GENRE: Memoir - Drug Abuse
HONORS: none
REVIEW: "Dear Diary" is a lively, personal account of Lesley Arfin and her years as a teen growing up in New York City. Lesley has published excerpts of her journal since the age of thirteen and revisits each entry as an adult, which portray that "the lows are way lower and the highs are way higher". The uniqueness of this book is that she supplies the insight about each phase and emotion, and actually interviews her old friends and ex-boyfriends that she knew back when she was a teen. Her ultimate battle with heroine is the dark point of this story, which is realistically captured and non-condemning. The reader has a chance to conclude for herself the repercussions of use, and Lesley explicitly adds in an interview with her father about coming clean, "Another girl, somewhere in Minnesota, might be going through the same thing and feeling the same way. Maybe if she reads this, she'll realize that she is not the only one who goes through this stuff."
OPINION: This book reminded me of a contemporary Go Ask Alice. Teens will appreciate the truthfulness of her story, even though it seems that Lesley is putting down her old emotions as a teen, she is also spreading the message that it will all be better soon. It's a party girl story gone under.
IDEAS: Read-a-like for any kind of drug induced story.
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