Lena Dunham's memoir, “Fame Obsession,” was released in the US this spring and has become a sensation. It's a candid, brilliantly written book that captures with rare precision the experience of living with a chronic illness in a world where ambition and productivity are valued above all else.
But the conversation doesn't end there: there are other, no less fascinating and atmospheric, women's memoirs. Vogue Ukraine has collected six books that are worth checking out after “Obsessed with Fame.”
Advertising.
“Faithfull: An Autobiography”, Marianne Faithfull
British singer and actress Marianne Faithfull's life was so eventful and dramatic that she published three memoirs over a twenty-year period. Yet Faithfull: An Autobiography remains her most heartfelt and brutally honest work.
This is the story of her childhood, her meteoric rise as a 1960s pop star, her high-profile relationship with Mick Jagger, and her heroin addiction that led to homelessness. And, as a counterpoint, her return to herself through music and the album Broken English. This is a book that inevitably leaves you wondering, “Did I even live?”
“Just Kids”, Patti Smith
“Just Kids” is not only the story of the relationship between American singer and poet Patti Smith and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Above all, it is a story about what it means to dedicate your life to art – without guarantees, without a plan, but with absolute faith.
This book easily transcends the genre of memoir and becomes a literary portrait of the era. It is full of artistic and literary references and takes the reader back to New York, where all it took was a suitcase, Illuminations magazine, and a dream to start a new life.
“I'll Never Write My Memoirs,” Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model, and actress, one of the most radical pop icons of her time. Her memoir is a journey through aesthetic and cultural eras: from the windswept shores of Jamaica to the dazzling brilliance of Studio 54 and the chaotic New York of the 1990s. This is not just a memoir, but a series of vivid, ironic, sometimes brutally honest stories about the world of celebrity. And in these stories, everyone from Madonna to Lady Gaga to Rihanna gets it.
“Prozac Nation”, Elizabeth Wurtzel
“Prozac Country” was not just the literary debut of American journalist Elizabeth Wurtzel, but a cultural phenomenon. It was the first time the experience of depression was spoken about so openly — without filters, without romanticization, with painful precision.
Wurtzel became the voice of an urban generation: successful, educated, but emotionally drained. As Lena Dunham notes, it is “a seminal text about depression, anxiety, and coming of age as a young woman in the new drug era of the 1990s.” And if you've ever felt “on the edge,” this book will ring remarkably true.
“I'm Glad My Mom Died,” by Jennette McCurdy
In this memoir, Janet McCurdy tackles one of the most complex and controversial topics of all—abusive parenting. With irony and almost surgical precision, she describes how, as a child, she was drawn into an acting career initiated by her mother, which led to eating disorders and profound psychological trauma. It is a story of separation—not just physical but also emotional—from relationships that society often idealizes.
“Strangeland”, Tracey Emin
For Tracey Emin, an artist whose work has always been deeply autobiographical, writing a memoir was inevitable. In “Kind of Oddities,” she revisits her life without any filters, from her childhood in seaside Margate to the chaotic art world of the 1990s.
It's a song about vulnerability and self-destruction, but also about the power of speaking out. “Here I am, a broken, crazy, anorexic, alcoholic, childless, beautiful woman,” she writes. “I never thought it would be this way.”