Is it evil not to be sure? is a collection of entries from Lena Dunham's diary--or what she called her "Creative Snippets and Observations Journal"--from the fall of 2005 and the spring of 2006. It is a candid, chaotic, and occasionally poetic snapshot of a young person becoming an adult.
Profits from the sales of Is it evil not to be sure? are going to Girls Write Now to support their mission to give young women the tools to tell their own stories.
Lena Dunham is an American filmmaker and actress. She wrote and directed the independent film Tiny Furniture (2010), and is the creator and star of the HBO series Girls. In 2013, Dunham was named one of Time's most influential people in the world.
On October 8, 2012, Dunham signed a $3.5 million deal with Random House to publish her first book, an essay collection called Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's Learned.
I know I'm supposed to hate Lena Dunham, but I just... don't. Her writing sounds like my writing; her brain looks like my brain; she feels familiar in a way that makes me say, "Oh, you, too? Thank goodness." This "book" is a cop-out, though, a collection of entries from Dunham's journal from the fall of 2005 to the spring of 2006. I enjoyed the peek into her mind, but it seems ridiculously self-important to publish something like this & call it a book. Each entry - sometimes mere snippets of sentences - could be a whole story or TV episode of its own. I wish there'd been more to it.
Lena Dunham is still the woman you met in the first season of Girls. These journal entries were made in 2006 when she was in college at Oberlin in Ohio. Many times the entries are not even complete sentences; they are mostly markers for absurd situations or behaviors. All that Lena Dunham is now is evident in those sentence fragments: her lacerating humor, her lack of modesty, her clear intelligence, and her fierce refusal to put makeup on the human condition.
She is offering these fragments to the world in order to show other young women and men that from which inspiration flows. They are fragments that capture a zeitgeist, a moment in the life of a college student…the time the unsexy boy wrapped his arm around you in the car, or the lover with the meaty thighs, or the time your girlfriend carried you over the snowy field on her back. Dunham is the same person…never sure how she is going to get all the people out of her apartment, sleeping everyday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., so inventive in her imagination one is ever off-balance in her company.
2006 was the year Dunham began making short videos around the theme of sexual enlightenment, extracurricular to her school work. One could say none, or all, of the ideas recorded in her journal that year surfaced in her art. She records awkward moments, moments of pleasure and of pain, moments of humiliation. Moments she can use to see a situation, a person, a scene. Theoretically, one could use these scraps to spark an idea, or to remember a character you’d like to describe more fully.
It’s interesting, but it is probably not for the lay person. It’s really for creatives. The audio for this is read by the author, produced by Penguin Random House. It worked well for me. I understand the written journal is available as an ebook only.
As a rodent, I don't get around much. I hate advertising and actually most "modournalism". My rock is my castle. So it won't surprise anyone to know that until about six weeks ago, I had never heard of Lena Dunham.
Recently, I got HBO so I could watch this season of "Game of Thrones" in neither a pirated version nor a year after release, but while it's actually being "aired". Ooh! Honestly, I'm not here to talk about that.
One side-effect of getting a free introductory month of HBO is there's lots of other stuff available to check out, none of which I've ever heard of. (Most of what's current isn't stuff I would watch either, and the HBO Now interface rather sucks on my ancient Roku box, which is a different story.) One of those other shows on HBO is called "Girls". I had never heard of it, but someone mentioned off-hand I might like it. I like girlie stuff. So I tried an episode. About three weeks later I woke up to find that I'd ripped through five full seasons of the show in a big non-stop Lena Dunham binge. And some of the best parts were "inside the episode" chats tacked on the end.
Wait. what? Yup. She's one of those smart, articulate young people who give me hope for the future of humanity in a world that is more or less constantly in the process of flushing its collective head even further down the toilet. (But I'm not going to stalk this lady into the tabloids to find out what anyone else thinks of her; this is just my opinion.)
Anyway, so... When her book Is it evil to be sure? cropped up in some advertising fluff that Kobo sent me, I went out to take a look. On the Kobo site, it said the book had Adobe DRM (WTF?) and my first thought was, like: she doesn't seem like the kind of woman who would put DRM on her book by choice and I'm not going to buy one that has DRM on it; but maybe it's only that store. So I went over to Amazon and found it apparently without DRM, so I sprung $2.99 for it and Calibred it into an EPUB. Sigh.
Ordinarily I wouldn't pay that much for 7,000 words of basically un-edited journal snippets poured into an e-book with a minimalist cover... I have humongous piles of stuff rather like this which I wrote at around the same age, and golly I wouldn't publish any of it. But such trinkets can be good fodder and kind of springboardy. This book is loaded to the gills with story seeds. Mama mia!
At least Ms Dunham has some cojones, we know she can write, because Girls, and she seems interesting, and there are definitely some nice bits in here. Eventually, I may go out and see if she has any other longer books that have had some editing practiced upon them before being turned loose in the world.
