5/5 for the writing.
From the first few pages you know this isn’t the typical journal. It’s unashamedly sensual and beautifully written. Anaïs Nin’s sexual — and don’t forget emotional — awakening is surrounded by such deceit but that tends to get lost in the poetic language. She is a narcissist but what an interesting one! Anaïs lives the charmed life in Paris in the 1930s and she lays out her secrets in this excerpt from the journal from the most important year of her life, the reader gets pulled in because Anaïs makes her coming-of-age sound like something romantic. Even if to live that life would be to live a lie. From her passionate and worshipful lover Henry Miller — a fellow writer who adores her writing — to her husband, Hugo, who keeps her living in comfort and who she at turns loves and despises. She has a string of men, including her psychoanalyst. Her lack of shame is the cherry on top in this excerpt.
Oh, the writing.
If you’re the sort who needs each book to have a point this might not be for you. The same if adultery is a major sticking point in your enjoyment of a book.
