Couldn't finish this crass, unremarkable story. I didn't like the girl she was building. Somewhat curious to know how it finishes but would rather read something I enjoy.

A brilliant, quirky, rebellious coming-of-age comedy drama. I don't know much about the author Caitlin Moran but I really wish she and I were friends! Or at least, I wish Dolly Wilde was real, and we could be friends. She is such a brilliant, well drawn character, brimming with optimism and hope, despite her extremely deprived childhood on a Wolverhampton council estate. After humilating herself once too often, Johanna Morrigan decides to 'kill herself' and start again. She invents Dolly Wilde, a budding music journalist, and determines to 'fake it until she makes it', with hilarious and poignant results. I loved following her exploits from the humble beginnings of a council estate child in Thatcher's Britain. Her family are also fantastic characters. I particularly enjoyed the dad and her older brother Krissy. Her journey through music in the nineties was not dissimilar to my own, so this excited me more as the story moved on. I loved the description of her listening to The Stone Roses I am The Resurrection for the first time! Everything is spot on about this book. Dolly Wilde does not let the reader down, as she climbs higher in the world of music journalism, falls in love with a rock star, sleeps around, and eventually works out who she is and what she really wants, (which by the way, is to be nice and be happy.) Like listening to great music, this book makes you feel like anyone can escape their old life, build a new one and start to shine. Inspiring.

Oh man, I loved this book. It was such a perfect blend of the awkward rawness of adolescence and the fantasy teenage dream life I wish I'd had. Minus the slagfest, obvs.

The writing is aces and homegirl nails the inner dialogue of a well read nerdgirl. It was fast and fun and my very favorite bit was the overarching theme of passion/exuberance/geeking out as admirable goal. We could change the world if we all agreed to be a little less above it all. Barring that, read this book.

Quite a fun book based on Moran's own life with some of the advice from "How to be a Woman" applied. It feels a bit formulaic in places, but there are enough funny moments that it doesn't matter. I see some people saying in the reviews and the answers to questions, that it's not much different from the Adrian Mole books, but that's very misleading. It's much more explicit and has some pretrty dreadful life advice in it like drug taking and self harm, presented as more-or-less standard waystations on the road to adulthood, so I wouldn't suggest it as suitable reading material for younger teens at all. The music references are all from an older period of time too, full of long-forgotten acts like the Soup Dragons and Ned's Atomic Dustbin, which I can imagine appealing more to older readers who are reading it for nostalgia, rather than to their kids.

Part dirty part poignant some great wisdom in it. Wish I'd read as a book, not on the kindle, it's just not the same!

A relatable heroine, with lots of recognisable teenage (and adult)  angsts, but ultimately a little disappointing. It is quite messy in places and I found the cultural references a little too laboured, and often felt we knew where Johanna/Dolly was headed loooong before she did, which I felt undermined her intelligence somewhat.

However, I liked her, I loved Krissi, and there were some really well drawn characters who felt very real.

Not a total failure, lots of potential, just not quite hitting the high mark of 'How to build a woman'. Though I would be interested to see what happens next...

I love Caitlin's work: her Times on Saturday; How To Be A Woman and most of all Celebrity Watch (surely the bastard child of Smash Hits?). And reading Moranthology I wondered (sometimes aloud on public transport) can Caitlin sustain this, this brilliance over the long form?
And the answer is ...NO!
Sadly, this book is a bit of a mess.
Caitlin is utter genius when she writes non fiction; she can reduce me to tears when writing about the state of Public Libraries; her nonfiction treads a wondrous fine line between pathos and hilarity. I'll read anything she writes about "things": Hilary Clinton; adolescence; posh people; hell I'd read her work if she wrote about teacups!
But "How To Build a Girl" is a bit of a splat, it exposes her inadequacies as a writer; her obsessions; her flawed political views (we all have flawed political views) and mostly her egotism.
What is this book? Too knowing for TEEN fiction, it bounces from in the moment 1st person to objective "years later I thought this" wisdom.
Fun literary devices like book citation (Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. C S Lewis 1938) were forgotten a third of the way through - it would have been nice if she'd kept up the pedantry when she talked about albums (like Chabon in "Telegraph Avenue")
Her Obsessions - I want a gay friend - really Caitlin? You know how stupid that sounds, like gay people are pressed from a mold, they all love Eurovision, Strictly and the Bee Gees. Caitlin taught me the 180 degree flip - if you think somethings sexist flip it and see - Girls can't play football; sounds obvious, of course they can't. Now flip it: boys can't play football, and you realise how sexist a statement is. So flip this:"I really want a heterosexual friend" of course you do, all straight people are the same!
Political Views - I'm mostly with Caitlin on her views; even when I disagree I love her prose or she's funny. One of the things I find it hard to take is her championing of the Working Class. One of the reasons is I don't fit into her worldview (and neither I might add do some of heroes Eddie Izzard.) I went to an average comprehensive school, my family was never poor, but never rich either - I have never know a silver spoon; my upbringing has never helped me; I don't own the means of production.
I thought of when Russell Brand and Wossy were rude to Andrew Sachs, and one of the reasons was that they had no brake, no filter, no editor - they were too big; too baad to celeb. It feels like this with "How to Build a Girl" CM is not the Times star reporter; star interviewer; pin-up and soon just STAR full stop. Who would have the guts to say "no, this isn't working, this is 3 unfinished novellas an essay and the DVD extra to How to Be a Woman" I have heard that JK Rowling books got more unwieldy as her star rose.
Ego - We now have her Times on Saturday; Raised by Wolves sitcom and How to be a Woman and now How to Build a Girl - just how interested can we remain in CM, not what she has to say but her. You remember Woody Allen of Play it Again Sam and Annie Hall; how fresh and exciting his neurotic almostbiography was? Fast forward to now and how tired that shtick is.. we don't care anymore. I cannot remain interested in CMs parties, what star she met etc .
That said she still has a very funny/clever turn of phrase, when the Welsh pop star writes about being poor (this was so obviously an outtake from a Saturday Column) but it was brilliant. When she likens cunnilingus to Star Trek prime directive so a fab nerd joke. And...the image of CM fucking a hairbrush (and a deodorant bottle) will be with me...forever

Sharp, wickedly funny.

Näin minusta tuli tyttö - suomeksi. Olipa pläjäys. Ihan mahtava nuoren tytön kasvutarina noin neljätoistavuotiaasta noin seitsemäntoista vuotiaaksi. Suosittelen lämpimästi kaikille ketkä ovat tyttöjä, ovat olleet tyttöjä, haluavat olla tyttöjä tai arvostavat tyttöjä. Caitlin Moranin kirjoitus on sujuvaa ja vauhdikasta, ja hän osuu niin hyvin ytimeen.
Päähenkilö Johanna asuu köyhissä oloissa 90-luvun Wolverhamptonissa. Hän on kuin muutkin samanikäiset, mutta suunnittelematon avautuminen muuttaa kaiken. Miten käy jos perheen tukia leikataan ja se on hänen syynsä. Mitä hän voi tehdä, vai voiko mitään. Tästä alkaa Johannan muutos joka on välillä hupaisaa ja välillä surkuhupaisaa. Mutta todella ajatuksia herättävää ja samalla viihdyttävää. Välillä kirjassa pohdiskellaan asioiden olemuksia ja totuuksia ja välillä puhutaan seksistä niin suorasukaisesti että heikompia saattaa hirvittää. Hyvä kirja kaikinpuolin.

Coming of age story of a British girl who reinvents herself. While it may cover all it means to be a teen growing up, there may be a little much sex, drugs, etc. for actual teens (sex especially was a very frequent topic, more so than other YA).