A Young Girl's Diary

by Grete Lainer (Attributed to), Sigmund Freud (Contributor), M. Eden Paul (Translator)

Freud writes in his preface: '.. a gem. Never before, I believe, has anything been written enabling us to see so clearly into the soul of a young girl'

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Classics, Diary, History, Biography, Memoir

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1915

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't read this from the psychological perspective that people who study Freud might have. Consequently, I probably had a much better experience.

If you read the book from start to finish, believing it's true (and I don't see any real reason to believe it's not—seeming consonance with Freud's theories is hardly enough to discredit it or even arouse noteworthy suspicion, unless Freud is already known for being dishonorable; however, I'm not a follower of Freud's theories). The diary isn't all about sex, okay? Sure, Rita is curious about things she doesn't know or is in the process of learning, and she talks about them in rather secretive ways (without directly saying what she's talking about), but really, if that's all you focus on while you're reading the book, you're going to miss out on everything.

Take my advice and just read it for her sake, and yours, and not for psychology. Care about her, and what she cares about. See the good in people. The very ending might be a lot too much for some people, though (be warned), but if you care a whit about Rita, it will change your life if you do. The whole book should definitely stir emotions and feelings.

It's actually a really good book, and my favorite to date, however odd that may sound. I just found it randomly on some website, and started reading out of curiosity, but I'm glad I did.

The intro. talks about typographical errors and such as if they're rampant, but there really aren't that many at all (none to speak of). In fact, I was impressed at the writing quality for someone so young (and though it is a translation from German, I still find it impressive).

I noticed that Rita does a fair amount of ice skating in this. I wonder if she's connected at all to the Grete Lainer who was a figure skater. They're likely not the same person since she would have been pretty old then (in the 1930's), but maybe the name is a tribute or a child's name or something. Hopefully we'll be able to find out the true identify of the author some day (there should be enough information to do so, given some hard research, if anyone ever cared to try it—unless Vienna wasn't the real location, or some such). I don't know if it's far enough in the past for it to be safe to reveal all that information, though. The author's children would probably still be alive.

[Taylor Bartlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, whether fictional or not.
I do have to be honest though and question whether or not this is a genuin diary or a fake created by a psychoanalyst.
A few things make me question this book.
1, Why would they refuse to say who the diary was from, if it was a genuin document actually written by a genuin person?
2, And very importantly, why would they remove the year from the various entries. You can see that on the very first entry it says July 12th 19... Now isn't this meant to be a historical document. If so, why remove the date that would confirm it to be a historical document. It doesn't make any sense.
3, Back then, any mention of sex/periods/pregnancy, was something to be kept private, and something to be ashamed of talking about with regards to sex and menstration, so why would this girl spend every day thinking and talking about it so unreservedly if it is a disgusting topic of discussion? And why would someone particularly an upper class girl talk of sex at the age of eleven? Is that really natural? I don't know but it seems a little bit off.
I have read a lot about Freud and his odd psychological theories, that everything is based on sex and nothing else and this diary does seem to confirm the opinion that Freud probably did make it up or at least massively eddit its content.
This is all just speculation of course, because with the omission of the date, we have no idea when this supposed historical document was meant to have been written, so I don't think we'll ever really know for certain.

[Christine Murdock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting...I thought it would be nice to compare it to Anne Frank's diary. Re-kindled my desire to write and keep track of the going on's in my life. Perhaps in 100 years someone would read my day to day life? They might even say.."interesting?"

[Miranda Frey-myers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather dull

Rather dull

It was interesting to get a glimpse of day to day life back then but was a bit boring. the abbreviations for names were confusing and the ending very abrupt.

[Kitty with Curls · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book really fascinating, although I have trouble believing that it was unedited before publication. An interesting historical document.

