I first read this many years ago, and it was nice to revisit. Kurt is such a hyped up figure, it's easy to forget he was an actual human being. His journals provide that reminder, and give a peek into the sensitive, feminist, and darkness he waded through in his short life. ( )

Áspero, duro, feminista. ( )

I wanted to like this, I really did. I’m a big Nirvana and Cobain fan. I’ve read most of the books about them and enjoyed them all. This book however was just too far of a stretch that someone made for another dollar. If there had been anything interesting or substantive in Kurt’s notebooks then I would say, by all means, publish them! But there is not. It’s doodles and short notes with huge chunks of time missing in between. He obviously wasn’t serious about writing in these notebooks. I seriously doubt he considered them “journals”. It’s pretty much a book of absent minded sketches and notes made back before we had electronics for that. Just because they’re Cobain’s doodles doesn’t make them interesting. ( )

Probably means more to you if you love(d) Nirvana. I didn't care for them and therefore didn't care about versions of the lyrics of their songs so I mostly saw this as a look into Kurt Cobain's mind. And for that, its good to know he was more complicated than his packaging and yet still really a kid, with lots of ideas that develop and mature when you become an adult which he never really got to do. ( )

It turns out I'm not really all that into Kurt Cobain's thought process.

This is a reproduction of entries from his journal, in some kind of seemingly chronological order. There's no real commentary. I do enjoy the visualness of the book, how it also reproduces the covers of journals so that you can get a sense of what he would actually have been writing into.

The last set of musician diaries I read were those Robert Fripp included in his various box sets ... and I found those incredibly enticing because for whatever reason I really wanted to get into his anxieties as an artist and the praxis of what makes King Crimson tick, and how each influences the other.

For whatever reason I did not feel this about the Cobain diaries. They were someone expelling thoughts in any which way onto a page, or the inclusion of a poem or comic which says something of the colour of Kurt Cobain's mind but not necessarily a clear cohesive narrative.

And that's fine, I have a feeling for people who are super into Cobain as an musician or a person or for people who enjoy piecing together a person's mind from the ripped fragments put down on paper, this will be a fun puzzle or window.

For me, perhaps as someone who enjoyed Nirvana but wasn't _transformed_ by it, or at someone with a very linear mental narrative, I found it mostly incohesive and I didn't find the kind of weight I wanted out of what Cobain thought of putting down. By the end there's a lot of stuff dealing with Frances Bean and Courtney. It's more focused but again ... I did not find it more profound than my own relationship woes.

Which is nice, Kurt is human just like most of us. But I guess I'm saying this publication is probably meant for someone but it's not meant for me. If you love artist minds or feelings-driven journals, you'll possibly enjoy this. But I don't think this is particular enlightening in and of itself. ( )