Heh heh. If Ms Dunham is as influential as apparently Time magazine seems to think she is (according to her GR bio, but I'll never really know because I run screaming from most media and am allergic to hype), maybe she can influence lots of other young women to rally their pens and write...help fix the world's collective head-flushing epidemic. She's only thirty so she has some time, and hopefully she won't crash and burn before she's a wise and respectable fifty. I'm sure she'll be really great at that age. And she should cherish some of these youthful, innocent thoughts from her bygone twenties because she'll pretty much never be anonymous again.
OK, I also tripped over something or other recently in which she claimed she's an unreliable narrator, so who knows if there's any truth to anything written in here, but I think people have said the same thing about Anaïs Nin, and Huck Finn.
OK, there you go: Lena Dunham, Anaïs Nin, and Mark Twain in the same sentence. Huh?
I like that this book donates proceeds to a good cause, but the book, if we can even call it that, is a little unnecessary. It's sad to say that, because I love all things Dunham. Not that Kind of Girl is a dream and super important for our time. But this needed to be a lot more. I don't love that it's presented as an unedited piece of work and the author's journals, and that is suppose to make all the typeos and errors ok. It would've taken two seconds to remedy a lot of it. Some cool ideas and thoughts, but mostly this should've been saved to serve as inspiration and notes for her next book of essays. I don't feel like I should've ever had to see this. I know. Way harsh, Tai.
Tak til Politikens Forlag for anmeldereksemplaret!
Er det ondt ikke at være sikker? af Lena Dunham havde allerede min interesse fra, da jeg så forsiden og formatet af den lille, fine pink bog. Jeg havde ikke før læst noget af hende, så jeg var naturligvis spændt på det. Allerede fra de første sider, så havde jeg fornemmelsen af, at det nok ville blive godt, selvom det virkede en anelse forvirret med de fragmenterede brudstykker af et ungt menneskes liv.
Jeg havde håbet, at det ville blive en blanding af Francoise Sagan, som møder Stine Pilgaard, for der var en særlig vibe fra den lille udgivelse, som fik et lille håb til at vokse, men jeg må desværre sige, at udgivelsen (personligt for mig) ikke lever op til den hype, som den naturligvis får.
Fragmenterede brudstykker, dagbogsbidder og tanker kan være yderst interessant, hvis det er formidlet på den helt særlige måde, og det er simpelthen hvad denne bog mangler: Fokus og den rette formidling. For jo, naturligvis byder den på mange spændende refleksioner og sætter helt sikkert tankerne i gang, men det virker som om der mangler et overordnet fokus. Dér taber den mig allerede midt i, selvom den med de knap 80 sider ikke burde.
Der er ingen tvivl om at Lena Dunham har noget at byde på, for hun viser hudløs ærlige brudstykker og et sandfærdigt billede af at være ung og alt hvad der hører med: selvudvikling, sex, parforhold og usikkerhed. Dog er det desværre ikke med denne udgivelse, at jeg blev hooked, så jeg vil forsøge at læse videre. Der er mere at komme efter! Ingen tvivl!
In other reviews I see saddened fans lamenting how short this book is. Sure, I would have liked it to be longer, but it was advertised by the author as nothing more than a chapbook or zine. It's not even available in print save it be for the limited signed collector's editions (which I wish I could get my paws on).
But all in all this was a hilarious little micro-read. I think the introduction is probably the most important, and I couldn't agree more with her message and admonition to have young people, hopeful creatives especially, to write things down.
Her little bursts of thought prove that no matter how different we are we all have quirky and seemingly ridiculous things happen in our lives, especially when it comes to courting and trying to understand the opposite sex.
Hopefully this book will remind writers to write, and lovers to love. It has briefly inspired me to do both.
‘Als ik één les zou mogen meegeven (..) is het mijn overtuiging dat jonge mensen, en met name vrouwen, hun ervaringen aan papier zouden moeten toevertrouwen, al is het alleen maar hierom: jij bent de enige die jouw specifieke ervaringen ooit zal beleven en het zou zonde zijn als ze verloren zouden gaan als je er niet meer bent of omdat je ze vergeet of omdat je volwassen wordt en afschuwelijke snowboots aanschaft.’
There's a difference between writing to write and writing to publish. Amazingly, Lena Dunham not only crosses that line, she sprints (okay, lightly jogs) past it, pen in hand, soft pretzel in the other, and per usual, head held just little too high.
"Is it evil not to be sure?" is a short collection of observations, one-liners, and strange encounters Dunham chronicled during her time at college when she was nineteen. In HBO GIRLS fashion, most snippets are about strange sexual experiences and shitty (or great?) friendships—she can't decide, either.
