The Diary Of A Young Girl (1993) - Plot & Excerpts
Maybe the first thing that most people would get shocked is that I rate with only 3 stars one of the best selling books of the 20th century (and now 21st century too) and even more, a book about the Holocaust.First thing that I learned about this book is honesty.Anne Frank teaches us all about honesty, about telling what you really think, and so I am doing the same.For starters, I wonder how many people really, I mean REALLY read the book, because to rate with 5 stars a famous book that everybody tells you that it's a book that all people should read, and then they got in this commnunity for readers and maybe they feel the compromise to make the rest to think that you really read the book.If not the case, hey, I don't see why anyone can be offended by this comment, and it's true, I don't see either anyone who will complain, since to me it would be only a defense mechanism behind their own guilt of really not reading the book but making the rest that they did. I didn't think about this scenario but commenting about other thing with a reader friend, that thought stuck in my mind.I invested so much time in that because, one has to be honest, the book is tedious since it's not really a novel, it's a collection of diary writings without a coherent line of constructing a story, even you need editors' further notes to know what happened to the people in the Secret Annex since obviously, Anne was unable to tell the final events.So, since it's so tedious, I wouldn't be surprised that some reader tried to read it but at the end they just rated with 5 stars to denote that they are "cultured" readers that they appreciate the book as one of the most important books of the 20th century.Between the passages, you learn a lot of things. The first thing that surprised me it's how this diary collection that it was written in the 40's, in Holland, by a teenage girl, almost anybody can relate to the comments and you don't feel them as outdated.Sometimes if you read an "old" book, you sensed the outdated of the prose, selection of words, etc... but here I didn't feel it. This diary could be easily being written in present time and I don't think that it would change at all. I think that it was one of its strengths since I am sure that it will be as relevant for many more time.Other thing that surprised me a lot was how much Anne Frank (and by association, the rest of the group in the Secret Annex) were informed about the events in the war, I know, they had a radio, but from stuff that I had read about WWII, there were certain elements of the information that people weren't aware.I mean, at many moments, they denote a certainty that Jewish people were murdered in the extermination camps, of course if you call them "extermination camps", of course you know that people got killed there, but that's a term used by me, now, they called them labor camps, and so far I read, Jewish people really thought that they will receive "baths" when they were really gassed or burned to death, and it's kinda logical thing since if they were so certained about their deaths, there would be riots on the ghettos to flee in mass and they wouldn't march without protest to the gas chambers and the ovens. Even, Allied forces used espionage methods to know from Nazi prisoners what was happening to the Jewish people on the camps.Anyway, also, there are elements like the assasination attempt to Hitler that they were aware that it was made by their own generals. I don't think that kind of stuff would be informed so easily since it was a clear fact of how divided was the opinions of the high ranking staff of the Third Reich.I am not saying that the diary is not authentic as some dumb people commented that the Holocaust didn't happen.The Holocaust happened.It was real and we never forget that to avoid that it would happen again. I am just commenting that surprised me how well they were informed about key sensitive info of war events taking in account that they were a bunch of people living hidden for like 3 years in an isolated annex of a building. I know, they got visits by the people that helped them but even so. I am not questioning its authenticity, just expressing my surprise when I read it. There were other things here and there that I was surprised by the use of terms like "diet: low fat", geez! I didn't know that in the 1940's they used terms like that in the 1980's were like the rush of "healthy food", but again, I supposed it's the effect that stuff that we think are new, they are just recycled and labeled as "new".I am amazed that this book is banned in some schools, okay, there are comments relating to sex and sexual preferences, but so what? If a teenage girl from the 1940's can think about stuff like that while she was isolated with a war outside, don't you think that teenagers of today can think just the same? I think that books like this one can help them to know that they are not alone, that they are not weird for thinking things like that, that was normal in the 1940s and it's normal now too.I was amazed that the group tried to "live normal", I mean, kids making school work and so. I think that in such extraordinary circumstances, they needed to do extraordinary things like to make circles and to talk in group and hearing all about topics. I mean, they were like trapped and living together, really too close in the sense of physical space and yet, nobody cares about what Anne thinks or what she has to offer? Geez! Sure, they need to be really still and in silence, usually at day, but they should like making a "tribe", I don't know, I am babbling, but to try to live like regular families was evidently wrong for the sanity of their interrelationships.What didn't surprised me were behaviors like trying to hide food or keeping money from the group. In times where the group work were essential to survive, the human selfishness risen as a second nature.Resumming, I just want to explain that my rating is based on my "entertaining" experience while reading the book and the format of the book itself.And this didn't have to do with my respect for the subject of the Holocaust and its terrible events.
