Wow. What do I say after this read? I've heard of Anne Frank. I know it was some how related to WWII. Didn't really know much of her story or her diary for that matter. As I got closer to the end of the book, I naturally was wondering what happens at the end? Did she and her family get caught? And I started to get a funny feeling that the end of the book wasn't going to end happy. I had a hard time finishing this book, because I just didn't want to know this young girls fate and her family's for that matter. But I knew I had to finish it. What was said in the book was something that had already happened.
After the diary, there was a section at the end of the book about the aftermath of what happened to Anne Frank and her family. Yeah, it did not end good. It also gave you a little history of the decades leading up the to WWII. I have to admit, that I don't know to much about WWII. It has a lot to do with with the fact, that I just don't understand a lot about it. Even when I read about the history of WWII, I admit that it's very confusing to me. But I try to understand it.
One of the big questions that were coming to mind while reading this book was...where were the Americans? Why were the Jewish people suffering like this? Why weren't the Americans helping them? From my understanding, they got into the war much later.
But anyway, I do have to get to my review about the book. This blog is about book reviews and not about history lessons. But how could I not add something to this post considering the dynamics of what's behind this girls diary.
I hope that my book review does not upset anyone. But I just want to give my review strictly on the book, and not so much of the sadness of what happened to the Jewish people, Anne Frank and the Frank family.
I thought that the diary kind of dragged on in some areas. Also she was very opinionated with the others she was in hiding with. She had her family, another family, and another friend who was close to the family. But I guess being in hiding for two years is pretty much what you focus on, each other. And even herself. She was very much attuned to how she behaved as well. What was right, what was wrong. When she acted poorly, she said that it was because the older people in the house didn't know who she really was. Anne also felt that she couldn't trust anyone to how she really wanted to act and be. Anne felt that she had to put up this other persona. The person Anne really wanted to be, she said she couldn't because the others would think that something was wrong with her. So she had to go along and act like she didn't have a care in the world.
There were times in Anne's diary where she questioned her love for her mother. Personally, I think it was that she was a teenager and she needed to be her own person other than her parents child. And how does a teenager get to do that when their all trapped in the same hiding space for over two years? 25 months. Anne felt very alone, which is understandable when they were all in hiding. There was another couple staying in hiding with the Franks and they had a son about two or three years older than Anne which soon blossomed into a crush. The boys name was Peter. But after some time, Anne had to admit that she didn't really care for Peter. He was to needy and wasn't really coming into his own manhood. Anne also said that she found him rather boring. He didn't like to communicate his feeling to her and that frustrated Anne tremendously. Because she wanted him to open up more, so that their relationship could have more meaning. Although Anne says in the diary that they have talked about some very intimate details together and that she would not be writing about it in her diary. There was even kissing among the two of them. I think personally, that they forced this crush to make the days more interesting. These people were very bored.
Anne was a very, bright, smart, brave, courageous, intelligent, and so full of hope. This young girl surely is an inspiration to me. When I look at my daily life and look at the hell that she and her family and friends had to go through. It makes one feel grateful. And she to was very grateful for hers and her family's safety at the time they were in hiding. She felt a tremendous guilt for living comfortably in hiding compared the her fellow Jewish community, being lead off to die. And Anne's family were struggling for good food and had poor living conditions. And pretty much, the non stop bombing over the 25 months they were in hiding. But Anne was so grateful for what they did have. Anne also writes in her diary how grateful she was for her family's friends who would bring the family in hiding, food. Sometimes treats and flowers. These people risked their own lives to help the two families in hiding. Anne was tremendously grateful to them.
On the book it self, I gave this book four stars...very good. I'm just judging the book and not what happened to the two families. Because there is nothing to judge among the sheer hell the Jewish people had to go through. At the end of this book, it said that an estimated six million Jewish people were murdered. That number is astonishing to me. Six million people! Men, woman and children. Where is the justice for these people? Where? A little of my Catholic side it coming out; I'm surprised that God just didn't end the whole damn earth than. What if that were the Catholics being rounded up like cattle to be slaughtered? Or some other religion? Or for no religion at all. Maybe because of the color of your hair or eyes. Maybe there won't be any justice in this life time. And I will just leave it at that.
There are so many excerpts that I want to type but I can't possibly type them all. I'll just have to choose a couple.
Here's the first...
When someone comes in from outside, with the wind in their clothes and the cold on their faces, then I could bury my head in the blankets to stop myself thinking: "When will we be granted the privilege of smelling fresh air?" And because I must not bury my head in the blankets, but the reverse-I must keep my head high and be brave, the thoughts will come, not once, but oh, countless times. Believe me, if you have been shut up for a year and a half, it can get too much for you some days. In spite of all justice and thankfulness, you can't crush your feelings. Cycling, dancing, whistling, looking out into the world, feeling young, to know that I'm free-that's what I long for, still, I mustn't show it, because I sometimes think if all eight of us began to pity ourselves, or went about with discontented faces, where would it lead us? I sometimes ask myself, "Would anyone, either Jew or non-Jew, understand this about me, that I am simply a young girl badly in need of some rollicking fun?" I don't know, and I couldn't talk about it to anyone, because then I know I should cry. Crying can bring such relief.
Here's the second excerpt...
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of Nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.
Third excerpt...
A thought:
We miss so much here, so very much and for so long now: I miss it too, just as you do. I'm not talking of outward things, for we are looked after in that way; no, I mean the inward things. Like you, I long for freedom and fresh air, but I believe now that we have ample compensation for our privations. I realized this quite suddenly when I sat in front of the window this morning. I mean inward compensation.
When I looked outside right into the depth of Nature and God, then I was happy, really happy. And Peter, so long as I have that happiness here, the joy in nature, health and a lot more besides, all the while one has that,
one can always recapture happiness.
Riches can all be lost, but that happiness in your own heart can only be veiled, and it will still bring out happiness again, as long as you live. As long as you can look fearlessly up into the heavens, as long as you know that you are pure within, and that you will still find happiness.
I don't know about you, but these excerpts were very touching to me. In Anne's diary, she says, "Although I tell you a lot, still, even so, you only know very little of our lives." Before I end this post, I have to just add one more excerpt...
Again and again I ask myself, would it not have been better for us all if we had not gone into hiding, and if we were dead now and not going through all this misery, especially as we shouldn't be running our protectors into danger any more. But we all recoil from these thoughts too, for we still love life; we haven't yet forgotten the voice of nature, we still hope, hope about everything. I hope something will happen soon now, shooting if need be-nothing can crush us more that this restlessness. Let the end come, even if it is hard: then at least we shall know whether we are finally going to win through or go under." (Anne Frank always ends her entries writing...) Yours, Anne
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