In her new memoir, “Not That Kind of Girl,” Lena Dunham relays a charming story about meeting a new friend and fellow writer she admires in London, drinking too much wine and projectile vomiting all over the woman’s living room floor. After a feckless effort to keep the last messy detail of the night to herself, Dunham blabs the story to colleagues in the first 10 minutes of a meeting the next day. “Sharing is my first instinct,” she writes.
It’s that willingness to bare all that drives Dunham’s work, and readers of this collection of smart, funny and poignant essays will thank her for it.
Divulging secrets, character flaws and embarrassing mistakes in her writing has become Dunham’s trade. Unknown, unconventional and only 26, she took on Hollywood in Sylvester Stallone-style — creating her hit show, “Girls,” in 2012 and getting HBO to let her write, act, produce and direct her version of the young female experience. Fans of the show will love the book, which has the same sensibility, presenting complicated people in authentic situations who speak to her generation.
Always pushing boundaries, Dunham doesn’t disappoint with the sordid scoop — including drinking, experimenting with drugs, casual sex and kissing girls. Quick, clever musings like best-advice lists from her parents, and a hilariously self-absorbed retelling of an e-mail exchange with an old boyfriend, are sprinkled throughout the book.
While much of the advice is aimed at millennials, she has the wisdom and depth of an old soul. Dunham expresses her regrets about high school and college, and warns readers that being in a hurry to get to the next phase made her squander those years of learning.
NONFICTION: MEMOIR
MEMOIR
Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s “Learned”
by Lena Dunham, (Random House)
