Monday, May 11, 2015

Review: The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank


The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank


Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.

In 1942, with Nazis occupying Holland, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl and her family fled their home in Amsterdam and went into hiding. For the next two years, until their whereabouts were betrayed to the Gestapo, they and another family lived cloistered in the "Secret Annexe" of an old office building. Cut off from the outside world, they faced hunger, boredom, the constant cruelties of living in confined quarters, and the ever-present threat of discovery and death.

In her diary Anne Frank recorded vivid impressions of her experiences during this period. By turns thoughtful, moving, and amusing, her account offers a fascinating commentary on human courage and frailty and a compelling self-portrait of a sensitive and spirited young woman whose promise was tragically cut short.

Review: I don’t know how to review this book. I don’t think it’s even possible.

The Diary of a Young Girl is the real-life diary of a 13-15 year-old girl who spent two years in hiding during World War II. This diary is probably one of the world’s most valuable historical documents. Anne Frank faithfully recorded the events of the war and how they impacted her life.

The author’s maturity and honesty are astounding. I definitely wasn’t that introspective as a teenager. She really seemed to understand herself and what she wanted in life. That makes the ending so much more tragic.

I like that this edition of the book has a foreword and afterword. They both provide historical information, and I found them to be more interesting than the diary itself. They put the diary in historical context so that the reader can fully understand it. I appreciated the extra information.

I’m very happy that I finally got around to reading this book. It should be required reading for the entire planet.

5 comments:

  1. This book is so precious. The feel when you read it is just terrifying and that it's actually real is just... too much to bear sometimes.

    I really want to go to the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam :) Have you ever been?

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  2. I had to read it in school myself. You didn't? I was under the impression that it already way required reading for the entire planet. I just recently read about another woman who left behind some pretty impressive poems and met the same fate as Anne Frank: https://www.deutschland.de/en/topic/life/almost-forgotten-poet-selma-merbaum

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    1. Yes, it was assigned reading for school, but I didn’t actually read it when I was supposed to. I wasn’t a very good student. :)

      I’ll have to check out the poems.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  3. I agree - when it comes to a book like this one it is almost impossible to review. I read this one when I was fairly young and it really did mean a lot to me. Especially as it can be hard to imagine living through that time at that afe sometimes.

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