Not all of the e-book is about brooding liberal arts boys and drunken nineteen-year-old debauchery (though, most of it is). Dunham journals the constant skin-grating frustrations of writing consuming your thoughts, studies, profession, and mental health. She touches on the self-inflicted neurosis of not being taken seriously as a young writer (and deep down not being sure if you're deserving). She writes, "Frustrating, isn't it, when nothing short of peeling back your skin will let somebody know how smart you really are."
Some of her most poignant observations describe some of the young women she's met in college that are already burning brighter than any boy of equal age, "I have some friends who i just can't imagine with a guy. They are too huge, too overwhelming. It would be like pinning a massive carnation to a baby's lapel."
If you don't happen to fall into the very niche audience of being nineteen, somewhat depressingly existential, and incorrigibly self-important (the last two come with being nineteen), you just won't like this book. In fact, you'll probably only get 5 pages in. And that's what I enjoy about "Is it evil not to be sure?". If you aren't an insufferable nineteen-year-old (and maybe even if you are), this will read as too precocious, too angst-riddled, and painfully short-sighted—because it is.
The $2.99 I paid was worth every penny because it goes toward the Girls Write Now organization, though I wouldn't necessarily drop three bucks just to hear Dunham's journaled ramblings. All in all: I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. And ultimately, I'm still unable to find it in my heart to loathe Dunham as much as the public does.
Like a badge of artistic nepotism, Lena Dunham wears her pretension on her sleeve, and oddly, I admire her for that. She writes, "I've always thought that there's something essentially radical about a woman deciding her life is worthy of writing down."
I am a not so secret Lena Dunham fan. I've seen all of Girls and really admire the authenticity that she brings to her writing and performances. She puts it all out there, and is not embarassed to expose her own flaws in the name of creating honest and innovative expression.
This book however, is kind of a half-assed effort to repurpose her diary. It's funny because I just finished David Sedaris' similar effort to repurpose his diary. Both I listened to on audible, so the voice performance and format was also a factor. So I've been listening to a lot of diaries recently.
In any case, it's not that this work is totally without merit. It offers a rare glimpse into the developing mind of a young woman facing all sorts of societal and individual challenges. Challenges of self-worth, etc.
The format also lends itself to some great insights, because it is based off of the power of one-liners and their unusual allusions. No story is directly told here.
But in the hour and a half I spent listening to this book I couldn't help but feel I was just listening to a teenage Ms. Dunham whine into my ear in thinly-veiled quips that really only she could think were profound.
Harsh, but I think that's just the nature of her approach. Sometimes it blows me out of the water with her down-to-earth knowledge of humanity and emotion and communication, and sometimes it is just too regular to not fall flat.
I'm not super pro-Lena Dunham, nor am I anti- like so many people seem to be... I enjoyed her first book and think she's sharp and witty, and therefore took a chance on this one... it's quite literally a stream of conscious journal of daily observations with pretty much zero context. Maybe I'm missing something here--I only managed to finish it because I don't like leaving books unfinished, but I would definitely not recommend it. Felt like a waste of time.
Lena Dunham's "Is it evil not be sure?" is a very quick dive into the psyche of her former self. The book, which is actually just her diary from the years 2005 and 2006, offers up poignant little insights into what her very specific life was like at age 19. Her first sexual experiences, the life of her grandmother as it ended, and the details of somewhat destructive relationship all play out one sentence at a time. We never get much specific information as to what is going on completely but, still, these little fragments of Dunham's life during this time offer up experiences that are universal. It's not a book that is going offer up an incredibly obvious cathartic explosion to the casual reader but there is still a great deal of emotion there, hidden deep in the words. We all grow up with these thoughts in our head. Some of us wrote them down. Lena's just sharing them.
Not sure what to make of this random collection of musings from 2005-2006, mostly one-line descriptions and brief reflections about sex. Some nice sentences, but why did this need to be published? I suppose it's interesting for those as fascinated with the mind of Lena Dunham as she is herself, but not a whole lot here if I'm honest. Now that I see she's donating the proceeds to charity I feel better about it, but still feel I've wasted my time.
At læse Dunhams nyeste udgivelse føles lidt som at have snaget i en ung piges skrivebordsskuffe og fundet en notesbog, som man godt ved, man ikke burde kigge i, men lige får tiltusket sig et glimt eller to af alligevel. Læs min anmeldelse her: https://bookmeupscotty.blogspot.dk/20...
Short read. Composition of Dunham's diary entries enable one to understand how she developed as a writer. Chopped up in zine like way, it felt like pricking a cactus at times.
This short novella was exceptional. It's interesting to compare this writing- slightly cliche, unaware, artful- to her memoir where the prose is more theatrical and purposefully didactic. Funny enough, both works are entertainingly obnoxious, or similarly: incredibly blunt and unconcerned.
The entries were choppy, lacking proper grammar (which significantly contributed to the diary effect), and as always insufferable: mainly about sexual conquests and her body.
