#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso Review

New York Times bestseller #GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso (Founder and CEO of Nasty Gal) was published in 2014 captioned with a quote from Lena Dunham: “#GIRLBOSS is more than a book… #GIRLBOSS is a movement”

I imagine you can sense a theme with the last two reviews and now this one, so I shall tell you how I came to purchase motivational, female empowering, self-help-type-books. I have always been a confident and motivated person but nothing has scared me more than the prospect of being a “grown up” in the “real world”, so just before I left university I bought an array of books to jolt me out of this fear and back into my bubbly, ballsy, sometimes sassy- but never rude- self. Explanation is over. There will be novels and fictional book reviews soon; when Amazon gets a wiggle on.

You’re enticed into believing everything and anything is possible.

Back to the review…

#GIRLBOSS is a rags to riches, anyone can make it, girl power book. It implores its readers to be a #GIRLBOSS and follow their natural instincts. But as you read the dramatic tales of Amoruso’s past lives, which feels like she’s has just about as many lives as a cat, you’re enticed into believing everything and anything is possible. These tales are fuelled by the photo’s that she’s paired with book, as a reminder that these aren’t just stories, they were part of Amoruso’s life; or lives as I like to think she’s led many.

I think it is fair to question what is the difference between Dunham’s book Not That Kind of Girl and #GIRLBOSS as when you see them paired next to each other, as autobiographies of successful women who want to share their message with other women, they could indeed be the same. However, Dunham’s is a personal and self-deprecatingly hilarious autobiography, which is about who you are as a person. Whereas, Amoruso's focus is more about who you want to be, what you aspire to do and how you’re going to do it. There is no messing about with this book. It is lighthearted at points but is sincere in Amoruso’s story of unexpected success.

Follow your dreams because now you feel like you are better equipped to do it.

The Breakdown:

Genre: Autobiographical

Writing style: Beautiful storytelling, uniquely decisive and snappy at points.

Structure: Simple format of 11 Chapters

Ease of reading: It’s a very driven narrative and the stories about her past are often more compelling than the story of her success. But I read it with relative ease in about a week.

Design: Pink and black colour scheme very chic and simple. Bold fully black pages to divide up the chapters was a really nice touch. Illustrations done very boldly in black adding to the cohesivity of the whole design.

Target audience: Similarly to Dunham’s I’d recommend this for 16+. Amoruso targets her audience on the back of her book stating it’s for “outsiders (and insiders) seeking a unique path to success.”

Price: £9.99

Overall:

#GIRLBOSS leaves you wanting to follow your dreams because now you feel like you are better equipped to do it. Amoruso offers some of the best and the worst advice in this book: the best being how she managed to build a multi-million dollar company without stacking up any debt, and the worst being about her hitchhiking and shoplifting experiences. Personally I think Amoruso could make a cracking film out of her life story. Grab a coffee, and enjoy!