Book Review: The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
In today’s book review post, I am featuring my review for the first non-fiction book I read this year – A Diary of a Young Girl. I have been making more of an effort to read non-fiction of late, and so I felt it fitting that I also feature this on my blog. It reflects my current reading, and this book naturally led to some very strong emotions.
A Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
Genre: Non-fiction/classic
Pages: 283
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Fingerprint Classics
Publication Date: 1947
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Goodreads – The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank’s extraordinary diary, written in the Amsterdam attic where she and her family hid from the Nazis for two years, has become a world classic and a timeless testament to the human spirit. Now, in a new edition enriched by many passages originally withheld by her father, we meet an Anne more real, more human, and more vital than ever. Here she is first and foremost a teenage girl—stubbornly honest, touchingly vulnerable, in love with life. She imparts her deeply secret world of soul-searching and hungering for affection, rebellious clashes with her mother, romance and newly discovered sexuality, and wry, candid observations of her companions. Facing hunger, fear of discovery and death, and the petty frustrations of such confined quarters, Anne writes with adult wisdom and views beyond her years. Her story is that of every teenager, lived out in conditions few teenagers have ever known.
My Thoughts…
Having read so much historical fiction, particularly around World War II as I’m interested in the subject, I’m surprised I hadn’t read this book before now. Most of the narratives are about the overarching movements on the war, but it’s personal stories that really make it hit home. But this isn’t fiction. Anne Frank was a real young lady, who went into hiding because a regime did not like her faith. All the devastation that took place is disgusting.
Up until the family go into hiding, Anne lives a reasonably normal life. She has a school and classmates… A family who love her. All the things a child should have. Fear and doubt are not things that a child her age should know, but they come soon enough. There is a stark difference between the schoolgirl gifted a diary for her birthday, and the young woman confined into the Annex.
Throughout her diary we watch Anne struggle to come to terms with her new life, her relationships and living in a small space with very few provisions. Through the various chapters, we experience Anne’s day-to-day struggles, angst and moods, as well as her extended periods of melancholy. Anne becomes a teenager in The Annex; she has to battle with herself to come into her own, deal with her hormones and the like with no help or privacy.
The knowledge that this is a real girl’s diary makes the content all the more stark. That I concluded this read on the day Russia invaded Ukraine brought this to the forefront of my mind once again.
It is an educational read that helps those of us who have never known such hardship to really understand the atrocities experienced by the Franks, amongst others, had to live through. But, it also has a glimmer of hope – as it highlights those who risked themselves to hide and protect Jews. It is a pity it was in vain for too many people.
I don’t know what I expected, but the abrupt ending of the diary left me at a loss. Naturally, Anne had no inkling of their discovery and so there was no lead-up to that in her narrative. To mentally conclude the book, I researched what happened to the family after the events in her diary, and I was saddened by the reality. It is sad that anyone should go through this, but the truth is, so many lives ended in similar, or worse ways.
The Diary of a Young Girl wasn’t light reading by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it is important. It gives insight into the horrors that oppressed Jews had to live in, and only through wearing their shoes can we understand how they lived, suffered and fought for their lives.
Have you read The Diary of a Young Girl? What are your thoughts on this book? As always, let me know in the comments or on social media.
I read the book a long time back and loved it especially more so because it was very real and didn’t paint her as an angel. Her story left me feeling very heavy.
Me too! It was a very honest narrative and I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t the easiest to read because of its subject matter, but well worth it!
Heya.
I received a copy many years ago in March of 2004 in order to start learning about her. I was turning six years old the day I first got a copy of her famous diary. The whole book is really ideally described as a moving history lesson. Good luck. It is nice to meet you too. I would also add that it is a happy and sad book. I’m not sure if you have ever watched the film Anne Frank either. One of the helpers also wrote a book that is intended to be a tribute to her. It is also on Amazon.
Over the next few weeks I read parts of her entire diary in question with mom or dad. We typically read ten pages out loud each night at bed time after a shower and dinner. It is definitely a heartbreaking real life account of the final two years of her life in hiding in a old canal side house. It is a special book for sure. But it is certainly still a very worthy read at the same time. You can buy a copy on Amazon.
I couldn’t read any more than ten pages at a time. If you can manage to do so, you must visit the old canal side house in Europe. I know it has been actually converted into a museum that aims to preserve and tell her war time story to us all. A must visit at least once in any lifetime. Seriously.
The critical version contains additional information on her handwriting plus more details on the family. It is the edition recommended for academic researchers. However on the other hand yet another version, the definitive version is ideal for casual readers. Again you can locate a copy on Amazon. Which ever edition you end up reading, Anne’s personality is transparent throughout her diary. In the definitive version are a collection of black and white photos. The diary talks about her hopes and dreams.
It is a testament. Parts of the book deal with her attitudes to being in hiding. Sometimes when I was reading it for the second time I felt as if Anne was telling us way too much. The diary is also a memoir. I re read it late last year as a adult. I give it four and a half stars out of five overall though. It couldn’t have been that easy to live in fear and maintain a diary at the same time.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! I agree, it can’t have been easy to live in her circumstances. I also felt at times Anne was telling us more personal detail than would be typical. However, I suppose it’s not something she would find easy to share with family or those she lived in such close and inescapable confines. Her diary was clearly her outlet in this situation.
I would love to visit such places and take time to remember those whose lives were sadly affected in the same way Anne and her family were.
Thanks again for your thoughts!