bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
3.0
Reading Highsmith when fragile or feeling down is like a bad trip. Well, what I imagine a bad trip would feel like. The book's probably great, but I was in the wrong mood when I read it and man, did it worsen things. It made me incredibly ill at ease and got me into a rare quarrel where I got quite hysterical, I'm embarrassed to say. I don't blame Highsmith. After years of reading her I should know this. Anyway, my point is I can't rate this accurately because just thinking about it makes me shudder, and it should be read by those more robust than me.
molly9900's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
sshabein's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
At first, I wasn't sure about this one, but then I started to notice how Patricia Highsmith sows the seeds of unraveling in a subtle way. It takes the the idea of an unlikeable, unreliable narrator and makes it a story told close third person from the point of view of an anxious woman and her son. Her son is awful in a variety of ways (though he and his mother are often alike), her ex-husband selfish and distant, and Edith spins herself a midcentury fantasy alternative. It's a really interesting book, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, and Mental illness
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Homophobia
schnauzermum's review against another edition
3.0
This book is so bleak. Highsmith turns her attention to a domestic setting and the slow dying away of a woman’s hopes and sanity. I found reading it a bit of a slog. The prose is - deliberately - flat. It’s impressive in its way, but I don’t think I’d read it again.
sonechkarr's review against another edition
4.0
No se va a convertir en una de mis novelas favoritas de Highsmith pero la he disfrutado mucho. Maravilloso final, si es que puedo decir eso de algo tan trágico.
caroparr's review against another edition
3.0
Memorable but unbelievably creepy. Not like Shirley Jackson's weird domestic ghost stories, also featuring women losing their minds, but rather so quietly revolting that you want to take a bath afterwards and curl up with a cozy mystery. Edith's son Cliffie is one of Highsmith's classic sociopaths, and even thinking about him makes me shudder. Listen to the Backlisted podcast for more insights: https://www.backlisted.fm/episodes/106-patricia-highsmith-ediths-diary
patri_rivera's review against another edition
3.0
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anna_tokareva's review against another edition
4.0
I can't quite remember the last time I finished a book in two days. However, I found my weekend sucked up by this quietly terrifying novel. This is the first book by Patricia Highsmith that I have read, it was perched on the featured shelf at a library I happened to pop in to. The perky librarian raved on about it as she scanned the bar code, but this is not quite the energetic response I would give to this book. This is not a book that leaves one exited, exactly.
Edith's Diary is a work of great skill and restraint. Highsmith's understated style conceals the author's presence, leaving a transparent barrier between the reader and the characters. They are not particularly likable, but its hard not to care about these people as you witness their sad pedestrian lives slowly degenerate.
The impact of this work lies in its insidious invasion of the reader's psyche. Half-way through the novel, I was questioning myself and my own beliefs, assumptions, delusions. How would I know if I was going mad? Imagining things? Highsmith unravels Edith's ‘cracking up’, as her lout of a son Cliffie puts it, in such a subtle way that it almost feels like we are taking the mental journey with her. Hints, gentle foreshadowing, the building of tension, are all artfully handled and used to full effect.
Afterwards, the book is shut. Finished. Still, I felt a little off-kilter for quite a while. The cliche of ‘haunting’ seems invented specifically to describe this book. The story gets under the skin in ways you wouldn't wish on a friend and, like another reviewer had noted, I wouldn't recommend reading it in the midst of a self-doubting episode, that's for sure.
Edith's Diary is a work of great skill and restraint. Highsmith's understated style conceals the author's presence, leaving a transparent barrier between the reader and the characters. They are not particularly likable, but its hard not to care about these people as you witness their sad pedestrian lives slowly degenerate.
The impact of this work lies in its insidious invasion of the reader's psyche. Half-way through the novel, I was questioning myself and my own beliefs, assumptions, delusions. How would I know if I was going mad? Imagining things? Highsmith unravels Edith's ‘cracking up’, as her lout of a son Cliffie puts it, in such a subtle way that it almost feels like we are taking the mental journey with her. Hints, gentle foreshadowing, the building of tension, are all artfully handled and used to full effect.
Afterwards, the book is shut. Finished. Still, I felt a little off-kilter for quite a while. The cliche of ‘haunting’ seems invented specifically to describe this book. The story gets under the skin in ways you wouldn't wish on a friend and, like another reviewer had noted, I wouldn't recommend reading it in the midst of a self-doubting episode, that's for sure.