Book Review - Dear Diary
I'm not really sure exactly how I felt about Dear Diary. The book is about the life of Lesley Arfin, a girl from Long Island who goes through all the things that most teenage girls go through, but who also eventually becomes a heroin addict, and struggles to get clean.
One thing that I really did like about this book was the way that it was written. The book is actually diary excerpts from Lesley's diary, supplemented with updates by Lesley and interviews with the people she wrote about in the diary entries. The way that Lesley writes make her seem very approachable, like someone you would want to be friends with. I really loved how she would give updates to explain things from her diary and I thought it was awesome how she tracked down and interviewed the people that she discussed in the diary. In one instance she was able to find out that the reason that she lost a once dear friend was because their fathers had an issue that Lesley had no idea about (27-28). She was even able to somewhat repair that relationship.
Something I wasn't so crazy about was the way that Lesley described her drug abuse. Knowing before I read the book that Lesley was a recovered heroin addict, I expected that this book would try to show the dangers and bad side to doing drugs so as to convince people not to do them. On the contrary, Lesley made doing drugs seem cool. Honestly, one of her descriptions of an ecstasy experience made me really curious! I mean, her experience in rehab didn't seem like too much fun, but she spent more time describing how great drugs feel than actually describing rehab. From her descriptions, it sounded as though the worst thing about rehab is that it's boring.
There were certain parts of the book, mainly issues with friends and boys, that I would feel like I related to what Lesley was going through. When Lesley talked about feeling like her friends hated her, or wanting a certain boy to like her, I understood what she meant. But for the most part, I feel like I didn’t relate with Lesley much. My world was never about drugs and music and sex. I just think that Lesley and I experienced very different things in life and that made it hard for me to find a connection to her story. I think overall I just didn't really like Lesley. To me, she seemed like an upper middle-class spoiled brat, who made some bad decisions and had some tough times, but ultimately, I think she was given a lot of breaks. Her family basically supported her through her college years so all she had to worry about was partying. She had jobs handed to her several times, even after she made it clear that she was not reliable. Once she became addicted to heroin, she was very lucky to have a supportive family who was willing to help her get the help she needed. And even after she got clean, simply by "knowing people" she was able to get a job as a stylist to the stars and then get her book published. I think what bothers me most is that Lesley doesn't feel like a hero to me. Maybe she's not supposed to.
At the end of the book Lesley says that she published the book to let girls know they aren't alone in what they might be going through (232). Even though Lesley's story may not be exactly what I went through, I think that it could give others who do relate to the story hope. Seeing how Lesley was able to come out of the hole of addiction and become something more could be very uplifting.
One thing that I really did like about this book was the way that it was written. The book is actually diary excerpts from Lesley's diary, supplemented with updates by Lesley and interviews with the people she wrote about in the diary entries. The way that Lesley writes make her seem very approachable, like someone you would want to be friends with. I really loved how she would give updates to explain things from her diary and I thought it was awesome how she tracked down and interviewed the people that she discussed in the diary. In one instance she was able to find out that the reason that she lost a once dear friend was because their fathers had an issue that Lesley had no idea about (27-28). She was even able to somewhat repair that relationship.
Something I wasn't so crazy about was the way that Lesley described her drug abuse. Knowing before I read the book that Lesley was a recovered heroin addict, I expected that this book would try to show the dangers and bad side to doing drugs so as to convince people not to do them. On the contrary, Lesley made doing drugs seem cool. Honestly, one of her descriptions of an ecstasy experience made me really curious! I mean, her experience in rehab didn't seem like too much fun, but she spent more time describing how great drugs feel than actually describing rehab. From her descriptions, it sounded as though the worst thing about rehab is that it's boring.
There were certain parts of the book, mainly issues with friends and boys, that I would feel like I related to what Lesley was going through. When Lesley talked about feeling like her friends hated her, or wanting a certain boy to like her, I understood what she meant. But for the most part, I feel like I didn’t relate with Lesley much. My world was never about drugs and music and sex. I just think that Lesley and I experienced very different things in life and that made it hard for me to find a connection to her story. I think overall I just didn't really like Lesley. To me, she seemed like an upper middle-class spoiled brat, who made some bad decisions and had some tough times, but ultimately, I think she was given a lot of breaks. Her family basically supported her through her college years so all she had to worry about was partying. She had jobs handed to her several times, even after she made it clear that she was not reliable. Once she became addicted to heroin, she was very lucky to have a supportive family who was willing to help her get the help she needed. And even after she got clean, simply by "knowing people" she was able to get a job as a stylist to the stars and then get her book published. I think what bothers me most is that Lesley doesn't feel like a hero to me. Maybe she's not supposed to.
At the end of the book Lesley says that she published the book to let girls know they aren't alone in what they might be going through (232). Even though Lesley's story may not be exactly what I went through, I think that it could give others who do relate to the story hope. Seeing how Lesley was able to come out of the hole of addiction and become something more could be very uplifting.
Comments
I find it strange that she would describe rehab as just boring. Maybe she went more than once, most people do and at that time she just was not ready to face the facts.
I like the fact that you express your dislike of Leslie. And by the way you describe her, I don't think I would like her either.
mhendrix: I think I would recommend this book to others. It was an ok read and maybe others who have experienced different things would feel differently about Lesley than I did.
Haley: You are right, I don't think the intent of the book was to raise drug awareness. I think the intent was for Lesley to tell her story, no matter how good or bad she seemed to anyone else. Like I said, just because this book didn't change my life doesn't mean that it couldn't speak to someone else.