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Caitlin Moran's 'How to Build a Girl' will be adapted as a film

Moran and John Niven will reportedly adapt the book for the screen.

'How to Build a Girl' is by Caitlin Moran.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

Caitlin Moran’s novel “How to Build a Girl” is reportedly being adapted as a film.

According to Variety, Monumental Pictures has obtained the rights to the film and the book will be adapted by Moran and John Niven.

Monumental Pictures co-founder Debra Hayward said of the project in a statement, “Caitlin Moran is the wittiest writer on the planet and her creation, Johanna Morrigan stands alongside Elizabeth Bennet and Bridget Jones as one of the great female literary icons.”

“Girl” centers on Johanna, who is a British teenager who decides to work as a music critic to help her family. As she works as a critic, she also tries to establish her identity, changing her name to Dolly Wilde.

New York Times critic Dwight Garner wrote of the book, “I wish someone had given me this rowdy and fearless little book when I was 16,” though he noted, “Johanna possesses insights you’re not sure a teenage girl would…. But her comic novel is sloppy, big-hearted and alive in all the right ways,” while NPR critic Ellah Allfrey wrote, “The joy of this easy-read novel is not just the scrappy protagonist…. Moran makes strong statements about social inequality and gender throughout.” And Zoe Williams of the Guardian wrote, “I was rocking with laughter in the library, crying with love on the tube…. It turns out I don't hate romans a clef after all. I just hadn't met the right roman a clef.”

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