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Do not let the title deceive you. It is not a book of diary entries, but an amalgamation of those and letters, short stories, plays, and screenplays. Very very very few notes are present. The short stories and diary entries are mainly stream of consciousness and serious wtf moments, and, unfortunately, I didn’t know what I was reading most of time. The letters are very personal and by far my favorite in this collection. Plays and screenplays are difficult for me to read; a visual medium is neede...
Some really intriguing moments and thoughts in here but it’s disjointed by design and so wasn’t ideal as an audiobook. Probably a lot of it works better on the page.
Review to come. Actual rating 3.5 stars.
This book is filled with solid short stories, interesting personal letters, play scripts and screenplays. Unfortunately I am not imaginative enough to listen to (audiobook version) someone reading a screenplay and stay focused on the story. If you are, this book is amazing. If not, give it a try anyway, the screenplay is at the end.
I probably would have enjoyed this more if I was more familiar with Collins's work and if I had read it instead of on audio
IQ "There is no such thing as a helpless black woman [...]. There is no cultural conditioning, no unspoken expectation anywhere, that would allow me to believe I could afford to be helpless. The attitude of helplessness, of dependence, is foreign to me, based on assumptions that are alien to my upbringing. [...] I don't know how to be helpless. I don't know how not to make things work." ('Notes From A Black Woman's Diary', 48)I was unable to keep my mind from wandering while I read the screenpla...
through reading this i'm not a huge fan of reading plays and screenplays but i really liked the short stories, novel excerpt, and diary notes. i also enjoyed the first play about the brothers but as i read on they started to drag a bit and i lost interest.
Some very strong, compelling writing, particularly the short stories. Every word counted. And I enjoyed the short plays but my interest lagged during the longer screen play.
This book was very disjointed to me. I don’t know if that’s because I listened on audio, or if it truly is that disjointed. However, it has many truly remarkable moments! I would recommend reading it instead of listening.
Another fantastic collection of Collins work. It's a bit uneven, compared to Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?, but there's still so much good stuff in here. Especially the novel excerpt and the screenplays.
Loved the short stories, diary and letters. The plays felt a little tedious and scattered, but still good.
In 1981, Kathleen Collins became the first African-American woman in decades to write and direct a feature-length movie, Losing Ground. She died suddenly in 1988, aged just 46; and was largely forgotten until 2016, when her film was re-released. Also that year, a short story collection (Whatever Happened to Interracial Love) was published for the first time, garnering further claim, and it's there that I would advise new readers to start. 'Notes From a Black Woman's Diary', edited by Collins' da...
4 ⭐️’s For the short stories, letters, unfinished novel and diary entries. I just couldn’t get through the plays and screenplays, because I hate reading them. I wish it had had more of the material I enjoyed!
The three short stories and novel fragments were a strong start, I enjoyed how frank they were, how unapologetic. The letters and diary/memoir were also interesting. It was the plays and screenplays where my interest waned because of the stage directions, they distracted me from the text when read aloud. This isn't a solid 5/5 like her short story collection Whatever Happened to Interracial Love but for those who want more Kathleen Collins it's worth a read.
This book was kind of all over the place. I enjoyed the stories, letters and notes from her diary but the transitions between were nonexistent and quite jarring. It made this book difficult to enjoy in my opinion. I was not a big fan of the screenplays. I enjoy reading plays but I believe I would’ve only enjoyed watching these screenplays.
Interesting
Ever since reading the collection of short stories, Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?, I've been pretty eager to read anything else about or by Kathleen Collins, so I was thrilled to learn that her daughter had compiled this smattering of letters, diary entries, short stories, plays and film scripts. Kathleen Collins was a stellar writer and thinker. Reading her words shows a woman in consistent search of ... almost everything -- a more authentic self, humor and wit, serious and sharp, but
I want to preface this to say that this had some great stories in it and the letters were really interesting. It is a collected works so it's a little bit of everything. It has letters that she wrote, short stories, and also screen plays. I loved the letters and stories. I can't really say with the screen plays because I couldn't get lost in them. That means nothing about the quality of the work, they all seemed interesting. I just couldn't enjoy the format. But if you enjoy reading screen play...
3/5 Review to come
Stunning. I got this book for research and ended up devouring the works and life of this forgotten writer. Later, I read her resume and found even more incredible accomplishments than ever mentioned. They inform her writing in quality only. Collins writes with poetic and true emotion about her relationships - from her own mother to her lovers and husbands and daughter - in her diaries, rarely touching on her work. Yet her work, from poems, to plays and screenplays - produced, real events, are in...
