Caitlin Moran
How to Build A Girl
It’s the coming of age of Johanna Morrigan, a fourteen-year-old aspiring music journalist. She adopts the persona of Dolly Wilde, both as a nom de plume for her writing, and to be the person that she wants to be. Her family are existing on benefits, as her father dreams of becoming a professional musician.
Johanna’s an unconventional woman, driven to succeed. She takes advantage of the fact that the library offers a chance to borrow CDs for 20p and totally submerges herself in a wide range of music. Once she takes the name Dolly Wilde, she also adopts a distinctive sense of style with a top hat and embarks on a path of sexual and intellectual enlightenment.
The character is very likable, her self-confidence when picking up men for her sexual experiments, is something far beyond her years. Moran names a few of Johanna’s lovers, establishing a genuine connection between her and her co-worker in particular, but a few of them are just referred to by what Dolly allows them to do to her.
Moran is a very gifted comic writer, creating a group of characters and situations which made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion.
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