Caitlin Moran is back with new memoir (and a new silver streak). Opening with modern day Moran travelling back in time to visit her thirty something self, who is fresh off saving the final draft of 2011’s How To Be A Woman. But the Moran of More Than A Woman has distressing news for her younger self. All that stuff she thinks she’s got figured out? Yeah, nah. No way, sunshine.
Broken up into imagined hours of the day, More Than A Woman is a witty examination of Moran’s experiences of marriage, parenting, and middle age. From “11am: The Hour of Physical Acceptance” to “7pm: The Hour of Ageing” to “6am: The Hour of Imagining A Women’s Union”, Moran bounces gleefully from topic to topic, compiling an energetic and readable collection of anecdotes and observations. More Than A Woman will have many women alternately nodding knowingly, laughing in awkward recognition, or shedding a tear in shared despair, and its all bound together by an irresistibly impish sense of humour.
It’s occasionally a little hard to pin down a target audience for More Than A Woman; is it a friendly warning for the early thirties woman (hi, that’s me), or a shared joke with the generation before (hi, that’s my mother)? And while Moran’s brand of common sense feminism might still jolt a few fifty somethings into looking at their lives (and bodies) a little differently, for the millennial reader (yep, we’re in our thirties now) it’s not likely to be as groundbreaking or as intersectional as we might need.
That’s not to say Moran’s out of touch – far from it – and sharing the book with the women in your life will likely see conversations abound, whether concerning the unseen emotional labour of women (mothers especially), or the realities of finding love.
Overall, it’s a grand read, with Moran’s funny, wise, and occasionally heartbreaking writing at the fore. A worthy addition to Moran’s blended brand of dry humour and insightful commentary, More Than A Woman is a fitting tribute to the realities of change, parenthood, and ageing.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
Caitlin Moran’s More Than A Woman is out now, published by Penguin. Order your copy from Booktopia HERE.
