Not That Kind of Girl

Lena Dunham

'It's not Lena Dunham's candour that makes me gasp. Rather, it's her writing - which is full of surprises where you least expect them. This is a fine, subversive book' David Sedaris

'Always funny, sometimes wrenching, these essays are a testament to the creative wonder that is Lena Dunham' Judy Blume

'Dunham's writing is just as smart, honest, sophisticated, dangerous, and charming as her work on 'Girls'. Its essential quality is a kind of joyful super-awareness: of herself, the world, the human. Reading her makes you glad to be in the world, and glad that she's in it with you' George Saunders

'Very few women have become famous for being who they actually are, nuanced and imperfect. When honesty happens, it's usually couched in self-ridicule or self-help. Dunham doesn't apologise like that - she simply tells her story as if it might be interesting. The result is shocking and radical because it is utterly familiar. 'Not That Kind of Girl' is hilarious, artful, and staggeringly intimate; I read it shivering with recognition' Miranda July

'Frank, fearless and funny ... made me want to cry out with thanks that a talented, intelligent woman has said and done worse things than I have and is repeating them without a scrap of shame ... 'Not That Kind of Girl' is funny, empowering and as good a millennial guide for navigating and laughing at your foggy adolescence and murky twenties as there can be. I only wish it had been around earlier' Sunday Times

'I love Lena's book ... more shocking than I was expecting, sadder and more beautiful - anyway; within a few pages ... I'm charmed, anxious, furious and totally committed' Nina Stibbe, Observer

'Very funny ... and imbues the gloom with hope ... "Having it all" need not mean hitting narrow markers of success - the perfect job/man/body - but instead being able to own your experiences: the good, the bad, the ugly. All of it' Independent

'Dunham's first book is seldom less than very funny' Iona McLaren, Sunday Telegraph