Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - How to Build a Girl

I both LOVED and HATED this book. It's so good and well written I just couldn’t handle all the embarrassing situations she managed to get herself into, which is why it took me MONTHS to read through. I definitely don’t want to read it again..but I also want to recommend it to everyone I know? It’s a difficult situation.

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jewelkr's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

There are decent writers who already write for a living and then get to publish books. There are good writers who never get anything published. This is a superficially easy to read but hard to process book. The references to frequent wanking are necessarily desensitizing but uncomfortable - we should all be more open about it. The steady spiral downward of a young woman is hard to take and not really that funny, although many of us have been there and it is relatable. The rude awakening she goes through at the end is the part I liked, where I could finally see her as someone with feelings and not just impulses. Of course it's well written because the author writes for a living, and it is a book that should be out there. I just always wonder how many other good books are not out there, piled up in the corners of publishing houses who knee-jerk publish anything written by someone who is already known rather than put someone knew out in the community.

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b_harrington's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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rapgamenancyreagan's review

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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sommer22's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Author is self-aware about the adult-minor relationships in the book. Some racially insensitive things are said as well. Those are my only two knocks on this book. The main character, Johanna, reminded me of myself a bit when I was a younger teen: confused, filled with wanderlust, and cringe. This is exactly the kind of book I needed at this point in my life as I'm getting over the identity-crisis hump of my high school years. It speaks greatly to the innate fluctuations of the human identity, and the impossibility of cynicism and staying in one niche for your entire life. Kids do be stupid, but society shouldn't shame them for it. That only engenders cynicism and disdain for others. They just want to have a sense of belonging, and as Moran points out, no one will be able to truly provide you your own identity but yourself. The greatest facet of self-love is the acceptance of change, which allows us to love and accept others when they change as well.

There's no way Johanna isn't a Leo, but she can't be, considering she's still 17 in October. Sagittarius?

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