Thursday, April 23, 2020

Diamond Doris by Doris Payne

Lynnie


nonfiction, memoir

According to the book jacket, Doris Payne used charm and wit to steal jewelry across six decades and multiple countries. Diamond Doris purports to tell her story, her way.

Unfortunately I was disappointed throughout this book. I saw something about Doris Payne on the news recently and thought that she, and her story sounded interesting. I was wrong.

No doubt, Doris had a rough and tumultuous childhood but her over-inflated sense of entitlement and her need to steal just didn't entertain me. Her tales felt very exaggerated to me and her note at the end of the book, "Did I imagine some of this, make it up, elaborate it, polish it like a good diamond...?" just confirmed for me that her legend is biggest in her own mind.

What Doris thought was exciting, adventurous, and bad-ass, I thought was sad, lonely, and pathetic. She's a thief, who had utter contempt for her victims, little regard for her own family, and an absurdly high opinion of herself. This book is how Doris wants to be remembered, (and based on the movie coming out, it will be), but I just found the entire tale miserable.

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