Reviews

The Moth Diaries, by Rachel Klein

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caja's review against another edition

5.0

"It's true that I never wanted to grow up. But how important was it really - to have decided to be human?"

I'm going to keep pondering over this line for awhile.

ivylong's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

tcgarback's review against another edition

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3.0

⚠️ DNF’d at 85 pages in, about 30% ⚠️
⭐️ ⭐️

phoebebrooke's review against another edition

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4.0

4.5 stars
I devoured this. I stayed up late to keep reading! The narrator frustrated me and intrigued wildly. The story built up so perfectly and left such an impression. I’ll think about this for months to come!

vixenreader's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Despite a strange afterward, it is a rather fascinating, ambiguous novel about the perils of jealousy, teen angst, and mental illness.

Content Warnings

nyx's review against another edition

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4.0

I remember first seeing this book - newly laminated - propped up on the shelf in the library. Yes. I judged it by its cover. It breathed an aura of mystery. A diary, easy to read, at times too intimate, but rivetingly full of references and beautifully posed words, waiting to lift and transport you.

The messages about life in this book are strong. Grief can alter one, never for the better and for multiple forevers. Can life truly go on with the emptiness one leaves? Why do friends suddenly become completely and utterly unfamiliar? What is love but an obsessive fascination and desire in another? How can we move from one obsession to the other? “If I needed to, I could always open the window and let them fly away.” Maybe there are deeper meanings to this text than the simple looking diary entry about a vampire that it presents itself as.

But most interestingly, within it is said that “the writer is always inventing, believing in the truth of the unseen.” Do we invent what we see, altering an occurrence to suit what we prefer to have seen?

There’s nothing I love more than a book that leaves me asking all of these questions. The present so quickly turns into the past.

bethaniegarfin's review against another edition

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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

3.5

apalershadeofwhite's review against another edition

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3.0

I feel quite indifferent about this book. Its interesting and I like the layout of journal entries separated by the months, but I felt the book could have grasped my attention more.

Taking the novel as a collection of diary entries from a girl at boarding school, the lack of gore and drama that you expect in a vampire novel makes sense being absent; however, I did occasionally find myself getting lost in the story and I had to remind myself that the narrator was unreliable. I think the question of what is real is really interesting when it comes to this novel. Is the narrator making this all up due to psychosis or is Ernessa really a vampire?