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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to find the new Caitlin Moran book "How to be a woman "really dull?

29 replies

hwjm1945 · 31/12/2011 14:56

got it for xmas, she is a good columnist, IMHO, but the book was so dreary, going on and on about hte same old stuff in a really self referential way, saying nothing new or nothing that cannot be said many times better. Am I alone in thinking that she only gotr the book cos she is famous and youngish and hippish? Her stuff about abortion and childbirht was buttock clenchingly juvenile, IMHO

OP posts:

thejoanwilder · 31/12/2011 15:12

Oh thank god. I got it for Xmas, and was really excited, as I had been thinking about getting it. But about 1/3 of the way in, I just don't care.
Glad I didn't pay for it, is all I can say...

Mrsrobertduvall · 31/12/2011 15:13

Same here. I just didn't care after I while.
Glad mine was from the library!!

EmmaBemma · 31/12/2011 15:16

I'm surprised you found the chapters on abortion and childbirth "juvenile" - can you expand a little on that? I found them, particularly the chapter on abortion, some of the most compelling material in the book.

Otherwise of course YANBU not to like her book. I did enjoy it, maybe not quite so much as several friends of mine did - but I whizzed through it, laughed several times, agreed with her about some things and disagreed about others. It certainly didn't represent any sort of brand new feminist manifesto, which its publicity seemed to claim, or even a set of coherent feminist arguments - and it didn't say anything that hadn't been said (arguably better) before. But it was a good read, I thought.

picnicbasketcase · 31/12/2011 15:16

I have seen lots of people rave about it and was going to get it from the library. Seems to be a bit of a marmite book.

SweetestThing · 31/12/2011 15:16

I was a bit disappointed and "meh" about it, but viewed as a memoir, rather than a feminist tract, it's fairly amusing.

MadameOvary · 31/12/2011 15:16

I liked it but then I wasn't expecting anything exciting, just a bunch of quirky viewpoints, so it delivered.

SuePurblybilt · 31/12/2011 15:19

Oh don't say that, it's on my wishlist.

hackmum · 31/12/2011 15:22

I thought it was extremely funny and laughed aloud several times. I thought the memoir stuff was much better than the feminist stuff, though - she clearly hasn't read much (if any) of the vast tract of feminist writings out there, as her analysis was pretty unsophisticated and apolitical. IMHO.

MrsCampbellBlack · 31/12/2011 15:25

I liked it and read it when it first came out a few months ago.

Bearcrumble · 31/12/2011 15:49

I thought it was very good in parts but seemed to have been written in a rush and not particularly well edited.

The memoir bits are a lot more fun than the generalisations.

Going by her twitter feed she seems to spend a lot more time getting drunk with her mates than doing stuff with her kids.

hermioneweasley · 31/12/2011 15:58

I loved it. Bought it for my mum who has been howling with laughter at it.

methsdrinker · 31/12/2011 16:00

It was recommended to me and I find it very boring. I have only got to the first 2 chapters. Where the funny bits

Original poster

hwjm1945 · 31/12/2011 16:15

really interested t see what people thought, I was disappointed, i think her particulr style is good for a column but perhaps doesn ot translate well to a full book. the abortion stuff was compelling as it is always compeeling to read someone else's honest take on why they did what they did, but I had a bit of a feelign that she was protesting too much - suggestign it was a business like decision that she and her husband did not really have ot think about at all. maybe that is so, this is her experience after all, not mine, but I just thought the tone and sound of this and much of the book was of a "ballsy" teenager telling her paretns to f..k off. also she seems ot lead an aggressivley metropolitan lifestyle, wiht drinking etc, so maybe this was a bit boring to read about. certianly more a memoir than how to be a woman

OP posts:

Bearcrumble · 31/12/2011 16:20

Grace Dent's twitter book however, was the shittest of the shit.

quirrelquarrel · 31/12/2011 16:31

Oo my dad bought this for me, for Christmas, he got it at a jumble sale thing they were doing at work. I thought, Caitlin looks like Naomi Wolf. I am looking forward to it.

EmmaBemma · 31/12/2011 16:32

hwjm1945: I thought it was unusual to see a personal account of abortion that, whilst it expressed real sadness, was also totally unrepentant - I admit I found that a little hard to take at first. But I began to question my own response - it does seem that there is an accepted narrative for experiences of abortion, that they have to contain some sort of struggle with feelings of guilt and shame. I think Moran makes a powerful argument against that assumption - in her case, she made what she knew to be the right decision for her and her family, and having made that decision, stuck to it and faithfully documented every aspect of it, even the procedure itself. I thought it was very honest, admirably so. But it's one of those things isn't it - no right or wrong answer!

Trills · 31/12/2011 16:48

YANBU to dislike a book - I'm sure there are plenty of books that you like that I would find dull.

I don't really understand why you think it would be unreasonable - people have different taste.

Original poster

hwjm1945 · 31/12/2011 17:16

you are right, this is the only bit of mumsnet I really use, so it probably should not be posted here, as of course one is not unreasonabel for liking or not liking a book. I think I was disappointed as I found it neither particularly funny nor insightful, whihc was unexpected. True, the way she talks about her abortion is unusual, I have a friend who had one in our early 20s and she siad that she found everyone expected her to be really taumatised but she was not and in fact often forgot about it, whihc is contrary to most other accounts of terminations. the thing seems ot be that you are allowed to have a termination as long as you feel really bad about it, and Moran completely subverts this, but I found her language a bit juvenile - not sure if that is the right word, but I mean a bit shouty and self justificatory - if that last one is in fact a word

OP posts:

perplexedpirate · 31/12/2011 17:23

I liked it. Got it from the library but am going to put it on my kindle. I found for me she had an enjoyable voice and I could identify with a lot of what she was saying.
I'm not sure that she said anything new, but the book did get me thinking about feminism more, which has to be a good thing, right? :)

NanAstley · 31/12/2011 17:25

I like Moran's columns and buy the Times on Saturday especially for her column. But I did not warm so much to the book. I think if it had been put forward as a memoir, then it's ace. The tone of the book would have been spot-on then. But it is presented as a modern feminist tract. That it most certainly is not. Throughout the book, she is extrapolating her own experiences into a feminist theory. And if you don't share her particular life experience, and hence disagree with being lumped together in a homogenous mass, then you are obviously brainwashed by the patriarchy . That is the general tone of the book, and it irritated the feck out of me.

Original poster

hwjm1945 · 31/12/2011 17:28

nan, you said it so much better than me.

OP posts:

msrisotto · 31/12/2011 17:29

I picked it up in the supermarket and was put off by the chapter titles....if you are looking for an insightful feminist read, try Living Dolls or Delusions of Gender.

msrisotto · 31/12/2011 17:29

The title alone irritates me!

TheMonster · 31/12/2011 17:30

I found parts if it amusing but on the whole it was rather dull.

Whatmeworry · 31/12/2011 17:34

A good memoir, but it's not going to win any prizes as a feminist tract, I agree with the OP when she said Morans styles is good for columns but palls for a book.

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