[Renee Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

 A Young Girl's Diary (Kindle Edition), Sigmond Freud
I feel it is important to keep history alive. There is an expression "history repeats itself". This is one perfect example why this era must never be forgotten and (pray to God) never repeated. I have read many books from this period.
The Diary of Anne Frank which is an exceptional diary kept by a young girl who tried to make the best of a horrible lifetime. Clearly, she did not truly understand what was happening,but she knew it was dangerous. Yet, as children do, they can escape reality and bring beauty into the world, if only for a moment.
I understand this book is intended to be written through the eyes of a child, but I found most of it dull and personally, I feel a child could have written it better. Anne Frank took the humdrum out of the day to day routine, Freud did not. Nobody wants to read every trivial detail of anyone's life...no even their own!
On the upside, it makes for great bedtime reading. Snooze away. Misty Serenade: Wings (The Rise of Dragon Rose) (Volume 1)

[Manjish Adhikari · Rating 4 out of 5]

I downloaded this ebook mistaking it for "THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK." But only later did I realize that this was not the book I was searching for. But I am glad that I did that because this also happened to be one of the timeless classic books. The diary of a German girl during the Hitler era is something exquisite. Like most world war contemporaries this doesn't have the saddest of the endings and stories but it helps us to look into the mind of a young girl and how she matures into adulthood. It was a short and sweet story which leaves you with a smile on your face.

[dara · Rating 4 out of 5]

so interesting reading a young girl diary, her dream, her life, her obsession. witty

[Jazzy Lemon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A timeless look into the life of a blossoming young girl from Vienna in her own words.

[Paul, · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the diary of Rita, a young, 19th century, aristocratic German girl. It was published by Sigmund Freud and it is quite possibly a forgery (because of the anonymity of the author and the consonance with many of Freud's theories). Rita writes in her diary almost daily from the age of eleven until she is fourteen and a half. Her diary is mostly concerned with the inanities of youth.

The main interest of Rita and all of her friends in this book from halfway through her eleventh year on is sex and maturation. It is notable how little that she writes about the changes in her appearance, only noting when someone appreciates the way she looks. Also notable is the amount of time she spends thinking and talking about sex, pregnancy, and periods. It is amazing how much time and energy Rita puts in to her relationships, especially with boys, and how flighty they are. It takes almost no provocation, real or imagined, to make a person her mortal enemy. On the other hand, Rita loves with just as little provocation.

I was surprised at how much appearance tied in to Rita's affections. If certain people were loved, they were beautiful. If not, they were ugly. I don't know if this is correlation or causation. Does Rita tend to like beautiful people? Or does she tend to romanticize the appearance of those she likes? In any case, appearance is definitely related to how one feels about somebody. – “Am I fat?” means "Am I loved?"

It's also funny that Rita is constantly accuses boys having “out of sight, out of mind” syndrome, yet she never writes about those selfsame boys unless they are around. It's a classic example of the pot calling the kettle black.

This book is a quick read, but unfortunately, the lack of verifiability makes it less than valubale.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title says it all. This is the diary of a young girl. It covers her life from age 11 to 14-1/2.

Grete (Rita, to her friends) is the youngest in a fairly well-off family in Vienna. Her father is a judge, or something similar. Rita's best friend is Hella, and the two decide to keep diaries.

The time is the early part of the 20th Century, prior to World War 1, and Rita and Hella show a naïvete that makes the von Trapp girls look like the Kardashians.

I've read a decent amount of contemporary YA fiction, and I admit it was kind of charming to hear hear 14 year-old girls who blushed at the mere thought that they might have to appear naked in front of their husbands someday.

Disease plays a part. Hella develops appendicitis at one point. She has an appendectomy, and survives, but the recovery period is over a month. Two friends of mine just had appendectomies. The procedures were done laparoscopically, and they were back at work after one week.

I found myself caring about these characters more than I'd thought I would, and I enjoyed the literary time capsule.

I would recommend this as a change of pace to frequent YA readers, but I think fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder's works would find this tale of a very different girlhood most compelling.

