Over the last couple of days I have been devouring Lena Dunham's book "Not That Kind Of Girl" http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0008101264?cache=a74ac5f2d3b57917053067ccd75b2192&pi=AC_SX110_SY165&qid=1413587690&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1 and I genuinely think it may have been the most important book I have ever read.
For those of you unaware of who Lena Dunham is here's a helpful Wikipedia link http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lena_Dunham. ; In my normal manner of living under a cultural rock I have only just finished season 2 of 'Girls' the semi-autobiographical tv series she writes, stars in and produces. I loved Girl's sometimes unflinching realistic take of what it's like to be a woman of my age in our society, albeit living in New York (jealous).
Whilst Girls is set in New York it doesn't share the same glossy finish that other shows I like such as Mad Men or See And The City have. In Girls the characters have more relatable experiences such as money worries, weird boyfriends, awkward sex and regular fallings out with friends. The character of Hannah played by and based on Dunham struck so many chords with me and my view on the world, especially upon arriving to a party announcing "I've really made an effort, see my shoes match my Dress".
So when I found out that she had written a book I jumped on Amazon to order it and I wasn't disappointed. Rather than a traditional A-Z autobiography "Not That Kind Of Girl" is divided into chapters on different topics which I personally found far more accessible.
After only a few pages I realised that Lena Dunham has a voice and outlook very similar to my own and a lot of shared experiences. From being an outcast at school with your only friends being a teacher (or dinner ladies in my case at Primary School on days when my friends decided to abandon me) to her feminist beliefs (it's not about women being better than men it's about us all being equal!).
More significantly Lena describes the often crippling OCD that she suffered from growing up (and continues to suffer from). She describes the spiralling thoughts, the strange phobias, the medication that made her fall asleep in lessons and her fears that her creativity and writing isn't good enough. I found myself punching the air in recognition with my own experiences of mental illness. We even share the exact same 'abandoned pets' anxiety dream in which we suddenly remembered that we have a shed full of neglected pets, I wake up from this dream utterly distraught on frequent occasions.
She also talks about the media and public's fascination with her ability to strip off for Girls on a regular basis with her non-Hollywood figure. As she puts it "Blake Lively doesn't get asked in every interview whether she feels brave for exposing her body". I find Dunham's refusal to entire the size zero starlet debate really refreshing. She sees her body as another vessel with which to convey her art and to me that's a beautiful thing.
What I like best about Lena's writing is that she doesn't attempt to give advice or preach to us readers. She doesn't claim to have the answers. She recounts her tales with humour and searing honesty. But the stories she does tell are important markers of the lives of women my age today, the post-bra burning, power dressing generation trying to carve out our places in the world.
Most of all, and to me the most important message, she shows that you can make positives out of bad experiences. She has used her talent as a writer to have the last laugh against bad boyfriends , mental illness and people who have treated her cruelly (my favourite chapter by far is the e-mails she wishes she'd written to various people, as someone who always thinks of the wittiest put downs about 3 hours after the argument it made me relieved I'm not the only one it happens to!).
So from an anxious, slightly nutty 27 year old woman, still battling a lot of demons, still getting over years-old bad experiences and still trying to hit my creative stride. Thank you Lena Dunham, you've made me feel far less alone and have given me a lot of hope.
Love Jen
XxxxX
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