From Publishers WeeklyGloeckner's latest, a combination of comics and prose, follows the sexual misadventures and coming-of-age of Minnie Goetze, a troubled teenager very much reminiscent of Gloeckner, as she stumbles toward adulthood in 1970s San Francisco. Minnie's diary details the loss of her virginity to Monroe, her mother's less than devoted boyfriend. She falls in love with him, though he continues to sleep with Minnie's self-absorbed, drunken mother. A hellish adolescence follows: Minnie's kicked out of various schools, has promiscuous sex and ends up on the streets, strung out and obsessed with a young lesbian who pimps her out for more drugs. Gloeckner mined these same experiences in her award-winning graphic novel A Child's Life. In this work, though, Minnie's story is told through a combination of prose, illustrations and comics, capturing the confused inner dialogue of a precocious, attention-starved girl with a talent for drawing. This is both the book's strength and its weakness. Unlike the highly distilled emotions of A Child's Life, the prose descriptions of Minnie's experiences are engaging but formless, bleeding onto the page. The crisp details of Gloeckner's bw drawings help by grounding the stories in a convincing realism, but they're obviously the product of an older, more judgmental, but also more reflective, self. More affecting are the casual teenage doodlings and comics that Gloeckner includes periodically throughout the book. Though not related directly to the story, they seem a more honest depiction of the necessary but casual self-reflection that a diary can help keep alive. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.From School Library JournalAdult/High School-Fifteen-year-old Minnie Goetze's life is ugly. As the book opens, she asks her mother's 35-year-old boyfriend to have sex with her and he complies. She has many horrible things happen to her, including rape, some of which are the result of her own poor choices. Despite what should have been a privileged family life, there are no healthy or affectionate adults in her life. This story is brutal and raw but Minnie, for all of her teen angst, self-absorption, and self-degradation, shines on every page. Despite the fact that everyone in her young life has used, abused, or abandoned her, Minnie is a valiant and formidable character. She may feel lonely and unloved, but she is never completely lost. Her call to a suicide hot line late in the book is ironic because it gets her the best advice: she has a free will and she doesn't have to become like the dysfunctional people around her. The novel is a mix of primarily diary entries, with occasional illustrations and short "scenes" in graphic-novel format. In the dedication, the author writes that the book is "for all the girls when they have grown," and that is the best criterion for determining the book's readership. Some of the illustrations are sexually explicit and the subject matter and language are definitely for mature readers. Minnie's story of abuse and neglect is one that is rarely told, and rarer still, told so well.Jane Halsall, McHenry Public Library District, ILCopyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. "Minnie is one of the most believable teenage protagonists ever written, a complicated, contradictory child posing as a woman. Her 'Diary' is a page-turner of a very high order and a tour de force of emotional intensity and damage."The San Francisco Chronicle"It's the most honest depiction of sexuality in a long, long time; as a meditation on adolescence, it picks up a literary ball that's been only fitfully carried after Salinger."Nerve.com"A pitch-perfect, hauntingly beautiful, deeply empathic conjuring of female adolescence."Bust Magazine what are the best sites to download free pdf books The Diary of a Teenage Girl: An Account in Words and Pictures
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. It is crass and raw and dark and full of disgusting and horrific thingsBy TinySnacksSuch a heartbreaking and emotional book. DEFINITELY NOT FOR EVERYONE. It is crass and raw and dark and full of disgusting and horrific things. If you are looking for a light novel that has happiness throughout, look to another book. But it was a real and dark look into the things people don't want to think about or ever experience. Pictures were well drawn and some make light to the artist's background in drawing anatomy work for hospitals. Creepy and raw but a very full experience overall.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. AstoundingBy Sasha RoseA wonderful, deeply moving, heartbreaking read. It partly felt a little too "cautionary" for me, like Go Ask Alice, but even still I couldn't stop reading. Looking forward to seeing the movie and reading the author's other work. Can't say much more than that because I'm still processing but WOW.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Gloeckner gets teenage life rightBy ShelbyI read this in preparation for Phoebe Gloeckner visiting my college campus. She is an amazing writer and artist, and just an all-around interesting human being. This book is devastating and beautiful at the same time, and it talks about sex and drugs and teenage angst without being moralizing or condescending.