Dirty Blonde The Diaries of Courtney Love is a hard cover coffee table style type of book. It’s similar in design and content style to Heidi Fleiss book Pandering; meaning the book is made up of photocopies handwritten notes, clippings, and photographs. The first thing I will say is if you purchase this book hoping to sit down and read Courtney Love’s diary, you might be a bit disappointed. A better title for this book would be Dirty Blonde, A Collection of Clippings from Courtney Love. Yes, the book does contain handwritten notes, but there is no consistency. One can assume that the pieces of paper are in chronological order but there are no dates. Many of the pages just seem to be filled with doodles, and random words and thoughts. It’s the kind of thing that if you weren’t famous and you put that kind of a thing in a book it would be considered to not have merit because it makes no sense.

Now before it seems like I am coming down to hard on Dirty Blonde, let me explain. I am a huge fan of Courtney Love’s music and think that Dirty Blonde is a must have for the Courtney Love fan. Just don’t pick it up expecting to actually read a consistent diary as the book is primarily made up of random pieces of papers. Some of the diary like notes are interesting but as a reader what frustrated me is that I didn’t what time period the notes came from or what era in her life. Another thing I too much didn’t like about the book, is that it’s great to see Courtney’s hand written notes, they just didn’t always seem very legible to me. So there were times I struggled to read the notes. Then after I finish the entire book I find a section titled “Notes& Chronology” that details the dates and origins of the notes. A foot note or some kind of indication on the actual page would have been nice.

There are some really great pictures of Courtney in the book. It’s a book that a Courtney Love fan will treasure. The book provides great insight into her mind and thoughts. I enjoyed the book but I will be honest, Courtney’s author’s note is so lucid and clear I would love to read an actual autobiography or book from Courtney one day.

Synopsis
DIRTY BLONDE is an eclectic composition of deeply personal artifacts—including letters, childhood records, poetry, journal entries, song lyrics, fanzines, show flyers, other original writings, and never-before-seen photographs—DIRTY BLONDE leads us through the unimaginable highs and the despairing lows of one of the most captivating and creative figures in the world of popular culture. Ranging from her upbringing in Oregon through her years of living in Japan, New Zealand, and London, from her career highs with Hole and as a Hollywood leading lady to her personal heartbreak and struggles, DIRTY BLONDE is Love laid bare—a wholly fascinating portrait of a fierce and insightful woman with an unblinking worldview and a determination to express herself no matter the cost.

Love writes in her introduction: ‘I have always said that I would never write a book, and I really haven’t.’ It’s true— ‘diaries’ is something of a misnomer, as ‘scrapbooks’ would more accurately describe the collection of old photographs, hand-scrawled song lyrics and other documents that fill these pages.’

“Fractured and full of soul . . . A glimpse into the permutations [of] Love’s artistic, political and personal selves.” - Hilton Als, Fashion Rocks

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