| Re: I have just read....
The Diary of Anne Frank...
I'm not really much of a reader, but I visited the Anne Frank house last weekend and was inspired to buy the diary.
This book was a fascinating insight into life in occupied Holland through the eyes of a Jewish teenager in hiding. It is a diary that Anne Frank kept whilst she, her family and some other Jewish friends were holed up in the annex of her fathers business for 3 years or so. For her age, her writing is very good (helped probably by the translator who translated her diary from German to English).
Despite its circumstances, the book is highly entertaining and even hilarious in places. It is also very disturbing in that it recounts in real terms what happened during the occupation and what went through the minds of not only the Jews in hiding, but also the rest of the population who were not in hiding.
Whilst reading the diary, I was deeply moved by what Anne and her peers endured in hiding, but I was surprised to find myself feeling that they were, at times, better off and safer than many of the non-Jews of the time.
I would thoroughly recommend this book anyone - followed up with a visit to the Anne Frank house. |