This book nearly bored me to tears. Unless you are interested in reading a very self-centered girl's angst, I'd say skip it.

Ever since 1980, when I first read the French version of this diary, I have been hooked. It was indeed, as Marie Bashkirtseff herself wrote, a book in which she wrote herself down, all her dreams, her good and bad behavior, the good and the bad traits of her character. Later I learned that the diary had been badly cut by editors, first in Doris Langley Moore's book on Marie, later in the very interesting documentary by Colette Cosnier (1985) Since that time I had the (slight) hope that the diary would appear uncut. I am very glad that Phyllis and Katherine Kernberger took up this job and give us now the first half of the diary. They have done it exceptionally well (even before the uncut French edition which is now underway), and Chronicle books have taken care to make the book look right. I understand why some people find this first volume boring, but they are wrong however, particularly when we interpret it in the light of the tragic events to come in its sequel. I hope the 2nd volume will appear soon. I am a real fan: I went to Paris to visit the streets mentioned in the book (and her enormous tomb), I even went to her birthplace in Ukraine!