Insightful and hilarious from start to end. ( )

First off, A audiobook narration by the author. She's expressive and funny. I just generally like listening to British accents, too.

Now onto the content. It's hard to believe, but this book from 2010 feels pretty dated in 2017. 2016 was the year I learned the difference between white feminism and intersectional feminism. And now I can't help but see that this book as seriously lacking.

As a memoir of sorts, this completely works for me and I enjoyed it a lot. But many of Moran's political statements are the definition of white, middle class feminism. Sometimes, like when it comes to designer handbags, I thought she was just after a laugh. But other times, I cringed a bit.

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"The UK'S version of Tina Fey's Bossypants" trumpeted the cover, and at halfway through the book I thought that was selling "How To Be A Woman" short. By the end, though, I thought that was probably fair. As indicated in its title, Moran's book sets itself out to be a modern manifesto on modern feminism, explored through stories of Moran's life. Some of the thoughts on feminism are coherent, well-reasoned and practical. But unfortunately, the parts on feminism get less compelling as the book goes on, until by the end it does just feel like a memoir. It's a shame, as I thought the first half was terrific.

I have no idea if this was due to fatigue or writer's block or rushing to deadline, but it felt to me like Moran had some great material to begin the book but then struggled to maintain that standard. I think that it would have benefited from Moran having really argued through the later material with people before commiting it to paper.

Perhaps another reason is that the first part corresponded to the earlier part of her life, which was generally more interesting than the later parts, dealing with a more settled and successful Moran. She was also perhaps rather too pleased that she hit it off with Lady Gaga.

All that said, the first half or so was very good. Her life has been interesting and unconventional and her descriptions of her family are particularly vivid. It's brave, honest (I think) and at times very funny. And she's a good writer - on occasion she has a cracking turn of phrase. (I don't like her use of upper case for emphasis - particularly later in the book where it seems to stand in for well-honed argument. To paraphrase: "this is my point of view that should be reasoned through carefully BUT INSTEAD SARKY HUMOUR IN ALL-CAPS FTW!")

So while I think it fails as a true manifesto of "strident feminism", as too many of the arguments are insufficiently supported, taken as a whole it still seems to me a valid and worthwhile approach to how to live one's life as a modern-day strident feminist.

And all that said - I've written more about this book than most, so that indicates that I feel it's worthy of some attention.

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Fun and enlightening. Moran has a way with words that makes you laugh. At the same time, she made me think about all the crazy things women go through and my experiences. Women should be allowed to make their own choices because it is what they want not because it is what society expects of them. ( )

This is the second time I read this book and I think I appreciated more this time around. A fun, funny and fierce book about feminism. ( )