[Rish · Rating 3 out of 5]

I began reading this thinking it was Anne Frank's - The Diary of a Young Girl. Stupidly, I only realized I had the wrong book after reading the entire diary and finding no mention of Nazi occupation or the secret annex.
I guess I probably would have given the book/diary a 4/5 stars until I started reading about it was possibly not genuine. Thinking about it now - I agree that this is the case. For instance, Rita seems overly in love with one of her teachers despite them not having any real relationship apart from Rita thinking that she is "nice" and "lovely". I Could go on, but I guess then this wouldn't really be a review.
Reviewing this book is also proving difficult as reviewing it as a genuine diary of a young girl and reviewing it as a forgery to only serve as evidence to Freudian psychology are two very different things.
As an authentic diary of a young girl - which is what I believed it to be during my entire reading; the book was quite interesting to read for the most part and I found Rita's perspective on things very fascinating. Although it did become tedious at some points.
However the reason for the lower rating is because I'm now quite sure that this is, at least in some part, non-genuine.

[Nia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Literally a girl's diary...to me its only value was in the comparison to other diaries of much more importance. This girl was an elitist aristocratic wealthy child with very few things to worry about in life and so her diary is quite frivolous and shallow. But then I guess that's (ideally) every 11 year old so can't fault her too much. It's only a shame the diary ended when it did, because it sounded like she really would have grown up in the days following its end, and I would have been interested to read how those events changed her.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I did appreciate the sentiments she expressed after the death of her mother, obviously this would have deeply affected the family and her writing did do some justice to this. But then some qualities of the aftermath (her dad remarrying, for example) were glossed over so there was little to come out of reading this. The shock of her father's death would have undoubtedly been a huge event and it would have been interesting to see the effects.

However all in all, since even for big events she did not really explain very deeply how she was feeling, I'm kind of glad it ended when it did. Now I can go on to something else!

[Shaz S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recently, I have developed an interest in reading autobiographies and diaries and this particular one caught my attention because it was hailed as “a little gem” by none other than Sigmund Freud. Turns out the diary is not genuine after all, if the internet is to be believed. As far as fake diaries go, this one is one of the better ones on the shelves. It did seem pretty authentic to me as I read and having been a young girl myself a long time, I found some of the entries quite relatable. Yes, there is an overdose of sex-related insinuations (it’s a secret diary after all) but other topics such as sibling rivalry, infatuations and anxiety about exams are truthfully narrated. Looking at it from a historical point of view it shows how gender equations and familial tensions have remained the same. All in all it’s an honest glimpse into the life of a middle-class adolescent girl from Vienna at the turn of the last century.

[Christina Tang-Bernas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this mostly out of curiosity. I'm not really fond of reading girl diaries (except for Zlata's Diary which I read at least 30 times growing up) but its connection to Freud seemed interesting. It was pretty much as I expected which was a bit tedious and boring and I felt the girl was a bit TOO obssessed with her female teacher. Perhaps it's because I've grown up or this was written (still not sure whether this was a fictional or truly autobiographical account)in an earlier more innocent time, but I found myself getting very frustrated with the girl who was writing the diary. The thing I liked most about it was its poignant ending, poignant because it ends as most diaries do, abruptly, with the last entry being so ironically happy and carefree especially juxtaposed with what happens to the girl very soon afterwards.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this is vaguely interesting, it is for all the wrong reasons. I suspect (and Wikipedia backs me up) that this is not an authentic diary. It just feels off somehow, something I cannot put my finger on. It's too set out with perfect data points of parental relationships, sexual awakenings, sibling rivalry, friendship issues, etc. However, it gives an insight into the social mores of the turn of the last century in a middle class society and presents a glimpse into a culture starting to crack - the servants, the antisemitism, the importance of family standing and the divide between expectations of daughters versus sons. And while the book may not be an authentic diary, there's a sense that some of those memories are probably real for the author, half remembered feelings and events of a life even earlier than the one it is meant to portray.