"Kindly, he asks me to describe where I have been in three words or less. Slow, crippled- I tell him: I went God-ward...You lean in with your pelvis first, chest second."
"I can't seem to keep anybody out of my room. I wasn't sure what they were doing in the dark but I was sure I didn't like it."
"110 pounds, she says her mom might think she's gotten fat. But her boyfriend called her back bony. It hurts, she says, when you just can't be good enough for anybody. I fucking hate this girl."
'"I lied" she tells me. "The wrist that I cut earlier is bleeding a lot. If I look lightheaded, you can do something." We keep dancing... At the wine and cheese party she whines and eats cheese... "I was just being ephemeral."'
'"have you had a lot of sex?" "enough to know that it makes me depressed." My friend sleeps all the time, often until five or six at night. She tells me that the only obligation I have is to myself. He says "things would be much easier if there were two of you."'
Jeg havde nok forestillede mig noget der mindede mere om “Ikke den slags pige”, af samme forfatter. Men det var faktisk forfriskende at den slet ikke mindede om. Hvordan er det at være 20 i vesten? Hvad fanden er sex? Og hvad skal jeg føle for dig?
Alle de her valgmuligheder, fjollethed, forældrenes lidt komplicerede forhold og Lenas egne tanker og oplevelser. Nogle af hendes oplevelser er nok lidt mere grænseoverskridende end de egentlig er beskrevet. Det giver en mulighed for at tænke over hvordan man selv har det midt i sit tyvende år. Hvad tænker og oplever jeg? Ligger jeg en dæmper på voldsomme oplevelser? Ved jeg hvad jeg selv føler for andre? Hvad er sex for mig?
Et spørgsmål jeg står tilbage med er; findes der priviligerede problemer? For det gør der jo nok. Jeg synes at Lenas bog her, er et godt eksempel på hvordan priviligerede problemer og forhindringer stadig er problemer og stadig er forhindringer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Soms snap je echt niet waarom van iets een boek wordt gemaakt - en dit is zo’n boek.
De flaptekst beloofde “...kleine flarden van haar eerste stappen op weg naar het volwassen leven. Ze zitten vol hoopt en ironie, maar zijn ook heel vertederend” en naar mijn gevoel kreeg ik inderdaad losse flarden. Het is niet zoals poëzie, met soms een enkele zin of een paar op zichzelf staande woorden die er dan keihard inhakt. Het zijn gewoon random gedachtegangen of stukjes uit een gesprek en die losse zinnen maken geen verhaal. En soms kunnen losse zinnen heel sterk en diep zijn, maar zelfs al waren ze allemaal zo diep en sterk, ze horen toch wel een rode draad naar voren te brengen om te zorgen dat de lezer begrijpt waarom ze precies zo mooi zijn. En die rode draad was er gewoon niet.
Ik behoor heel erg duidelijk niet tot dezelfde leefwereld als deze “stem van een generatie”, ook als is ze slechts 3 jaar jonger dan ik. Bij het lezen van dit boek kreeg ik hetzelfde gevoel als bij het kijken naar de serie Girls. Ik denk dat ik in een parallel universum leef, want ik herkende er maar weinig van. Als student was ik vaak één van de weinige meisjes in een bende gasten en ik heb ferm genoten van die tijd. Maar de manier van omgaan met elkaar en seksualiteit van in het boek ken ik niet. En dat vind ik ook niet erg.
I never quite know how to rate or review compilations or anthologies like this. Probably all I can really say is that IS IT EVIL NOT TO BE SURE? is certainly very Lena Dunham, and a few of these little snippets are straight-up brilliant. Most of them are forgettable filler, but certain ones sort of slap you in the face in a good way.
I decided to read the book in hopes of finding a voice similar to that of HBO's Girls. What I found was incoherent ramblings almost all of which were pointlessly sad and disturbing. Dunham's blatant exhibitionism takes an emotional turn here. But much like what Alice's mother said in Welcome to Me: "Not everyone is an emotional exhibitionist."
this is a short little zine of tweet-sized diary entries from 05-06. it was in a box of books my friend dropped off in preparation for a x-country move. signed copy 1423/2000 printed. sharp, acerbic, abstract, oversharing, scattered creative snippets and observations. i never hopped on the “let’s hate lena dunham” bandwagon, so now i am ready to rewatch girls like the rest of twitter.
All the way through the book I pictured scenes from Girls. That's what kept this book together for me. Because many elements are fun or awkward in the familiar - and much appreciated - Dunham way. But as a book on it's own it was unfortunately a disappointment.
Wanted to like this but it was all over the place and completely useless in places. I read this in Dutch and it really made me wonder why a foreign publicist would even be interested in publishing this. I hope that it’s better in English cause man, this was a bad ‘book’.