by Caitlin Moran
Caitlin Moran is a columnist for The Times. She is also Twitter user extraordinaire. You should follow her, she really is quite funny. Be warned - she is also rather rude. In a way being one of her many followers on Twitter prepared me for her crude language in this book. She seems to have been using bad words since childhood. To her, the 'f' word and the 'c' word are just that - words, to be used in place of other words that are also just words. But that's by the by. This book is all her thoughts on the topic of being a woman - from pre-pubescent child in a poor family wearing mum's hand-me-down knickers, to overweight teenager, through drug-addled alcoholic late teen era, boyfriends, jobs, marriage, birth, miscarriage, abortion and plastic surgery. The main topic throughout is feminism, what it means to be a feminist, how to know if you are one and why we all should be. There is not one topic that we don't know her thoughts on. She lays it out for all to read, there is no holding her back. It's hard not to disagree with her. The only times I thought "Hmm, hang on a minute love" were a) when she threw in a very generalised statement "pornography is not bad, it's just sex"; and b) having unprotected sex and then being surprised she's pregnant. But I forgive her these moments of stupidity and thoughtlessness.
The chapters range from very humorous to downright tearfully sad. I defy anyone not to come away teary-eyed from the chapters on going through an awful labour before the birth of her first child, and her decision to have an abortion later in life. Though I did find the detail of the procedure very hard to read. I spent the whole time with my hand over my mouth trying not to be sick.
But that's Caitlin for you. She will tell you anything, she wants you to know everything about her and all of her thoughts. She is not embarrassed by or about anything. She is just having a good old girly talk with us all and sharing her life. You just want to go on Twitter and tell her how great she is.
'Moranthology' is definitely on my birthday list.
