This is a double review of two works by British columnist,
Caitlin Moran. Moran currently writes
three different columns on television, pop culture, and the cult of celebrity
for UK paper, The Times.
Moranthology is a
collection of her award winning columns, published for the enjoyment of us
American readers. The strength of this
essay collection is the wide range of subjects Moran touches on. It seems like she could, quite literally, go
off on a tangent about anything. A
number of the essays focus on popular British culture that is equally popular
in the U.S. (Doctor Who, Sherlock, Downton Abbey). She manages
to discuss these topics with a hilarious combination of outright fan-girl
admiration and biting sarcasm. She
strikes a balance between her entries on topics like Lady Gaga and the
aforementioned television shows and those on parenting and growing up poor in
the city of Wolverhampton. I also have
to mention that she pretty much had me at the essay entitled, “Libraries:
Cathedrals of Our Souls.”
The main criticism I have with Moran’s collection is that
most of the essays are very short, sometimes only clocking in at two pages. I enjoy her style of writing and brand of
humor, so I wanted her to discuss bad fashion and coffee at a greater
length. Moranthology also lacks any greater narrative or chronological cohesion
which, in this short form style, doesn’t necessarily matter. However, I was occasionally curious when
certain events were occurring in her life; but without any entry dates, I just
had to let it go. She does attempt to
link the sections with a series of late night conversations held with her half
asleep husband (much to his chagrin), but don’t hold out for any thematic
organization. This is why I was looking
forward to reading her memoir, How to Be
a Woman, which I did immediately after finishing Moranthology.
In How to Be a Woman, Moran tackles a variety of issues girls
and women face (puberty, first love, sexism, feminism). The inherent structure of the memoir gives
her the opportunity to elaborate more extensively than in Moranthology. I found the strongest
parts of How to Be a Woman were Moran’s
stories of growing up in a small house with a large family. She had a love/hate relationship with her
younger sister Caz (with whom she shared a bed) as an adolescent and opens the
book recalling (with trademark self-deprecating style) a number of
conversations they had; primarily about various parts of their bodies. In fact, the first 60 pages are pretty much
about this. But don’t let that be a
reason to shy away from this book; it’s a great blend of embarrassing yet
sidesplittingly funny tales of childhood (and sometimes adulthood) and an honest
portrait of the challenges of womanhood.
There is some overlap in stories with the two books and the
narrower point of view of How to Be a
Woman means it is less likely to appeal to as diverse of an audience. Additionally, the narrative isn’t as tight
from chapter to chapter as I would have hoped, but that wasn’t enough to
detract from my enjoyment at all.
Cover blurbs on both books insist Moran is the UK’s answer
to Tina Fey; while I also loved Bossypants
and there are definitely some similarities in their subjects of work and
family, I think Moran’s tone is closer to that of Chelsea Handler. Moran’s humor is definitely more sharp and
biting than Fey’s and she has a greater proclivity to speak frankly about sex. In that case, I would also recommend Handler’s
Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea
or Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris.
~Meredith T.
~Meredith T.
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