Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Delta (1989)
Description
The author describes her quest to discover and remain true to her values as she makes the complicated journey of growing up as an autodidact--one who is self taught.
User reviews
LibraryThing member aliceunderskies
I'm embarrassed to have read this as it was so atrocious. Let me explain: I flirted with becoming an autodidact when I left high school after my freshman year and I half-hoped to find a kindred exploration of the joys of self-education. How wrong I was.
This is a whiny, choppy, pretentious, and,
This is a whiny, choppy, pretentious, and,
Show More
most damningly, boring journal of a thoroughly unlikeable teenager. I was hoping for a light & breezy paean to self education. Instead, it's just a diary, and an utterly dull one at that. Really, I think Ms. Hailey should have gone to college: her uneducated readings are shallow (she hates Beowulf because it's violent) and her life is painfully sheltered and privileged and utterly devoid of any meaningful experience. It's almost funny how Ms. Hailey continually proclaims how her real life has begun, what fantastic experiences she's having, while all the while she's just lolling about in her parents' house playing at being an artist, actress, writer, and reader but really just subjecting any hapless reader to her protracted adolescence. If anything, this book is a testament to the beneficial aspects of college--Ms. Hailey's self-educated mind would probably have been a more interesting place to spend some time if she'd've gone. I can only assume that nepotism (both of her parents are writers) got this published as it has no redeeming literary qualities and absolutely no interest as a biography. Show Less
LibraryThing member kencf0618
There's no knowledge like young knowledge, and God knows I've fallen in love with girls like this back in the day. Kudos!
LibraryThing member VhartPowers
This book reads like a teenagers diary and for that and most of the content I was disappointed. What was she teaching herself? I can't help but wonder if her book was published because of 1. who her parents were at the time, because what has she done since then? and 2. all the name dropping she did
She did come across as a typical spoiled child of certain areas in L.A., jetsetting to Paris, or England for summer vacation.
There were very few nuggets of good writing in the book that I found myself reading it just to finish it. One such nugget: pg262 I am writing about education and this is the first time I have mentioned the SAT's, which shows you exactly how much I think they have to do iwth education. However, they have too much to do with...college. (she was talking about her crush's ordeal with the SAT's).
This book would be good for teens.
Show More
in the book of who they were friends were. People who would have been termed has-beens. (a term of the time and the area) She did come across as a typical spoiled child of certain areas in L.A., jetsetting to Paris, or England for summer vacation.
There were very few nuggets of good writing in the book that I found myself reading it just to finish it. One such nugget: pg262 I am writing about education and this is the first time I have mentioned the SAT's, which shows you exactly how much I think they have to do iwth education. However, they have too much to do with...college. (she was talking about her crush's ordeal with the SAT's).
This book would be good for teens.
Show Less
LibraryThing member c_why
Great Book! Inspiring, funny - hard to believe a teen wrote this.
Awards
Best Fiction for Young Adults (Selection — 1988)
Original language
English
Original publication date
1988
Physical description
288 p.; 5.4 x 0.7 inches
ISBN
0440550130 / 9780440550136