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Book Review - Diary of a Young Girl

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl By Anne Frank: ANNE FRANK ...
Diary of a young girl is book based on the diary of a girl who spent couple of years in hiding during world war 2. She describes the events surrounding them during the course of those 2 years.

Things i liked in the book:

It is during the crisis time that human character is tested the most. Persecution of jews during world war 2 is one such crisis period. There are many places in the book where Anne discusses about human behavior. Her writings about adolescent behavior, treatment of parents towards children, children's feelings about parents are all interesting and thought provoking. People who risked everything to help others during those days are the ones that strike us the most. It is inspiring and heartening to read about such people.

She describes how the day to day life was during the war. People lost jobs. Food was rationed. Robbery, looting became common. If you are alive and happy today, there is no guarantee that you can say that about tomorrow.

Anne Frank displays incredible amount of self awareness throughout. She can assess her thoughts and actions objectively. She discusses her mood,actions, likes and dislikes, feelings towards various people elaborately. Her honest introspection is something that i was able to enjoy and appreciate. 

Her discussion of human behavior is deep and interesting. She does it at many places and that's one of the things that makes this book interesting.


Things i disliked in the book:

Basis of this book is a diary. So there is so much detail about everyday routine that at many places it seems lengthy and boring.

I expected it to have more political history but as the writer was not much interested in politics, political and historical details are minimum.

Conclusion:

For a 14 year old, Anne looks surprisingly well informed about various topics. Her writing skills also seem very good (as i have read translated version in English, my opinion is based on the same and not the original). She dreams of becoming a writer and achieve big in life. While reading the book, you start to feel you know this person very closely. And you have a feeling that she has enough talent to become a good writer one day.

Anne expresses her desire to be a writer and be remembered beyond her living days. That she is remembered for the very diary in which she expressed her wish and unfortunate hardships life has put her through feels like irony.

It may seem like a drag at places but at the end you are glad that you have read this book.

Comments

  1. Super. Well written. This is how reviews should be.

    Have seen many crap reviews till date from famous reviewers. And here comes an amateur reader/writer who knows what to write and how to write. Just enough for letting prospective readers know if this is their cup of tea, and still keeping the good secrets of the book to itself. In this very biased world, i sense honesty in the review.

    Kudos Neeraj. Well appreciated. Keep continuing.

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