Every detail of Anne's experience rang true -- there were no doubts in my mind as I read it that this truly was Anne's diary, even though I knew parts of it were missing. The way she wrote spoke to me as a human being in general, but as a 12 year old it was amazing to me to realize that this person who was going through such an awful ordeal also had some of the same feelings, experiences, emotions, worries, hopes, and dreams that I did. Anne Frank's diary encouraged me to start keeping my own. This is obviously a book about World War II, but it's also about adolescence, the human condition, families, and writing. It's possibly one of the most important books of the 20th century.


Inspiration   December 10, 1999
 15 out of 22 found this review helpful

I cannot get my hands off Anne Frank`s diary. It only took me two weeks and a half to finish reading this book when i was 14. This book showed the sorrow of a 14 year old girl as she and her family hides from the jews. Her thoughts and insights about her suroundings captured my mind because of how she expressed her reactions and feelings on each and everyday fears she lived during the Holocaust. You can personally feel her agony as you go through her book. What really stunned me is her possitive attitude towards her struggle. I read the book during my spare time and it would always keep me thinking after I read through her terrible circumstances. I was amazed on how a young girl at her early age can be so inspirational until today by her maturity in life. This book is devastating and depressing as she developes self awareness as she grows up. Her extraordinary condition will bring you tears and closer to her. I recommend this book to anyone who needs possitive thinking in life, just how Anne Frank expressed her possitive attitude towards her hardships in life.


The Desperate Writings of a Girl and Wartime Tragedy   May 20, 2007
 14 out of 14 found this review helpful

Although this book is indispensable in the history of Hitler's antisemitism.

Ann Ann is very optimistic, very confident even in such a small and isolated confinement. To read such meaningful, young dreams in her diary is like really knowing and understanding her.

It's so very hard to imagine such a young girl could be happy, be romantic ,lively and so hopeful in these terrible circumstances.

The book closes on the morbid reality that only Ann's father survived the camps, the other five expired.

I recommend it highly, especially to young people who may not appreciate , or who may have thought their situation is oppressive.


Not Anne's Voice   August 26, 2007
 14 out of 19 found this review helpful

My encounter with Anne Frank has been powerful enough--and my disgust with the liberties taken with this English translation--that I wonder whether I ought to brush up on my German/Dutch and pick up the real definitive edition (with the complete original versions) so that I can find out what Anne really wanted us to know. Red flags went off constantly as I read this English translation: the register is incredibly high-flung, broad, and literary, and not at all typical of what any early adolescent might ever want to produce. While I didn't have the original versions to compare, I did finally find the silver bullet in the entry dated November 17, 1943 where the expression "Der Mann hat einen grossen Geist / Und ist so klein von Taten!" is translated by Susan Massotty as follows: "The spirit of the man is great, / How puny are his deeds." How dare the translator take such liberties, and how did she get away with doing so? Another problem with this "definitive" edition is that none of Mirjam Pressler's editing intrusions are identified or explained; we're simply told that this edition includes much of the B-version of Anne's diary. This translation is a horrifying insult to Anne and all English-speaking readers deserve better.


Anne Frank Diary   May 20, 2007
 13 out of 14 found this review helpful

A very good book, just the one my child needed for school