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cmjbooks's review
2.0
The story of the discovery of this diary, and a reporter's search for its creator, should be fascinating. But the author can't seem to stop talking about herself, and the woman whose diary it is comes off as selfish and destructive. I found the book to be much shallower than I expected.
book_concierge's review
4.0
Subtitled: Reclaiming a Life Through the Pages of a Lost Journal
Lily Koppel was a young (age 22) writer working at the New York Times when she stumbled upon a dumpster filled with old steamer trunks. Her curiosity piqued, she started scavenging and among the vintage clothing, handbags and general miscellanea she came across an old red leather diary, its cover cracked and peeling. It had originally been given to Florence Wolfson for her 14th birthday – Aug 11, 1929, and Florence dutifully wrote in it every day for the five years allowed on its pages.
The diary gave an intimate look at the life of a relatively privileged young lady in New York from 1919 to 1934. Florence attended the theater, opera, music concerts, had crushes and “love affairs,” read voraciously, studied hard, and was a keen observer of what was going on around her. But the diary did more than offer a fascinating glimpse into the past.
As Lily read the young Florence’s record of her hopes, dreams, experiences, heartbreaks and triumphs, she discovered something about herself. The diary had come to Koppel at a time when she, like the teenaged Florence, was searching for her purpose in life, wondering if she was on the right path, at once eager and frightened to experience new things.
And then Koppel went searching for Florence … and found her.
I was mesmerized from beginning to end.
Lily Koppel was a young (age 22) writer working at the New York Times when she stumbled upon a dumpster filled with old steamer trunks. Her curiosity piqued, she started scavenging and among the vintage clothing, handbags and general miscellanea she came across an old red leather diary, its cover cracked and peeling. It had originally been given to Florence Wolfson for her 14th birthday – Aug 11, 1929, and Florence dutifully wrote in it every day for the five years allowed on its pages.
The diary gave an intimate look at the life of a relatively privileged young lady in New York from 1919 to 1934. Florence attended the theater, opera, music concerts, had crushes and “love affairs,” read voraciously, studied hard, and was a keen observer of what was going on around her. But the diary did more than offer a fascinating glimpse into the past.
As Lily read the young Florence’s record of her hopes, dreams, experiences, heartbreaks and triumphs, she discovered something about herself. The diary had come to Koppel at a time when she, like the teenaged Florence, was searching for her purpose in life, wondering if she was on the right path, at once eager and frightened to experience new things.
And then Koppel went searching for Florence … and found her.
I was mesmerized from beginning to end.
lindsayharmon's review
3.0
Another book where I liked the concept more than the execution. A NY Times reporter stumbles upon a dumpster full of old trunks outside her apartment building. She finds a bunch of vintage clothes, an old typewriter, and the diary of a girl who came of age in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Right up my alley. But the diary is one of the four-lines-a-day kind, so instead of the book being a published version of the diary, as I had expected, it's more like a biography that uses diary entries as jumping-off points for dramatized vignettes. And while I'm sure Koppel is good at her just-the-facts reporting job, I kept wanting to write "show, don't tell" in the margins of this book as I read.
mandimsadler's review
5.0
this book is basically my dream on paper. I tore through it in three days. I love everything about this concept!!
ynoirb's review
3.0
I read this book in one night - I was sucked in from the first page. Such a good book.
meghan111's review
3.0
The author is living in Manhattan in an older building, when one day she finds a bunch of steamer trunks from the building's basement that have been thrown out into Dumpsters. She rescues one of the trunks and finds vintage clothing, old photos, and a falling-apart old red leather diary. The diary chronicles five years in the life of a teenage girl named Florence, from 1929 to 1934. It evokes a long-ago era in New York, when people went horseback riding in Central Park and went at night to movies at giant palatial cinema houses. Florence herself was a wealthy young bohemian girl with many love interests. So, the author who found the diary launches an investigation to see if Florence is still alive, and finds her at 90. The book intersperses diary entries with more complete recollections from Florence, although the ending leaves several threads dangling, such as how exactly Florence ended up marrying her husband of 67 years, who she met at 15.
misajane79's review
4.0
Loved, loved, loved--the ultimate historical fantasy, except it's not a fantasy.
A young woman discovers a diary in a dumpster (among a few other fabulous finds). As a NYT reporter, she does have a few connections most of us don't have and a few years later, a PI tracks down the diary's author. And then we get the story of Florence Wolfson.
Florence, writing in the late 1920s and 1930s, had an adventurous teen hood and took all kinds of chances--along with soaking up art and literature and museums. In some ways, this long, middle chunk of the book is tasty fluff--not a lot of depth, but still enjoyable.
What put this book to 4 stars for me was the last quarter, where Koppel describes finding and meeting Florence. What are the odds? (Florence was 90 when Koppel found her!) Florence's reaction to seeing the long forgotten diary was pretty amazing.
A very satisfying glimpse into one woman's life during one of my favorite time periods. Highly recommended.
A young woman discovers a diary in a dumpster (among a few other fabulous finds). As a NYT reporter, she does have a few connections most of us don't have and a few years later, a PI tracks down the diary's author. And then we get the story of Florence Wolfson.
Florence, writing in the late 1920s and 1930s, had an adventurous teen hood and took all kinds of chances--along with soaking up art and literature and museums. In some ways, this long, middle chunk of the book is tasty fluff--not a lot of depth, but still enjoyable.
What put this book to 4 stars for me was the last quarter, where Koppel describes finding and meeting Florence. What are the odds? (Florence was 90 when Koppel found her!) Florence's reaction to seeing the long forgotten diary was pretty amazing.
A very satisfying glimpse into one woman's life during one of my favorite time periods. Highly recommended.