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vishal_moorthy's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
sval12's review against another edition
4.0
I remember having to read this for a high school class. I don't believe I got as much out of it as I should've and definitely owe it another read.
jaimie_lynn's review against another edition
4.0
4 Stars
I was forced to read this book in elementary school but it was when I had very bad reading comprehension skills and didn't take any of it in. I could tell you, in honesty, back then I most likely had no idea this was a real person and what really had happened to her. It was a reading assignment where I just needed to read it and answer questions and that's all I got from it.
So as an adult who loves to read anything related to WWII (even though it's so sad and depressing), I decided to pick this book back up and read it now that I can understand it much better.
There was a forward that explains how there are multiple versions circulating. I think in school, I didn't have the full version, but that's what I have now, and read that.
I ALWAYS cry at a Holocaust book whether fiction or nonfiction. This book was no exception. By the time you get to the end of the diary you feel like you truly known everyone as if they were your friends.
I knew Anne Frank died at the young age of 15 but what I didn't know was how. So I looked it up about half way through the book. I read she died of a disease but thought the whole time that it happened in the annex. How wrong was I?
When I got to the afterword, I obviously found out what happened.
*SPOILER*
After being in hiding for 2 years they we're finally caught. An SS Solider showed up to the annex with others and took them away. Most were separated to different camps. Everyone died except for Mr. Frank. And the even more heartbreaking part was all of them (with maybe the exception of "Mrs. Van Dann") died a month -- maybe two, or sooner before being liberated.
The lucky one (if that's what you want to call it) was Mr. Klieman who was let out of a camp due to his illness. How he was so lucky, who knows, but he later died in 1959.
*END OF SPOILER*
When I got done reading this book, I literally put it down, and just laid in bed and cried, trying not to wake up my husband because it was literally 2:45am. I just couldn't put it down. It's been a long time since a book effected me that way.
This was a diary of a girl who lived through a horrific time and didn't make it. She was so normal, optimistic about the world and people, and had so many plans for the future. It's devastating. And honestly, if she would have made it, I truly believe she would have been an amazing writer like she wanted to be. When reading this diary, you definitely forget just how old she was.
I was forced to read this book in elementary school but it was when I had very bad reading comprehension skills and didn't take any of it in. I could tell you, in honesty, back then I most likely had no idea this was a real person and what really had happened to her. It was a reading assignment where I just needed to read it and answer questions and that's all I got from it.
So as an adult who loves to read anything related to WWII (even though it's so sad and depressing), I decided to pick this book back up and read it now that I can understand it much better.
There was a forward that explains how there are multiple versions circulating. I think in school, I didn't have the full version, but that's what I have now, and read that.
I ALWAYS cry at a Holocaust book whether fiction or nonfiction. This book was no exception. By the time you get to the end of the diary you feel like you truly known everyone as if they were your friends.
I knew Anne Frank died at the young age of 15 but what I didn't know was how. So I looked it up about half way through the book. I read she died of a disease but thought the whole time that it happened in the annex. How wrong was I?
When I got to the afterword, I obviously found out what happened.
*SPOILER*
After being in hiding for 2 years they we're finally caught. An SS Solider showed up to the annex with others and took them away. Most were separated to different camps. Everyone died except for Mr. Frank. And the even more heartbreaking part was all of them (with maybe the exception of "Mrs. Van Dann") died a month -- maybe two, or sooner before being liberated.
The lucky one (if that's what you want to call it) was Mr. Klieman who was let out of a camp due to his illness. How he was so lucky, who knows, but he later died in 1959.
*END OF SPOILER*
When I got done reading this book, I literally put it down, and just laid in bed and cried, trying not to wake up my husband because it was literally 2:45am. I just couldn't put it down. It's been a long time since a book effected me that way.
This was a diary of a girl who lived through a horrific time and didn't make it. She was so normal, optimistic about the world and people, and had so many plans for the future. It's devastating. And honestly, if she would have made it, I truly believe she would have been an amazing writer like she wanted to be. When reading this diary, you definitely forget just how old she was.
amandag_15's review against another edition
5.0
This is a diary, but it’s amazing how much she writes and how often she keeps it up. Pouring out her heart and thoughts, not knowing the size of her audience.
It’s amazing because it’s a well kept diary of what it was like becoming a teenager and living in hiding with restrictions to keep them safe. It’s not a book of fiction one picks up for fun, but a peek into a real person’s experience during that time. It’s history happening in the eyes and heart of someone in the midst of it. It helps to go in knowing it’s someone’s diary written for Kitty’s eyes only.
Yet she talks about several thing: life in hiding and the life of a teenager. She writes about her hopes and dreams, boys, adults, and her parents as any teenager might. She writes about her day to day life, the books she reads, and the dinner table conversations. It’s a mix of someone in hiding and a teenage girl. Yes, it’s seen from one person’s view, but you can see a change in her from how she writes and how she writes about it. Beginning with things like the annoying Mrs Van Daan before slowing changing to the growth of herself and inner thoughts. Maybe she says things without realizing that there is much more that she doesn’t know, but she’s a teenager, she’s still learning and thinking through things (within a crammed space even).
I’ll end with this, that made me sit and think about Anne Frank and this diary of this young girl that I hold on my hand:
“I want to go on living after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this responsibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me.” - April 4, 1944
It’s amazing because it’s a well kept diary of what it was like becoming a teenager and living in hiding with restrictions to keep them safe. It’s not a book of fiction one picks up for fun, but a peek into a real person’s experience during that time. It’s history happening in the eyes and heart of someone in the midst of it. It helps to go in knowing it’s someone’s diary written for Kitty’s eyes only.
Yet she talks about several thing: life in hiding and the life of a teenager. She writes about her hopes and dreams, boys, adults, and her parents as any teenager might. She writes about her day to day life, the books she reads, and the dinner table conversations. It’s a mix of someone in hiding and a teenage girl. Yes, it’s seen from one person’s view, but you can see a change in her from how she writes and how she writes about it. Beginning with things like the annoying Mrs Van Daan before slowing changing to the growth of herself and inner thoughts. Maybe she says things without realizing that there is much more that she doesn’t know, but she’s a teenager, she’s still learning and thinking through things (within a crammed space even).
I’ll end with this, that made me sit and think about Anne Frank and this diary of this young girl that I hold on my hand:
“I want to go on living after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this responsibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me.” - April 4, 1944
biqueen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.75
riestenberger's review against another edition
5.0
I read this because its one of those books that everyone should read. I went in thinking that it would be about Anne's experience in a camp, which I realize makes no sense. It's interesting to me just how fortunate she and her cluster were to live in relative comfort for most of their time spent in hiding. I am glad that the version I listened to included a bit at the beginning about all of the different editions and a bit at the end about how everyone's lives turned out at the end of the diary. Hopefully having a text like this that is so well read will prevent anything from happening like this again, although I'm sure in some lesser reported on areas it already is :(
cjfon0's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
sim_4520's review against another edition
5.0
This is a nice book. It can get quite boring at some point but it truly gives us the courage to live and enjoy life