I first read this book in the eighth grade. Our junior high school simultaneously did a preformance of the play. I remember that I enjoyed both the book and the play. I think I liked the love story aspect most of all -- what 13 year-old wouldn't? But I don't think I really "got" the book.For her 13th birthday the German-born Anne Frank received a diary which she named Kitty. About a month after her birthday, her older sister, Margot, at the time just 16 years old, was "called up." For some time Otto Frank, Anne's father, had been preparing a hiding place for his family in a part of his business warehouse. With Margot's letter, the family left within 24 hours, strewing everything about and leaving a note with an address in Maastrich (hometown of musician Andre Reiu) to throw off officials. The family -- Anne's parents and her sister -- shared the secret hiding place with family friends and business partners, the Van Daan's, as Anne calls them though their real name was Van Pels, and the couple's 16 year-old son Peter. A couple months later a dentist, Mr. Dussel (really Pfeffer), joined the group and actually shared a room with Anne. Anne writes of the 25 months in hiding before being discovered in August 1944. Anne Frank died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen in early 1945, just months before the camp's liberation. Anne is an incredible writer. She uses conversation to describe anecdotes, involving body positions, voice tone, etc. just like a novel. She is also intensely thoughtful. She had insight and wisdom beyond her years. Check out this excerpt written only three weeks before the families were betrayed. "It’s a wonder I haven’t abandoned all my ideals, they seem so absurd and impractical. Yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquility will return once more" - July 15, 1944I think she may have gone to her diary most often when she was depressed (there are several very mournful entries) and a few times when she was overjoyed (as in when she got her first kiss). She flutuates often between opinions -- I hate my mother, I love my mother and I am hopeful, I am hopeless. I can relate to her changeability. She tells hilarious stories describing the events and worries of the secret annex -- especially entertaining is Mrs. Van Daan. Anne's attention to detail is so helpful in understanding the position of those in hiding. It makes me want to do better in keeping my own personal history. Each character is described so well and maintains his or her character, in a way type-cast in specific way. It would be interesting to hear how those 25 months passed from everyone else's perspective.This book is so well written it is crazy and it is simultaneously entertaining and wise.
What do You think about The Diary Of A Young Girl (1993)?
I confess to feeling slightly voyeuristic while reading this. It was constantly in the back of my mind that this was no ordinary novel, or even a true-to-life account. This was someone’s diary. Every page written in confidence, each word revealing the thoughts closest to the heart of this young girl. As a journal-keeper myself, I sometimes find myself wondering, “What if someone else were to read this?” which causes me to wonder how much to filter my words. But then, isn’t the purpose of a diary or journal just the opposite? To record one’s honest and unfiltered thoughts? While reading Anne Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl I do not get the sense that there is any such ‘filtering’ going on. From the ages of 12-15 Anne lived an extraordinary life, and quickly grew far beyond her years in her understanding and handling of a horrendous situation.There are surprises in this book. No matter how broad or limited your understanding of the world events that threw Anne and her family into a life in hiding, I had – before reading this – held the general assumption that, “Well, it was wartime. They were in hiding for their lives. They must have been miserable all the time. Who could possibly find anything good or redeeming in the confines of such a life?” In hindsight, of course, I have had to reconsider. I found bits of beauty, kindness, and even humour popping up in the most unexpected places. And why shouldn’t I? Aren’t our lives much the same? Oh – we’re not dodging bombs and trying to sleep to the sound of gunfire (at least not in Canada). But we, each of us, are often faced with some sort of tragedy or travesty. Sometimes we may have an entire ‘bad year’, or longer. And yet, doesn’t the buoyancy of the human spirit always shine through? It is really tough work to be miserable 24 hours a day. No matter how difficult or challenged our day-to-day life, we all have those little pockets of joy that arise, and sometimes it is those tiny occurrences that make the rest of it bearable.On a personal level, I found myself comparing Anne’s childhood to that of my parents. After all, she was only a year younger than my Mom and Dad. I think back to stories they’ve told from their teen years, and it boggles the mind to think that at the exact moment my Dad and his brothers were tipping a cow, Anne was in hiding on the other side of the world. At a time when my mother was discovering make-up, Anne was realizing that life would never again be so youthful, so joyous and carefree as before the war. A generation was losing its innocence, but in very different ways.I would recommend Anne Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl to absolutely everyone, for I believe that it holds some truth or enlightenment for everyone. I do not own this copy – it was borrowed from my daughter’s school library. She will be reading it next. She is 10. And you can bet that before long I will purchase my own copy, for I will be reading it again someday soon.
