'How to Build a Girl' - Caitlin Moran

How to Build a Girl is not what I expected at all. It appeared, from the blurb, to be very much a coming-of-age novel, like The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky or The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger. However, Caitlin Moran has written a book with a character who is a far cry from Charlie and Holden Caulfield, and who has many resemblances to Moran herself, though she is clear to state before the story begins that "...Johanna is not me." Moran grew up in Wolverhampton on a council estate with her seven siblings, with an aspiring rock star for a father who suffered from osteoarthritis. She has been winning awards and making waves with her writing since she was thirteen years old, becoming a journalist for a music magazine at sixteen and now being a popular columnist at The Times. As well as winning awards, she is also accountable for unprecedented sales of a feminist tea towel, being a proud feminist and civil rights activist, something which is apparent to anyone who follows her on Twitter. All proceeds from her merchandise sales go to Refuge, a domestic abuse charity that provides a safe house for women and children experiencing domestic abuse.

How to Build a Girl is supposed to be the first of a trilogy of semi-autobiographical books from Moran. The beginning is bold, brash, and entirely fresh. It introduces Johanna Morrigan, a fourteen-year-old girl desperate to grow up and be somebody, but who feels she cannot achieve this by being herself; she has to rebuild herself. Like Moran at that age, Johanna lives on a council estate in Wolverhampton, with her parents and four siblings. Her mother is suffering from post-natal depression and her father is predominantly sofa-bound after an accident at work. She decides that she wants to write to make money for her family, and begins writing reviews and sending them to a music magazine when she is sixteen, taking on a goth persona called Dolly Wilde and mixing with rock stars. Her father plans to use Dolly's job at D&ME magazine to kick start his failed music career, trying to achieve his own dreams through his daughters whilst living in an alcoholic stupor. Caitlin Moran stresses that her parents are nothing like Johanna's parents in the story, even dedicating the book to them as proof. 

There's no avoiding it; the book talks A LOT about sex. This is a big chunk of the book and, unfortunately, it gets a little boring. It's not Fifty Shades of Grey (thankfully!), but it does seem to be the only thing that Johanna thinks about, with it being one of her goals to sleep with as many people as possible.This is one of the bricks in the construction of her new self, but it's DIY SOS as her sexual prowess ends in disaster after disaster. I thought that I was hating this, as I cringed and blushed, but once I had finished the book I realised that I had found every opportunity to read it. With similarities to Moran's own life, the book is very raw and Johanna very honest.

Whether you enjoy the book or not, it is a representation of a certain way of life. Regardless of your class (a topic that seems prevalent throughout), most girls can relate to at least a small part of Johanna Morrigan. Everyone has a Dolly Wilde, a persona used when you need confidence that you don't have. Johanna uses the same line as my old journalism tutor; "Fake it 'til you make it." It's a line that, for me, led from fake confidence to real confidence, and it does the same for Johanna. Moran writes successfully as a fourteen year old girl desperate to grow up, slipping perfectly into the character and maintaining it throughout the entire book, detailing Johanna's growing up in a way that not many experienced authors could. It's an incredibly strong and exuberant story, with something to prove perhaps; it does not avoid the stereotypes of a council estate but instead uses them to show how they can still lead to talent and success, the best example of this being the author herself!

'Mr Mercedes' - Stephen King

Before I start talking about Mr Mercedes, I want to make it clear that this is not a normal review; it's more like a dedication. Firstly, I have absolutely no right to review Stephen King.  With over 50 novels under his belt, many of which have been turned into films and television series, as well as too many awards to count, there's no denying his talent. He even challenges his skill by writing under pseudonyms, most famously Richard Bachman. I have been reading his books since I was in my early teens (basically, when my mum said it was okay) and have always admired him, not just as an author, but as a fellow grammarian. As weird as it sounds, King's novels are always the ones that I turn to as my 'breather novels', the ones that give me a break from reading about the gruesome elements of real life, from aspects of war to life-threatening illnesses. 

Secondly, Mr Mercedes is nothing like any other Stephen King novel. Usually, I'm met with possessed cars, rabid dogs, vampire towns and electricity that can wake the dead; extreme situations that you can convince yourself could never happen in real life (though seem really vivid when you dream about them later!). Mr Mercedes, on the other hand, is a crime novel. A crime novel like no other, of course, but a crime novel nonetheless. Though not fitting into King's typical horror genre, the novel is still frightening, and unfortunately, could definitely happen. Retired detective Bill Hodges is finding life dull and pointless since leaving the force, until a letter arrives that gives him a meaning to live. The letter is from a killer he failed to catch, a man nicknamed Mr Mercedes, who taunts Hodges in the hope that he will commit suicide. The opposite occurs, as Hodges decides to investigate the case again unofficially, putting his life and the lives of others potentially in danger. Though Mr Mercedes, aka Brady Hartsfield, writes that he has no intention to repeat his crime, could he be lying? If he is, can Hodges catch him in time?

There's no denying it; not content with being the king of horror (excuse the pun), Stephen King dominates yet another genre with this novel. Where Joyland was a crime novel with a supernatural twist, Mr Mercedes is pure crime, and it's brilliant. It remains to have King's signature traits; the shameless plugging of fellow authors (which I can't help but appreciate and admire), the subliminally inserted hatred of mobile phones, the numerous mentions of his own various works (which help to bring them to life outside of their pages), and the use of music taste for character building, as well as his own (perhaps slightly twisted) sense of humour creeping in. It is quite obviously a Stephen King novel. 

Despite all of these resemblances to other works by the author, Mr Mercedes is something fresh and altogether different at the same time. Stephen King is known for playing around with various styles of writing, toying with different voices, tenses and experimenting with everybody's worst nightmares. Mr Mercedes is a different sort of nightmare, though; instead of vampires, ghosts and zombies (when the infection is, of course, caused by mobile phones), the nightmare is one that comes particularly as a result of the 9/11 tragedy, one that is far too believable and therefore as equally chilling as any of his horrors. He has taken the mass fear of a person without a conscience killing multiple people in one incident, someone who does not care of the consequences, even if it results in their own death. After all, the common saying goes 'it's not the dead you should fear, it's the living'.

Does Stephen King get away with it? Of course he does. We know who the killer is from the start, but the suspense of catching him is still present, because with King, you never know which will prevail; good or evil. The ending is always a surprise (unless you have gone out and bought the sequel released this week, Finders Keepers) and the characters are always pushed to their limits. It is through King appearing to know his characters as though they are close friends that makes this work so perfectly and I look forward to reading the next instalment. If you love Stephen King, you'll love this.