death and dying—what she calls her “genetically predestined morbidity.” And in “I Didn’t F*** Them, but They Yelled at Me,” she imagines the tell-all she will write when she is eighty and past caring, able to reflect honestly on the sexism and condescension she has encountered in Hollywood, where women are “treated like the paper thingies that protect glasses in hotel bathrooms—necessary but infinitely disposable.”Exuberant, moving, and keenly observed, Not That Kind of Girl is a series of dispatches from the frontlines of the struggle that is growing up. “I’m already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you,” Dunham writes. “But if I can take what I’ve 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 will have been worthwhile.”Praise for Not That Kind of Girl“The gifted Ms. Dunham not only writes with observant precision, but also brings a measure of perspective, nostalgia and an older person’s sort of wisdom to her portrait of her (not all that much) younger self and her world. . . . As acute and heartfelt as it is funny.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times“It’s not Lena Dunham’s candor that makes me gasp. Rather, it’s her writing—which is full of surprises where you least expect them. A fine, subversive book.”—David Sedaris“This book should be required reading for anyone who thinks they understand the experience of being a young woman in our culture. I thought I knew the author rather well, and I found many (not altogether welcome) surprises.”—Carroll Dunham“Witty, illuminating, maddening, bracingly bleak . . . [Dunham] is a genuine artist, and a disturber of the order.”—The Atlantic“As Dunham proves beyond a shadow of a doubt in Not That Kind of Girl, she’s not remotely at risk of offering up the same old sentimental tales we’ve read dozens of times.”—The Los Angeles Review of Books
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Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned"
By Lena Dunham
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY MICHIKO KAKUTANI, THE NEW YORK TIMESNAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, AND LIBRARY JOURNALFor readers of Nora Ephron, Tina Fey, and David Sedaris, this hilarious, wise, and fiercely candid collection of personal essays establishes Lena Dunham—the acclaimed creator, producer, and star of HBO’s Girls—as one of the most original young talents writing today.In Not That Kind of Girl, Dunham illuminates the experiences that are part of making one’s way in the world: falling in love, feeling alone, being ten pounds overweight despite eating only health food, having to prove yourself in a room full of men twice your age, finding true love, and most of all, having the guts to believe that your story is one that deserves to be told.“Take My Virginity (No Really, Take It)” is the account of Dunham’s first time, and how her expectations of sex didn’t quite live up to the actual event (“No floodgate had been opened, no vault of true womanhood unlocked”); “Girls & Jerks” explores her former attraction to less-than-nice guys—guys who had perfected the “dynamic of disrespect” she found so intriguing; “Is This Even Real?” is a meditation on her lifelong obsession with death and dying—what she calls her “genetically predestined morbidity.” And in “I Didn’t F*** Them, but They Yelled at Me,” she imagines the tell-all she will write when she is eighty and past caring, able to reflect honestly on the sexism and condescension she has encountered in Hollywood, where women are “treated like the paper thingies that protect glasses in hotel bathrooms—necessary but infinitely disposable.”Exuberant, moving, and keenly observed, Not That Kind of Girl is a series of dispatches from the frontlines of the struggle that is growing up. “I’m already predicting my future shame at thinking I had anything to offer you,” Dunham writes. “But if I can take what I’ve 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 will have been worthwhile.”Praise for Not That Kind of Girl“The gifted Ms. Dunham not only writes with observant precision, but also brings a measure of perspective, nostalgia and an older person’s sort of wisdom to her portrait of her (not all that much) younger self and her world. . . . As acute and heartfelt as it is funny.”—Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times“It’s not Lena Dunham’s candor that makes me gasp. Rather, it’s her writing—which is full of surprises where you least expect them. A fine, subversive book.”—David Sedaris“This book should be required reading for anyone who thinks they understand the experience of being a young woman in our culture. I thought I knew the author rather well, and I found many (not altogether welcome) surprises.”—Carroll Dunham“Witty, illuminating, maddening, bracingly bleak . . . [Dunham] is a genuine artist, and a disturber of the order.”—The Atlantic“As Dunham proves beyond a shadow of a doubt in Not That Kind of Girl, she’s not remotely at risk of offering up the same old sentimental tales we’ve read dozens of times.”—The Los Angeles Review of Books
Popular Reviews(1)
Reviewed by SandraWer die Medienwelt verfolgt wird früher oder später über den Namen Lena Dunham stolpern. Bekanntheit erlangte sie vor allem durch die Serie "Girls", für die sie nicht nur die Idee lieferte, sondern auch selbst eine Hauptrolle übernahm. In "Not that Kind of Girl" blicken wir in die Vergangenheit von Lena Dunham und all ihren Erlebnissen. Ich finde es immer wahnsinnig schwer eine Autobiografie zu beurteilen, denn letztendlich ist es nicht mein Bestreben über das Erlebte eines anderen zu urteilen. Sei es nun langweilig, verrückt, grausam oder lustig, es ist sein oder ihr Leben und von daher immer etwas einzigartiges und individuelles. Dennoch hat sich Lena Dunham die Mühe gemacht die Dinge aufzuschreiben, die sie bisher im Leben gelernt hat und ich möchte zumindest kurz wiedergeben, was euch im Buch erwartet. Für mich war es die meiste Zeit ein kleines Highlight Lenas Lebensgeschichte durchleben zu dürfen. Sie hat eine amüsante Art mit Geschehnissen umzugehen und bringt so viel Humor mit, dass selbst negative Ereignisse doch irgendwie etwas Gutes an sich haben oder sie eben mit einem Lächeln dem Ganzen begegnet. Natürlich gibt es auch die ein oder andere Passage bei der selbst Lena das Lächeln vergeht, und auch ich als Leser war schockiert, und dabei ist es eine Situation die so mancher Frau bekannt vorkommt, doch erst durch die Augen einer Anderen erkennen wir oftmals was wir bereits sind mitzumachen und zu durchleben und trotzdem weiter gehen. An einigen Stelle habe ich Parallelen feststellen können, als es um Freundschaft, Körpergefühl, Zukunftsangst oder Familienwunsch geht scheint es fast als würden Lena Dunham und ich auf einer Welle schwimmen, bei manch anderen Entscheidungen oder Erlebnissen habe ich einfach gemerkt, dass sie anders aufgewachsen ist als ich. Mit Eltern die Künstler sind und einer Privatschule als Lehranstalt hat man einfach in manchen Situationen ein anderes empfinden. Aber wie schon am Anfang geschrieben, fließen solche Umstände nicht in meine Beurteilung ein. Trotzdem werde ich "Not that Kind of Girl" einen Punkt abziehen müssen, denn neben den spannenden und interessanten Lebensgeschichten fand ich manche Passagen etwas langatmig geschrieben. Fazit: Mit "Not that kind of Girl" hat Lena Dunham eine meist unterhaltsame, witzige aber auch schockierende Autobiographie geschrieben, die mich als Leserin oftmals hat zustimmend nicken lassen beim Lesen. Nur an der ein oder anderen Stelle fand ich die Passagen etwas langatmig, aber insgesamt hatte ich einige Stunde Lesevergnügen.