Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
by Anne Frank
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Book Reviews of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
Book Review: Every Woman should take the time to reread Anne Frank!
Summary: 5 Stars
The last time I really read the diary of Anne Frank, I was nine.
This time, I'm a grown-up. My reaction to reading Anne Frank this time was as if I had blinders taken away from my eyes. Instead of just seeing a girl in hiding and feeling oppressed with the sadness of her unfulfilled life, I saw a profoundly real teen-age girl with unbelievable wisdom and hosesty. She seems to be the compliation of all the inner knowledge, wisdom, sexual and emotional development of all girls. She is almost like the western world's Shakespeare for girls. For example, I was enthralled with her intimate feelings and thoughts around her crush on Peter. Lots of girls fall in love or have a crush, but few know how to process their feelings. Anne seems to understood so much about the ego development of a person in transition from child to woman. What she is able to put into words about her crush should help any girl experiencing deep and complex feelings.
I think every woman should take some time and re-read Anne Frank. You will certainly fall in love with her in a different way than the first time around. You may find yourself sobbing later, as I found myself, when her love of life and feelings and insights about growing-up, welled up inside of me with the realization that Anne never got a chance to do all the things that most of us women take for granted: the husband, the kids, the first apartment, friends over, pets, just getting out in the fresh air!
Anne held on to her ideals and dreams and she hoped that there would be a time that she could carry them out. She didn't make it, but we have. And so if every woman who reads this book can just be a little more insightful, a little more caring, a little more loving, listen a little harder to kids and teens-then in a way, we have carried out, as best we can, her ideals.
Book Review: A Must Read for Any Teenager Today
Summary: 4 Stars
While daydreaming in class, do you ever place yourself in the shoes of another of another thirteen year old? Perhaps another teenager in a different historical era? "The Diary of Anne Frank" would allow you to do just that. This diary tells the story of a thirteen year old Jewish girl, forced to go into hiding during the Holocaust with her family of four. Making entries every day, Anne writes of her life in hiding; documenting her feelings of love, the noises of gunshots outside her house and the changes her body and spirit continue to experience as she develops into a teenager. She writes of normal "becoming a teenager obstacles" such as her parents treating her unfairly, the other family always picking on her and a lonely existence in the confined space. This book does a splendid job of describing the drama that enfolds with eight people living in tight quarters. Just as many of you may have felt trapped in your teenage life, Anne's is magnified in the "Secret Annex" of a room.
I believe that this book is more real than any other narrative or memoir can be due to Anne's innocence without worrying about the outside critics. It leaves itself for you to easily empathize with the hardships of Anne with her honest accounts of observations, memories, feelings and troubles any teenager experiences, in addition to the complexity of her tragic situation. I highly recommend this book to any teenager who hopes to understand life's hardest lessons. If there was one negative about the book, it would be the repetitive nature of some of the entries. Many of the entries seem quite monotonous, but isn't this true of most teenagers' lives? Although this book is 304 pages, it is a quick read with it unlikely you would want to put it down. Published in 1993 by Bantam, it still applies this day to any teenager.
Book Review: Surprisingly adventurous
Summary: 4 Stars
When reading someone's diary, one probably shouldn't expect a story, but Anne Frank's diary is certainly a very well structured story. Of course it doesn't include the end, but the end is already known... in a sense, the spoiler is what is necessary to understand to feel the sort of tragedy that this book gives off from a generally inquisitive and happier narrator.
One of the most interesting aspects of this book is how early on Anne says, "I'd like to learn about psychology since I don't know much about it," but her experiences in a sort of abnormal sociological situation presents a lot more truth and depth to her understandings of the workings of human thought than I've ever seen described by a psychologist. Honestly, something about the forced quietness and the lack of physical freedom creates a level of introspection that is a lot more observational than typical day-to-day life. In short, Anne Frank became very wise in the two years or so she was writing this diary, so much that she is actually much more wise than the typical person living today.
So we have a narrative, and we have very well-written psychological observation, and we have a tragic end. It's a set-up to a great classic, basically.
Many people say that it's a real shame Anne Frank didn't live to be a great writer. Well, in a sense, it's a bit too late to overly worry about it; I'd take this book as it is. If anybody's interested in more works by Anne Frank, there's a publication called "Stories from the Secret Annex" that you can look into that detail some of her writings she did as gifts and time-killers while in hiding. There is a lot more out there to expand upon and explore beyond this little document, but this document is a very good starting place.
--PolarisDiB
Book Review: Diary of Anne Frank
Summary: 5 Stars
I knew that the Diary of Anne Frank was the second most purchased book in the world, the Bible being the first, but I still wasn't sure if I wanted to read it.
In our eighth grade class, our teacher is big on the Holocaust. And when she first mentioned that we would be learning about it, I was excited; to a point. I know that most kids my age think 'ooh blood and guts and gore' and think it's cool or funny or a joke. They all watch horror movies that almost make them immune to real life experiences that involve real horror or real tragedy.
So before we started learning about it, I wanted to know more in depth about how it was like to be a teen during the Holocaust. So, I summed up the guts and checked it out at the library. When I started reading it, I couldn't stop. Anne and I are so similar. She's always happy-go-lucky despite the terrible circumstances; she's very curious, careless, and sometimes a trouble maker. And even though I'm not Jewish, I think it's extremely easy to worm your way into her shoes. You learn so much, and it's really emotional, knowing that Anne Frank, this person you've grown attatched to, and her family, everyone except her father Otto Frank, has been killed. Slaughtered innocently by the Nazis, a cult led by Hitler that cornered them just because of their religion or their looks.
I think that if anyone wants to learn about the Holocaust, this is a must read; it's an amazing journey that might not end so happily, but Anne never ceased to hope. It has such vivid details of everything that sometimes it's hard to believe that something like the concentration camps and Hitler and everything existed. The fact that it's in diary form makes it all the better.
This non-fiction diary is amazing, and I think everyone, at some point, should read it.
Book Review: The Diary of a Young Girl
Summary: 4 Stars
Anne Frank by Anne Frank
The diary of Anne Frank is a great book. It is about a thirteen year old Jewish girl who lived in Amsterdam during World War II. When the Nazis start invading towns near by Anne's home her whole family is forced to go into hiding. They go to her father's factory and stay in the top three levels of the building. There are a total of seven people that are staying in the Secret Annex. There is the Frank family; which includes Mr. and Mrs. Frank and their two daughters Margot and Anne. The other family is the Van Daans; this includes Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan and their son Peter. Soon Mr. Dussel joins them. He is a Jewish dentist.
At first Anne thinks that it's great that they are going into hiding. Then she realizes that there are only three ration books for all eight of them to get food. Even with only three ration book to get food she still manage to be somewhat cheerful.
She is always talking back to the Van Daans and putting her two cents in whenever she can. The Van Daans are always yelling at her, but her father sticks up for her. Her mother tells her that she shouldn't be talking back to her elders. Her mother is all about manners and Anne doesn't care about manners. So there is tension through out the story between her and her mother.
At first Peter thinks that Anne is a big mouth. Then after about a year of being in hiding together they start to become friends. Not long after this the Nazis discover their hiding place. They are sent away to a prison camp and don't know if they will be freed or killed.
I enjoyed this book because it was interesting and had some humorous parts. I never realized how hard it would be to survive in hiding for two years until I read Anne Frank's story.