Dear Diary (Hardcover)

by Lesley Arfin (Author), Chloe Sevigny (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Here's your chance to have all the benefits of a tortured adolescence without the shirty childhood. Congratulations!" -- Sarah Silverman

Product Description
"OMG, this the best concept for a book ever...Dear Diary is totally going to be the next Ask Alice, and if you don’t already own it, get it now." -JANE Magazine

"Here’s your chance to have all the benefits of a tortured adolescence without the shitty childhood. Congratulations!" --Sarah Silverman

TRUE STORIES!

"I hate my life" is teen speak for "Things are going pretty good." When Lesley wrote about Sheryl Rosenthal (it’s funny how you remember everyone’s first and last name like that) making her feel "retarded" back in the 6th grade, the world was a dark, lonely place and she could see no light at the end of the tunnel. When she discovered heroin, things got even worse. Today, with the perspective of only rock bottom can give you, Lesley looks back at the apocalypse that was adolescence and asks, "What the hell was I talking about?" The book is a collection of a girl’s funniest diary entries from 12 to 25 years old. She updates each entry by tracking down the people involved and asking awkward questions like, "Do you remember when I tried to beat you up?" Sometimes old friends apologize. Sometimes they become new enemies. No matter who she talks to about he days we all discovered sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, one thing become abundantly clear: Boys are totally immature.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 231 pages
• Publisher: Vice Books (June 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576873838
• ISBN-13: 978-1576873830
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #398,187 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I'm on the fence here...., August 7, 2007

By	Stephanie Cake (Baltimore, Hon!) - See all my reviews

I can't say I hated Dear Diary but I'm not a total convert like all the other reviewers here.

There are definitely some sections - particularly her middle and high school entries - where I felt like "OMG, that's EXACTLY how I was feeling at that age." And her updated commentary on some of those passages is really spot on and, in some cases, very funny. I also thought her description of her first time in rehab had some bittersweet, and in one case, hilarious, moments.

But on the other hand, as another reviewer mentions, I have a really hard time with her claim that she published the book to let girls know they aren't alone in what they might be going through. Nothing in her "update" commentary is particularly dissuading about drug use... or even tormenting your friends, for that matter. She seems to have taken thinly veiled delight in the fact that, although her middle school friends tormented and ousted her, they were also tormented and ousted by each other.

While she is a decent writer, and the entries aren't quite as boring as one reviewer would have you believe, I was ultimately left with the feeling that I really don't like or care about Leslie that much. She may be sober now and she may have gone through the school of hard knocks like a real champ but she still comes across like an immature, spoiled upper middle class Gen-Xer. Ironically, she pretty much admits this.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unlikable misfire -- don't waste your time, November 1, 2008

By	Kenneth Simon (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Dear Diary (Paperback)

When I first picked up Dear Diary from a stack of vacation reading, I thought it was going to be a funny read. The idea/gimmick is that the author goes through the diary she kept through her teen years, comments on the entries, and tries to track down the people she knew at the time to get their perspective on things.

Once I got a better look at the book, I realized that it was not just for laughs or nostalgia: the author descended into heroin addiction during her teen years, and she uses the diary entries to track her journey into drug use.

The book was a disappointment. The author tries to juxtapose her adult self with her teen self, but she actually comes off as as self-absorbed adult who thinks she's much more interesting than she is. When she tracks down childhood friends (and enemies), she doesn't get much out of them -- nothing you can't experience firsthand by finding your old classmates online and asking them what they remember about you.

It's hard to form a solid criticism of Dear Diary, because there's not enough substance there to critique. It tries to be funny, deep, even a cautionary tale, but it really doesn't hit the mark on any of these things. I was left feeling glad that Arfin got her drug addiction under control, but not so glad that I'd spent time reading her book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Both good and bad, December 25, 2007

By	L. Patton (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I enjoyed reading this book and it does have its very honest, brave and hilarious moments. But I didn't feel like I could identify with a lot of the book and I agree with another reviewer-- nothing about this book particularly strikes me as, "These were my mistakes; don't make them too." I found the style of writing to be refreshingly conversational, but sometimes a little self-centered or self-righteous. Still, I enjoyed reading this book and will probably read it again in a few years.