[Pablo Agustín · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recomendado por mi analista hace un par de semanas, y habiéndose publicado en español recientemente, me adentré en este libro sobre todo por el trasfondo de su escritura, publicación y destino de la supuesta autora.
Probablemente para la época era extremadamente enriquecedor acceder al diario de una adolescente, en donde volcaba toda su vida, especialmente su despertar sexual/adolescente. En un mundo como el de hoy, donde no solo lo privado no queda reservado a la intimidad de un diario personal sino que se expone en cuanta red social capte la atención de la mayoría, y en donde también la reprensión y censura social sobre estos temas ha desaparecido, un texto como este tiene mucho menos que decir.

[Michel Van Goethem · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is really a gem, although it's a 'faux'. (http://www.answers.com/topic/hug-hell...).

Reading it I had already the impression. "She is just as stupid and conceited as she was before she fell in love. So Hella is right when she says: Love enobles [veredelt]. Erno made a rotten joke about that when he heard Hella say it once. He said: "You've made a slip of the tongue, you meant to say: Love makes fools of people [vereselt]." Of course that's because he's not in love with anyone."

Is this from a 13 year old girl or from psychoanalyst? But I felt a heart beating in the diary... and mine was beating too.

[Ria · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know bout you guys, tapi setelah sepertiga awal buku rasanya masih datar aja nih buku.

Jadi kurang semangat untuk nerusin baca secara serius. Alhasil cuman baca buru2, membalik2 halaman seenaknya. Kurang greget. Gak dapat sparks nya. Terlalu flat.

A diary bout 11yo girl sampe umurnya mencapai 14 tahun. Efek habis baca buku ini sih, jadi lebih menyemangati nulis diary.. :) my time capsule! Yay.. #apadeh

Honestly, aku gak melihat buku ini dari sisi psikologis perkembangan seorang anak. Apa karena genre Metropop dan Chicklit terlalu mendominasi dikepalaku? #kokcurhat

[Josephine Ph · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trusting in the authenticity of the diary, it was an enjoyable read. Given the suddenness of the diary's end, and the editor's notes, I had to do some research on our dear "Rita". Well it turns out this diary is a fraud written/edited by Hermine Hug-Hellmuth, an Austrian psychoanalyst.

(http://www.zfl-berlin.org/veranstaltu...)

Then again, perhaps its not so bad the story wasn't true after all!

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, or journal rather, was so interesting. I am going to have to do more research about the girl, but it is simply what the title implies...a young girl's diary. It is fascinating to see how she views the world and how things strike her. I hated that it simply cut off at the end...apparently there is no further known material. I would really like to know what happened to this 'young girl'

[Alvi Harahap · Rating 5 out of 5]

This diary is taking us to feel, understand, and see young girl, named Rita, feeling and point of view.

This diary is useful for parents being able to understand more about their children, specially daughters.

[Rachelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found it interesting, I think she she became infatuated with her teacher due to the recent event with her mother. I wasn't a fan of the ending and wish there would have been more information. I did enjoy the book for the most part.

[Eris · Rating 4 out of 5]

i enjoyed it, specially because it depicts, at least through a young austrian girl's perspective, how the 'world' used to be in the beginning of the xx century. thoroughly fascinating... i wish i could find out what happened to the lainer girls or whatever was their real name.

[Kelli · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished the book, because I just can't leave a book unfinished, but I just didn't enjoy it very much. In reading the other reviews, it seems as though the diary is a fake, which I honestly suspected while reading it. It just didn't seem that realistic to me.

[Lasheka M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A horrible ending. I would have liked to read of her struggles. Her father died not her, she was still a child .did stop writing.

I liked the whole story, but the ending was not so great..I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, disappointing ending. Really

[Geomaria Bughani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crisp and perfection ensured till the end.

[LittleAsian Sweatshop · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to say it...Freud was one creepy dude to have unearthed this diary and get so excited about it.......

[Naomi Goldman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice book

[Billy Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely Wonderful!

I laughed & cried & was kept intrigued through out the whole book. A must read in my opinion.