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What to say about poor little Mary MacLane?
Firstly, I'll be honest and say that I read this as a supplementary book to [b:Plain Bad Heroines|50496875|Plain Bad Heroines|Emily M. Danforth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1584977118l/50496875._SY75_.jpg|66539403]. For those reading the latter, I'd definitely recommend this for background knowledge. I can totally see how this book would have driven teenage girls wild.
This memoir contains three months of diary entries from nineteen year old Mary MacLane in 1901 Montana. She's a depressed bisexual in love with her former school teacher, the Devil, and Napoleon (deceased). She's narcistic and self-aggrandizing, repeatedly impressing upon the reader that she is a true unmatched genius. She insists she has never been loved by anyone, not even family, and that she is alone in the world.
I see from other reviews that this book is polarizing, but I really liked it. I love that it was the unfiltered thoughts of a teenage girl, and I loved seeing how similar those thoughts are to modern times. We all go through phases of "nobody likes me" mixed with "I'm the smartest person in the room" as teens, and Ms. MacLane was lucky/unlucky enough to have published it for the world.
Firstly, I'll be honest and say that I read this as a supplementary book to [b:Plain Bad Heroines|50496875|Plain Bad Heroines|Emily M. Danforth|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1584977118l/50496875._SY75_.jpg|66539403]. For those reading the latter, I'd definitely recommend this for background knowledge. I can totally see how this book would have driven teenage girls wild.
This memoir contains three months of diary entries from nineteen year old Mary MacLane in 1901 Montana. She's a depressed bisexual in love with her former school teacher, the Devil, and Napoleon (deceased). She's narcistic and self-aggrandizing, repeatedly impressing upon the reader that she is a true unmatched genius. She insists she has never been loved by anyone, not even family, and that she is alone in the world.
I see from other reviews that this book is polarizing, but I really liked it. I love that it was the unfiltered thoughts of a teenage girl, and I loved seeing how similar those thoughts are to modern times. We all go through phases of "nobody likes me" mixed with "I'm the smartest person in the room" as teens, and Ms. MacLane was lucky/unlucky enough to have published it for the world.
I'm teetering around 4.5 stars with this one.
I love everything Sarah Gailey writes and this is no exception. This has compelling characters, a mystery to solve, and hints of a really cool magic system (that I wish we got to see more of!) The ending left me a little unsatisfied and wanting one more chapter to draw it all together though.
I love everything Sarah Gailey writes and this is no exception. This has compelling characters, a mystery to solve, and hints of a really cool magic system (that I wish we got to see more of!) The ending left me a little unsatisfied and wanting one more chapter to draw it all together though.
Love the concept, appreciate the class consciousness and queer content, but felt too rushed to really get into anything deeper.
