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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
Content was absolutely worthy of five stars but the formatting of this collection was difficult to follow. I wish they had done side by side translations throughout the journal rather than miniature translations at the back of the book.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
“I wish… I could do whatever I liked—behind the curtain of “madness”. Then: I’d arrange flowers, all day long, I’d paint, pain, love and tenderness, I’d laugh as much as I feel like at the stupidity of others, and they would all say: poor thing! she’s crazy.”
TITLE—The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait
AUTHOR—Introduction by Carlos Fuentes; Essay and Commentaries by Sarah M. Lowe
PUBLISHED—1995 (Frida started her diary in the mid-1940s)
GENRE—facsimile art book; memoir
SETTING—Mexico
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—the life of Frida Kahlo; art; love; suffering; politics; self-identity
WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—the fact that Frida’s writing reads like poetry and I wish she’d written more!
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“Only one mountain can know the core of another mountain.”
This was the *perfect* book to read after finishing Hayden Herrera’s Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo—honestly they should come as a set. So much of the writing in this book reads like poetry. I wish Frida had written tons more!
I am also *obsessed* with facsimile editions of old books—especially illustrated ones. The care and attention to detail that went into creating this edition is incredible. My favorite drawing & excerpt is the one called “Las Dos Fridas”, which Herrera mentions in her book.
“I hope the leaving is joyful—and I hope never to return— FRIDA” — the last lines of the last written passage in The Diary of Frida Kahlo
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TW // grief, death, chronic pain, medical content, trauma, infidelity, suicide
Further Reading—
- Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo, by Hayden Herrera
- Trekways of the Wind, by Nils Aslaak-Valkeapaa—a beautiful collection of poetry mixed with drawings with the same sort of barely contained energy and passion for life as Frida’s diary
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt
Moderate: Miscarriage, Abortion
inspiring
slow-paced
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Interesting and distinct. So many reviewers commented that Frida's diary was an insight into her mind, but I found herein what I expected- difficulties and passion.
This is a great book for anyone interested in her life. She did not keep a typical diary. Her writing was very poetic, it reminded me of Neruda at times. The quality of the paper, color, and binding is excellent. I read from the diary scans themselves, in Spanish. Depending on what she wrote with, a few of the pages were a little difficult to make out. I paged through the translations and they look well done. I didn't care for the introductory essays or the analyzation of her words that was sometimes included in the translations. I wish they would have let her diary and translations stand on their own. This easily could have been a five star book if they had done so.
I never know how to rate diaries. How can you measure someone’s life against an arbitrary scale? Nevertheless I gave this four stars. I also have no idea how you can review diaries either but I’m going to try.
I made the mistake of knowing pretty much nothing about Frida Kahlo going into this. I also made the mistake of reading it cover to cover. I was only reading it for a project I’m doing so I could’ve just skimmed it. But no, I had to read the whole thing.
Frida Kahlo is an absolutely remarkable woman. By reading her diary before reading anything else about her, I think I’ll get more out of the other things I read about her. There is nothing as intimate as reading someone’s diary, and whilst I didn’t understand half of what she was saying, it was an enlightening experience.
There are many common themes throughout Frida’s diary. Communism and love are very prevalent but what I felt was most interesting was her vulnerability about her love and her pain. Her diary was so personal to her that she discusses her pain openly. But it does not make her weak. You see the struggles that she faces and how incredibly strong of a woman she is. We see some of her lowest points where she talks about committing suicide but won’t because of the people she loves.
Whilst I don’t think it was the best decision in some ways, in others it was good that I started from her perspective before other people’s opinions could tarnish my view of her.
I made the mistake of knowing pretty much nothing about Frida Kahlo going into this. I also made the mistake of reading it cover to cover. I was only reading it for a project I’m doing so I could’ve just skimmed it. But no, I had to read the whole thing.
Frida Kahlo is an absolutely remarkable woman. By reading her diary before reading anything else about her, I think I’ll get more out of the other things I read about her. There is nothing as intimate as reading someone’s diary, and whilst I didn’t understand half of what she was saying, it was an enlightening experience.
There are many common themes throughout Frida’s diary. Communism and love are very prevalent but what I felt was most interesting was her vulnerability about her love and her pain. Her diary was so personal to her that she discusses her pain openly. But it does not make her weak. You see the struggles that she faces and how incredibly strong of a woman she is. We see some of her lowest points where she talks about committing suicide but won’t because of the people she loves.
Whilst I don’t think it was the best decision in some ways, in others it was good that I started from her perspective before other people’s opinions could tarnish my view of her.