—Brenda
This is not just a classic book to me. It is not a tale in the age of crazy writers. It is a collection of memories, of thoughts of a young, yet real, girl. Woman. Human. Jewish.The book presents a tough point of view about everything, Anne had the most strong opinions I have ever read. Perhaps because she did not know that some one would read her words and feel so close, so in love with the mentality and beauty of Anne.I have read painful stories in my life, but I feel as if this one is the worst of all, yet the best of all. It is not a story, it is truth. Anne, my Dearly Beloved, I love you for your brilliancy, your humor, your bright mind. You are perfect, despite everything you think of yourself. RIP
—M/Ðɑηηɑ
It has taken me a while to gain enough courage to write this book review because how do you tackle a review, the subject of which is a teenage girls final words? The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank has undoubtedly become one of the most famous works of the 20th century, although it is not likely that she ever anticipated this. Written while locked in secret conclave in an annexe room and spanning just over two years while waiting for the liberation of the Netherlands from the Nazi occupation. Nowadays there is the benefit of hindsight. First hand accounts. Documentaries. The Discovery Channel and the knowledge of what actually came to pass in the dim, dark final days of the World War II. We all know the images of the bodies in the death camps on the dark days of liberation. We have all seen the memorials and the mass graves. Anne, on the other hand had no knowledge of what was occurring in the outside world when she wrote her diary. All she had was limited information and the view from her window and above all else hope and faith that she would be liberated before she was discovered. I have to admit that I came to this book with a lot of preconceptions. I didn't realise the annexe was so big, that Anne could move around and that there was another family with hers. Nor did I realise quite how long she spent in there waiting with baited breath for someone to tell her that she was free again. Obviously the tragedy of starting this book is that you already know how it ends. Anne never wakes to find that the Netherlands have been liberated and she does not survive to the end of the war. The unconventional urban family which was formed in the annexe under circumstances of duress and a need to survive was abruptly disbanded on the 1st of August 1944 when Auguste Van Pels, Peter Van Pels, Hermann Van Pels and the Frank family (Otto, Anne, Edith and Margot) along with Fritz Pfeiffer were discovered by Nazi enforcers and removed to concentration and death camps where all but Otto Frank would meet an untimely end shortly before the liberation of the Netherlands and the end of the war. The Diary of Anne Frank has been held up as a representational voice; a voice speaking for the millions of Jewish people who did not return from the camps - the people who have no story because history robbed them of a voice. Anne Frank did not speak for millions of people - that was not her intention or her motive. She spoke only for herself and her ideals because she needed an outlet that the annexe and the people within it could not provide. The diary tells of her desires, her fears and her hopes for a future. It is the hope for a future that saddened me the most because it was a future that Anne never got to experience. If you only read one book this year then I would recommend The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. It provides an open window into an otherwise closed world and the clarity and personality conveyed in the text are astounding considering that the author was only 13 at the time she started writing. Wise beyond her years, the personality and wit of Anne Frank has been trapped in a literary time capsule that everyone should read.
—Shovelmonkey1
