When you hear the word epistolary, you might think of novels told through letters, such as the classic 84 Charing Cross Road or its successful knockoff The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
Books written in journal form can also be called epistolary, though. They might be seen as letters to the self, a confession of private thoughts not meant for prying eyes. Diaries are often associated with young people, the angst and uncertainty of the formative years lending themselves to navel gazing. Youth is primarily about identity formation and wishful thinking. Kids have time to ruminate in a way adults don’t.
Here are three diary novels and what I thought of them.
1.
In an early example of publishing subterfuge, this novel was marketed as the true diary of a fifteen-year-old who overdosed and died. It was not true: the author was a therapist who has written other epistolary works.
The unnamed heroine, after moving with her family to Utah, drinks a Coke at a party laced with LSD. She loves it so much that she quickly slides into a life of sex, more drugs, and delinquency. She and a friend run away to San Francisco where things get worse.
This has the feel of a heavy-handed PSA meant to terrify people. The lead is not an engaging character and I didn’t care much about her. It’s an easy, forgettable read.
2.
A better spin on teenage debauchery is Allison Burnett’s Undiscovered Gyrl. Katie Kampenfelt is a bored teenager just out of high school. While trying to figure out her next step, she works at a bookstore and blogs about her misadventures.
While no less cautionary than Go Ask Alice, the writing is witty and substantive. The danger of the anonymous Internet feels more foreboding than Alice’s San Francisco. (As a longtime resident, I get very tired of libertine stereotypes of my city.) The final moments of this story chilled me to my bones.
3.
Sue Townsend creates an unforgettable protagonist in Adrian Mole, an earnest naif growing up in England during the Thatcher years. While fending off bully Barry Kent, Adrian pines for first love Pandora and copes with life lessons. He has high hopes that will undoubtedly be dashed by the British class system.
It is impossible not to root for this kid. Townsend has captured something that every adult knows: kids don’t understand the world, so they say funny and endearing things.
Books Smitten 