Lena Dunham Famesick - Official Review

Famesick by Lena Dunham Made Me Feel Very Seen and Slightly Nervous

I would probably not get along with Lena Dunham in real life. We are too similar. Neurotic, ambitious, overthinking everything, caring too much about what things mean and whether the work is good enough. I say that with complete admiration.

She is a strong minded person with a drive and ambition that intimidates those around her, especially younger women who want to have as much success as she does. I think that is a good thing. I feel that way about a lot of inspirational people. The ones who make you a little nervous are usually the ones worth paying attention to.

Famesick pulled me in from page one.

She is a true wordsmith. A national treasure, honestly. She has a long career ahead in writing, and hopefully in television too, because Girls was one of the most important shows of the last twenty years and I think people are only now starting to give it the credit it deserves.

What made me feel most seen was how she talked about creating Girls and how unsure she was throughout the whole process. You think of these young people in Hollywood as rockstars. You assume they know exactly what they are doing and that everything comes easily to them. But they are just as clueless as the rest of us, with a ton of added pressure on top. She used her words in a way that was descriptive and narrative and deep. She battles demons that other people do too. She just happens to do it in public.

Girls was the most raw, realistic, and authentic show I have ever seen. It played more like an indie film broken into parts than a television series. Only HBO would have made it. Netflix is too mainstream, too concerned with broad appeal, too focused on numbers. Girls was a specific artistic vision that required a network willing to let someone make something uncomfortable and true. HBO was that. Nobody else would have been.

There was so much emotion in that show. Even in the parts I could not personally relate to at all, I still felt something. That is the mark of writing that actually works. The characters were real people making real decisions in situations that were not exaggerated for effect. The story you tell is only as good as the life you are living. Those characters were living in a way that was impossible not to feel. No dramatics, hysterics, or overplaying, besides the sexual scenes. And those may be normal for some people, I couldn't tell ya.

Having enjoyed all that Girls had to offer, Famesick is a deeper dive into someone's journey through their 20s, and it is such a comfort read. I finally felt some kinship with someone. Lena said a lot of things I have been thinking. I may not be able to relate to everything in her life, but I felt closer to her after reading this book, like she understood me.

I constantly battle with the things she writes about. It was part of the reason it took me so long to start this site. I want to accomplish so much, but the impact that ambition has on my mental health is something I have been questioning, and questioning even more since reading this book. I am trying to find balance right now, and this memoir is very much about balancing ambitions with mental health. That balance is something nobody talks about enough, especially in the entertainment industry.

The most important lesson from this memoir was not letting fame and success get in the way of taking care of yourself. Even those who get a development deal or a pilot order are scared and trying to figure it out one step at a time. It was a relief to hear about her experience and not feel so alone in feeling lost and behind. I don't see myself ever growing to a point where I need to worry about the same type of "famesick" she describes. But I am definitely responsible for chasing the entertainment industry so hard while it constantly hits me with rejection. This memoir assured me that putting my mental health first is always going to be necessary, and no success or fame will ever change that.

I wish every memoir was as detailed, specific, and clear as this one. Every female should watch Girls before they reach 25, and every person who wants to work in entertainment in some way should read this memoir. There are so many lessons to be had. Reading it is not going to stop you from chasing your dreams, but it will definitely make you do a double take about how you perceive your world and how you view your future and success.

Clearly Lena Dunham is a writer. No ghostwriter was needed in the making of this memoir. The way her sentences are put together, the flow of each chapter, it does not read like a memoir. It is pretty impressive to tell a story about your life in a way that pulls the reader in like a fiction novel.

I do hope that after all this press, she is back to a confident space where she can pump out great material, because the world needs another story from her. As Hannah wanted to be in Girls, I do believe Lena Dunham is the voice of a generation. This memoir is a critical piece of literature that I will recommend to anyone who reads.

You can find the book on Amazon here