The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition of the World's Most Famous Diary (Acting Edition S.)

by Anne Frank

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK IS 'A MONUMENT TO THE HUMAN SPIRIT'

One of the most famous accounts of living under the Nazi regime comes from the diary of a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl, Anne Frank. Edited by her father Otto H. Frank and German novelist Mirjam Pressler, this is a true story to be rediscovered by each new generation.
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12th July 1944:
'It's difficult in times like these: ideals, dreams and cherished hopes rise within us, only to be crushed by grim reality. 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.'

In the summer of 1942, fleeing the horrors of the Nazi occupation, Anne Frank and her family were forced into hiding in the back of an Amsterdam warehouse.

Aged thirteen, Anne kept a diary of her time in the secret annexe. She movingly revealed how the eight people living under these extraordinary conditions coped with hunger, the daily threat of discovery and death and isolation from the outside world.

A thought-provoking record of tension and struggle, adolescence and confinement, anger and heartbreak, the diary of Anne Frank is a testament to the atrocities of the past and a promise they will never be forgotten.
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'One of the greatest books of the century' Guardian

'Rings down the decades as the most moving testament to the persecution of innocence' Daily Mail

'Astonishing and excruciating. Its gnaws at us still' New York Times Book Review

• ISBN10: 0241952433
• ISBN13: 9780241952436
• Publish Date: 7 June 2012 (first published 8 January 1912)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Penguin Books Ltd
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[nannah]

(Unrated: I don't think this is something I can "rate", based on content, enjoyment, or organization/skill/etc. of material.)

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter



The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is the type of book that you can't really apply a rating to. After all, how do you place a star rating to the events that a real person has lived? You can't.

I started reading The Diary of a Young Girl that everyone is familiar with; the little mauveish/brown color paperback. While reading, I'd get curious about something Anne had written and do some internet research. I was almost finished when I realized that there was a "deluxe" edition out in the world. Otto Frank, Anne's father and sole family member to survive the Holocaust, edited and removed entries or sections that he wished to keep private. Mr. Frank left his earthly belongings to the Anne Frank Foundation including Anne's original diary. The Foundation would later publish the diary with the missing entries.

I remember reading parts of The Diary of Anne Frank in elementary school and seeing the play. Looking back I knew that WWII and the Holocaust was bad but I know there is no way that I understood a fraction of the statistics. As an adult I don't even understand. Re-reading The Diary of a Young Girl was slightly heartbreaking. There were entries where Anne would talk about what kind of person she wanted to be and I'd have to stop for a bit because I knew what Anne couldn't. As silly as it sounds, I felt like as long as I read the book Anne was still alive. Normally the end of a book is bittersweet. The end of The Diary of a Young Girl is just bitter. The decision to stop wasn't the author's and knowing what would come made it a hard pill to swallow.

I was heartsick for awhile after finishing Anne's story but I feel that the more we know, the more we can learn.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

For her 13th birthday Anne Frank received a diary she dubbed Kitty. Shortly after her birthday with the fear that her older sister, Margo may be taken by the Nazis the Franks disappear into the night and go into hiding. It is through Kitty that Anne records her thoughts and daily life living behind a bookcase in the secret annex.

When I was younger I went through a "holocaust" phase before moving on to Harriet Tubman and slavery. The funny thing is that Anne Frank's Diary was not the first Holocaust book I read, I think that was The Devil's Advocate. Anyway,I soon became fascinated by the Secret Annex and the secluded life she lived for two years. Unfortunately she and the other occupants of the Annex were betrayed and sent to concentration camps with only her father Otto Frank surviving. The tragic thing (not to minimize the inhumanity of it all) is that Anne died mere weeks before liberation. Anne's dream was to have her diary published after the war and after liberation her father saw that happen, making Kitty a time capsule to an unfathomable past.

View all my reviews on my blog She is too fond of books

[ladygrey]

If I was inclined to really long shelf names this would be on the books-i-read-in-highschool-and-didn't-really-enjoy shelf.

I don't remember much except that I didn't care for this book much. My two star rating is specifically designed for just such a book: well written, classic, popular that I just don't like reading.