How to Be Famous

May 15, 2018
A 19-year-old British rock critic contends with big egos, endless partying, a great love, and a sex tape in the 1990s.Dolly Wilde, the pride of Wolverhampton, her alcoholic loser father (a slightly more functional cousin to William H. Macy's character in Shameless), and rock star John Kite, the love of her life, are back in Moran's high-spirited and hilarious sequel to How To Build a Girl (2014). Dolly's quest to become a famous writer and sexual adventuress is going pretty well when she hits a major snag in the form of a well-known young comedian named Jerry Sharp. This misogynist pig of a man, whom she runs into at a concert for which he has no ticket and kindly gets him admitted, manages to get Dolly back to his apartment not once, but twice. It is the second encounter that produces the VHS tape that nearly ruins Dolly's life. New in this continuation of Dolly's story are two wonderful characters, aspiring musician Suzanne Banks and her assistant, Julia. "Most people are built around a heart, and a nervous system. Suzanne appeared to be built around a whirlwind, kept trapped in a black glass jar. She appeared never to think before she spoke, took a drink, or opened a bottle of pills....She was like a bomb that kept exploding over and over." Meanwhile, the levelheaded and embattled Julia has to keep reminding her employer that the guitar is held with the "strings at the front." Some of the best parts of the book are Dolly's writing--articles titled "Ten Things I Have Noticed in Two Years of Interacting With Famous People" and "In Defense of Groupies," and, best of all, a letter to her beloved Mr. Kite explaining why teenage girls are the most important fans of all, "a power grid of energy...splitting their own atoms with love." Set in a time three decades before #MeToo, Dolly's ultra-sex-positive feminism is honed by her experiences with the evil Sharp and her connections with other women.Half feminist comedy, half romance novel--a genre whose time has come.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from May 28, 2018
Moran’s rollicking second novel (after How to Build a Girl) characteristically combines nonstop witticisms with razor-sharp, pointed, and timely cultural critique. Johanna Morrigan (pen name Dolly Wilde) is making her way at 19 in mid-’90s London writing for a music magazine and intent on cultural and sexual adventure. As her ambition and wit propel her further into the world of celebrity in the age of Britpop, she encounters unexpected triumphs, but also challenges: workplace harassment; sexual imbalances of power; and the outsized role of gender in art and criticism, fame and fandom. Moran’s depiction of London is detailed and exuberant, and a convincing backdrop for her unflinching exploration of these issues (though the language used to describe them sometimes seems anachronistically plucked straight from 2018 and #MeToo). Better still, her characters are madcap and lovable but nuanced enough to feel real: Dolly’s friend Suzanne is strident and wise but also self-centered and irresponsible; her family is loyal but dysfunctional; and her true but unrequited love, John Kite, is a sweet and genuine musical talent who poorly manages his newfound fame. With Dolly, Moran has created an excellent heroine that readers will enjoy spending a summer day with.

June 1, 2018
In this follow-up to How to Build a Girl (2014), Johanna Morrigan is 19 and living her midnineties-London dreams: a solo flat and a music-writing career as her alter ego, Dolly Wilde. Catchy Britpop reigns, and though she loves Oasis and Blur as much as everyone else does, she can't help but notice how bloke-y the movement and the magazine she writes for are. She quits, lands a new gig as a fame columnist, and befriends the wildly fun Suzanne, front woman of an exciting new band. After a video of Johanna having sex (and bad sex at that) with a famous comedian circulates, she is devastated until she finds a way to regain her power in the situation. She is still secretly head-over-heels for John Kite?even more complicated now that he is gobsmackingly famous. But she has something to say about the way he and so many other men ridicule the fandom of teenage girls; after all, she is one herself. Moran's funny, female-centric writing is a treasure, and despite the throwback setting, this feels just right for 2018.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from August 1, 2018

In this sequel to her debut, How To Build a Girl, Moran returns to the story of Dolly Wilde. At 19, she's on her own in London, writing about new music for a popular British magazine and living her dream, until she falls in love with young musician John Kite, who suddenly leaves her behind as he makes it big in the 1994 music scene. John and Dolly are friends, but she doubts he would ever want more, so she decides to start a monthly column on all the aspects, good and bad, of being famous. Dolly's a talented writer, but sometimes she makes bad decisions, like having a one-night stand with a famous comedian. Slut-shaming soon follows, which in light of the #MeToo movement makes this book both timely and important. Eventually, Dolly pushes through the pain, turns the shame into her own kind of fame, and wins the man of her dreams. VERDICT With an indelible protagonist and a wicked sense of humor, Moran's topical, feminist fiction will appeal to strong women of any age.--Stacy Alesi, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2018

Moran followed her award-winning, New York Times best-selling feminist memoir, How To Be a Woman, with the widely and hand-clappingly reviewed debut novel, How To Build a Girl. In this sequel, 18-year-old Johanna Morrigan (aka Dolly Wilde) lives in London and writes for an of-the-moment music magazine. She's jealous of friend John's big BritPop music success--until she has the idea of writing a column about the ups and down of getting and being famous.With a 40,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.