bold, yet unconvincing

This book took a while to get into. I was expecting something really funny and clever. It's not laugh-out-loud funny, but it’s sharp enough. It starts out strong, but soon the story starts to drag on a bit and after a while it just becomes a chaos of impressions and emotions, centered around an although-I-am-a-girl-I-can-talk-about-sex-like-a-man-thing. The chaos also prevents the development of the main character. Although this is the topic of the book – how to re-invent yourself - the main character remains quite flat despite all the phases she’s going through. The author wanted to portrait a bold, female heroine, but doesn’t seem to find the right voice. Despite the first-person narration, the author’s own words get the overhand at the end of the story, as a result undermining the credibility of her own heroine. In chapter 24 Johanna/Dolly completely disappears (the reader is addressed by the author), but re-emerges in chapter 25. I appreciate that this is a brutally honest story but some coherence and plot development would have been nice. Conclusion: Although this novel didn’t convince me, I liked the boldness of Moran’s writing, and will certainly look into her non-fiction.