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kricketa's review
5.0
So cathartic to read about a smart adventurous woman frolicking around NYC and Europe in fabulous clothes, having love affairs, and pursuing the arts. Perfect for when it won't stop snowing in April and I can't go anywhere. It made me feel like I was on vacation instead of quarantined.
agmaynard's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
3.5
Chance discovery of Florence Wolfson’s diary of brief entries from ages 14-19 gives a look at a privileged upbringing and a young person’s artistic yearnings. You might pair this with Alexander Masters’ examination of diaries found in a “skip”. This person had a very different sort of life, with more challenge than freedom.
judyward's review
4.0
I loved this book. The author left her prewar apartment in New York one day to find that the management had cleaned out the storage area and thrown dozens of trunks into a dumpster hired for the purpose. She dove in--and who could blame her--as did dozens of New Yorkers-- and began to search through the treasures that were revealed. Besides some outfits from the 1920s and 1930s, she found a red leather diary. It belonged to Florence Wolfson who kept the diary every day from 1929 to 1934. The diary revealed the extraordinary life of a young woman coming to adulthood in the upper middle class during the Great Depression in New York. Surprisingly enough, the author was able to find Florence Wolfson, aged 90, and get to know her as well as to return her diary to her. A fascinating book. I read it all in one sitting because I couldn't put it down.
aliciagw's review against another edition
medium-paced
2.5
I really thought I would enjoy this- it seems right up my alley. Unfortunately I was disappointed in it.
I listened to the audiobook version.
It is a non-fiction story of a NYC writer who finds an old diary in a dumpster and reads it and hunts down the original writer of the diary- Florence Wolfson. The story of the author finding the journal was really interesting, as was the part where she found the still alive author of the diary.
I guess my problem with it was that I really was interested in hearing the diary, not the interpretation of the diary by Koppell. Florence Wolfson sounded to me to be a very interesting person - dramatic, intelligent, artistic and unique. She sounded more than a wee bit spoiled, but in her defense she was a relatively wealthy teenage girl at the time she wrote the diary. Teenage girls aren't always known for being rational. I thought I would be hearing the diary itself, which I believe I would have loved. Instead, a line from the diary would be read, followed by extended amounts of Koppell describing what happened. The descriptions seemed extremely embellished to me, almost to the point of sounding like fiction. They didn't sound at all like what Florence had actually written. They were overly romanticized and embellished, which I feel is somewhat disingenuous in a non-fiction book. Koppel sounded like she identified with, admired and was enamored with the writer of the diary, which just gave it an odd unreal feel to me. It also sounded like she believed every single thing Florence wrote in her diary, which I think should be doubted a bit. After all, if a teenage girl thinks her parents are unreasonable, does that mean they really are? Or if she thought she was prettier than and better than everyone else at every form of art she tried, was she really? I know when I was a teenager I didn't think my parents knew anything, and have since learned that wasn't true.
Just wasn't my cup of tea.
I listened to the audiobook version.
It is a non-fiction story of a NYC writer who finds an old diary in a dumpster and reads it and hunts down the original writer of the diary- Florence Wolfson. The story of the author finding the journal was really interesting, as was the part where she found the still alive author of the diary.
I guess my problem with it was that I really was interested in hearing the diary, not the interpretation of the diary by Koppell. Florence Wolfson sounded to me to be a very interesting person - dramatic, intelligent, artistic and unique. She sounded more than a wee bit spoiled, but in her defense she was a relatively wealthy teenage girl at the time she wrote the diary. Teenage girls aren't always known for being rational. I thought I would be hearing the diary itself, which I believe I would have loved. Instead, a line from the diary would be read, followed by extended amounts of Koppell describing what happened. The descriptions seemed extremely embellished to me, almost to the point of sounding like fiction. They didn't sound at all like what Florence had actually written. They were overly romanticized and embellished, which I feel is somewhat disingenuous in a non-fiction book. Koppel sounded like she identified with, admired and was enamored with the writer of the diary, which just gave it an odd unreal feel to me. It also sounded like she believed every single thing Florence wrote in her diary, which I think should be doubted a bit. After all, if a teenage girl thinks her parents are unreasonable, does that mean they really are? Or if she thought she was prettier than and better than everyone else at every form of art she tried, was she really? I know when I was a teenager I didn't think my parents knew anything, and have since learned that wasn't true.
Just wasn't my cup of tea.
anmariefweeks's review
adventurous
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
5.0
elusivesue's review
4.0
This was a nice read. I loved all the details about 20's-30's Manhattan that make reading the book seem like watching a nice classic film on TCM. Florence Wolfson, whose five-year diary is that of the title, is quite a character - her teenage years are fascinating. The author contacted her through a PI and got to interview her about the diary entries to flesh them out. Very cool.