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geenybell's review against another edition
3.0
Excited to discuss with my book club!
This was a roller coaster of a read- at times boring and laborious - dragging and repetitive. At other times moving and striking in truth around friendship and life through your twenties. I’ve calculated my own journey through my 20s to be about 4 years behind that of the author- making most of her generation specific references very much relatable.
The pages sitting in the 50-70% middleish of the book were by far my favourites - where the protagonist is going through all of her “growing up” learning about life and self development etc.
I didn’t realise this was an autobiography until over half way, and that made it a lot of enjoyable.
I know this is the perspective of the author, but the heteronormativity of the book was extremely jarring, and her insistence on giving advice (even when it was tongue in cheek or purposefully immature ) was annoying. Her self deprecating tone also made it feel unbelievable - is it actually a reality for teenage girls to have that much of an obsession with boys ??? Maybe it is ..?
I found very few of the charterers developed enough for me to have any idea who they were. And I also found the “learnings” Dolly was making through the story kept happening very suddenly and dramatically without really much impact on her life.. her complete turnaround on her 30th birthday from existential doom and dread, to absolute peace and bliss was jarring. Perhaps that’s somewhat reflective of all of us and the twists and turns we make through life and self discovery but it seemed to lack self awareness.
I think it would have worked a lot better as a series of essays with better narrative fleshed out in each, or a more consistent theme. It jumped in and out of antidotes - some of which felt completely unbelievable, others were hilarious and great.
Overall a fun read, and I’m now keen to rewatch the tv show!
This was a roller coaster of a read- at times boring and laborious - dragging and repetitive. At other times moving and striking in truth around friendship and life through your twenties. I’ve calculated my own journey through my 20s to be about 4 years behind that of the author- making most of her generation specific references very much relatable.
The pages sitting in the 50-70% middleish of the book were by far my favourites - where the protagonist is going through all of her “growing up” learning about life and self development etc.
I didn’t realise this was an autobiography until over half way, and that made it a lot of enjoyable.
I know this is the perspective of the author, but the heteronormativity of the book was extremely jarring, and her insistence on giving advice (even when it was tongue in cheek or purposefully immature ) was annoying. Her self deprecating tone also made it feel unbelievable - is it actually a reality for teenage girls to have that much of an obsession with boys ??? Maybe it is ..?
I found very few of the charterers developed enough for me to have any idea who they were. And I also found the “learnings” Dolly was making through the story kept happening very suddenly and dramatically without really much impact on her life.. her complete turnaround on her 30th birthday from existential doom and dread, to absolute peace and bliss was jarring. Perhaps that’s somewhat reflective of all of us and the twists and turns we make through life and self discovery but it seemed to lack self awareness.
I think it would have worked a lot better as a series of essays with better narrative fleshed out in each, or a more consistent theme. It jumped in and out of antidotes - some of which felt completely unbelievable, others were hilarious and great.
Overall a fun read, and I’m now keen to rewatch the tv show!
chiaragiselle's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
this book found me at the perfect time. i’m a 19 year old feeling very lost in this world and feeling very stressed about my 20s, but this book gave me so much insight. i related incredibly strongly to dolly and her female friends. i especially relate to dolly’s anxiety, and some of the points she made in this book have really encouraged me to have a different outlook on my life. florence and her passing broke my heart, especially because i am the age she was, and i feel i have a lot of similarities to her. i will never look at aging as a negative thing again. overall an amazing book that i will continue to think about and will likely read again through my 20s.
allyabru13's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
so beautiful and lovely
parinda's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
5.0
I like that Dolly is really honest with her story without caring about others judgement, she is a great author.
stephr194's review against another edition
4.0
Would recommend reading this at age 29, after years of dating all kinds of boys, while falling in love with your friends. A little indulgent at times but it felt very true to so much of my life as a young woman, and I'm glad she wrote it.
sabrinamgrimaldi's review against another edition
4.0
I’m only 23 so I have yet to learn many of the lessons presented in this novel. However, my female friendships are one of the most important parts of my life. I’m actually married (yes, I got married young and no, it wasn’t because of religious reasons) and I related to Farly a lot. I’m also a freelance journalist so I also related to Dolly a ton. I love the over arching lesson learning in this memoir - that through every up and down, your friends will stick by you. That platonic love is just as fulfilling and wonderful as romantic love, in fact, it can be even more. Because no matter what happens in your love life, as long as you have your girls, you’ll be good. Tidbits of this novel will stick with me for a while longer and I can’t wait to see how I feel when I turn 30. I loved the recipes, lists and emails scattered through the memoir, they added a lot of fun! A bit slow in some parts and Dolly gets a little irritating/entitled through it but hey, at least she didn’t sugarcoat the truth in attempts to make the readers love her. She finds peace in the end and it shows.