Arista K. (janeausten-fan-in-va) reviewed Won't Appeal to Everyone on 5/16/2009 + 4 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 10

I picked up this book because I was intrigued with how Koppel found the "read leather diary"-- she found it in an old abandoned steamer trunk that had been unearthed in her building's basement. Who hasn't wanted to find some piece of forgotten treasure like that?

Anyhow, I greatly enjoyed the detailed, finely-drawn image of 1920-30s New York that the book drew. Granted, the diary's author was fairly well off, so her New York and the New York of say, an unemployed factory worker, were very different places. That said, I was able to enjoy her perspective.

What I could have done without-- and what will turn some people off this book-- were the chapters and chapters of the diary author's love affairs. She loves and leaves these men and women without seeming to form a single sincere emotional attachment. By the end of the book she comes across as a cold, selfish and unlikable. I think it'll turn some people off this book.

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