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Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl
 

The Diary of a Young Girl

by Anne Frank

The compelling diary of a young girl on the brink of maturity as her life draws to toward its tragic end -- one of the most moving and vivid documents of the Jewish experience. (read review)

Top tags: holocaust,  memoir,  history,  non-fiction,  classic (all tags)

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Other Reviews

Amazon Reviews (5)
 

Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

2 of 2 members found this review helpful.
book yeti
  • Rated 5 stars

“Calm candor and beauty amidst attrocities, Anne Frank’s diary has moved millions around the world, past and present, with it’s honesty, depth, and poignancy. (Personally, it was Anne’s diary that motivated me to write my own journal as a young girl and I continue to write faithfully, ever since. It is one of the few books that I’ve read which has had the greatest influence on my life.) Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl living in Amsterdam, along with her family, went into hiding along with her...”

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Didn’t Like It

Anish
  • Rated 2 stars

“I respect all the historical importance for this book and the struggle Anne and family had to go through. It really made my eyes wet some time, especially the last 15 pages.

But even then, when I consider this as a book, I did not like it. Since 80% of this book is only about the girly thoughts and feelings of Anne.

I can understand the importance of promoting this book towards world peace activities. But I would still not suggest to anybody to read this book, as this is a...”

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Community:
  • Rated 4.129935 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 4.545455 stars
  

Newest Comments

  • ladybelle

    ladybelle said:

    “Anne Frank's Diary brings to life a time period in history often sterilized by the metallic prose of textbooks and documentaries. To truly understand the view of the common folk during WWII, one must indulge in the private writings of an individual observer. Fortunately, Anne Frank has left us with her work....her contribution to history, unbeknown to her at the time, provides readers with a painful insight as to how war can affect even the most innocent of bystanders. Frank carries readers along with her as she matures from a more naive young girl into a spunky adolescent, stunted in size and capacity by the walls that hold her into the secret annex. There is a mystery and anticipation throughout the diary, as one continues to wonder how and what the family of Anne and their friends do to survive such a suppressed lifestyle. By the end of the work, one falls feels mesmerized by Anne's quirks, her sparkling nature, her gentleness and, simultaneously, her unbreakable spirit. Thus, the true conclusion of the piece is unbelievably heartbreaking...but nonetheless, eye-opening. Read only if you can handle the blow of such saddening impact. If so, enjoy--the reader won't regret the gifts of this young girls story. ”

    posted Tuesday, August 19 2008 ( | view 1 reply )
  • Sashia b

    sashia b said:

    “I read this book 45 years ago and it is as fresh in my memory today as when I read it. I remember while reading it, "feeling", what it was like to live under such oppression and with such fear. Stacylebbon: QUOTE: This is a book you need to read to help you understand that we can NEVER allow something like this to happen ever again.END QUOTE. Ann's diary did not reveal much about what we now know to be true of the rise of Hitler. The events that occurred before 1942, the slow consensual progression from freedom to fascism, can be seen to have occurred so insidiously that to assume that there was a point where they could have "prevented" this from happening would be ludicrous.
    People were busy with their lives. Later they were busy trying to recover from a horrific war(WW1) and a crumbling economy. History, though gives us a chance to see a pattern and possibly turn the tide as our own government is taking liberties with our constitution. The old phrase "history ignored is history repeated", has never been so true as it is right now. QUOTE: At first, the Nazis were small and relatively ineffectual. But after worldwide depression in 1929 began to weaken Germany, people began to listen to Hitler. He eventually developed a following so large that in 1933, the president of the republic, Paul von Hindenburg, appointed Hitler Chancellor of Germany. From this position Hitler bullied the other, weak members of the government until they all dissolved, granting him total power. He established a totalitarian state and ruled by decree. Propaganda flooded the country. All political parties other than the Nazis were outlawed, and all civic institutions--churches, youth leagues, the press--were made tools of the state. To enforce his power, Hitler used teams of secret police called the Gestapo. Members of the Gestapo were well-schooled in physical, emotional, and psychological torture and did not hesitate to use any or all methods.END QUOT(http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/frank)
    Today, we no longer have political parties, the democrats who were supposed to ride up on silver steeds and put our constitution back together, were just waiting in the wings to join in the fray. Our president has set himself up to be judge and jury issuing PD's like they were party favors at a wedding, proclaiming himself the dictator and stating that the constitution, defended by a few lone congressmen, was "nothing but a goddamn piece of paper".
    At what point do you say, "I think we're headed for trouble". Wake up people, it's already too late.
    prisonplanet.com infowars.com givemeliberty.com after that it's your responsibility to find out what's going on and do something.”

    posted Thursday, June 26 2008
  • Selina C

    selina c said:

    “I saw a good movie recently about the diary of Anne Frank. Very moving. What interested me was Anne's relationship with Peter, how gradually they became aware of each other and the observations of Peter's parents behaviour in that confined space. Anne Frank was on the cusp of becoming a young woman, and learning about the nature of love and her identity. Like all young girls what she knows of love is from observing her parents.. I think the circumstances of her writing a diary were terrible, but despite that what we learn from the diary some shrewd observations about what brings people together..”

    posted Saturday, June 14 2008
  • The Poet

    the poet said:

    “Although Anne Frank certainly didn't set out to write a classic piece of literature; she was a child who kept her sanity by keeping a personal journal, I think her book rates itself as a classic by the very fact that it has survived decades and is still being read today. The fact that she was "just a kid" is irrelevant - so was Mozart.

    My niece has often sat at my knee and discussed some of the very things Anne Frank wrote about in her journal pertaining to her relationship with her parents and with many others who people her life. Ashley has never bored me. I have allowed and understood her contradictions; whatever she is saying at the moment is how she views her life at that particular time, and this is important to me. I don't recall her past contradictory remarks with judgment; I know that in a few days she is going to feel differently. I am not bored.

    When I read the Diary of Anne Frank, intuitive empathy makes her the ghost of a child sitting by my side and all that she says is of interest to me. Nothing is petty, nothing is worth little and her repetitions are all a part of watching her grow up and develop herself as a woman, discover who she is and what she wants to be. This is fascinating.

    Of course, there is also the terribleness of her life. I view her as remarkable because she was able to rise above it all and find a way as a young writer, albiet inexperienced and without intention to entertain others, to chronicle her life with a steadfast spirit. Boring? Never.

    She was a singular child living in a life of fear under the most abnormal of circumstances - hidden away, tucked in an attic, barricaded behind a simple cupboard. Her circumscribed existence created many of the irritants within her life that we today would consider mundane.

    Some time in the future she will, once again, sit at my knee and I will listen to her once again as I re-read her memorable diary.”

    posted Friday, May 23 2008
  • Karen H

    karen h said:

    “I agree with Uplandpoet. As a piece of personal history during a terrifing time it captures a child's (young woman) trying to cope with her emotions & relationships (not to mention the war). I don't know about anyone else, but my teenage life was a bit boring at times also. To expect it to be written any other way, it would be a fiction.”

    posted Thursday, May 22 2008
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