The Diary of A Young Girl Thoughts

I'm not going to write a review about this book because I don't believe we have the right to critique a diary written by a teenage girl when she was in hiding from the Nazis. I will never be able to understand what her family and many other families went through during this time where they feared for their lives solely because of their religion.

This is not a review and is just about how touching this book was for me personally.

Also there's spoilers in this review but they're history spoilers so you should know about this. Except I met a girl and when I told her I was going to Anne Frank's House she asked, "What's that?" I am ignorant at times as well, I'll be the first to admit I make mistakes at times, but there are some parts about history that everybody should know.

First of all, this book is a difficult but worthwhile and moving read. If you really don't know what this is, it's the diary of a Jewish girl, Anne, in Amsterdam from 1942 to 1944. Due to the German occupation of the Netherlands and since her family was Jewish, they eventually had to go into hiding to avoid being sent to a concentration camp. They hid in the top floors of a warehouse for two years and Anne wrote in her diary from the beginning to the very end. It's from the perspective of Anne talking about their daily life and also what was going on in the war. Eventually, they were discovered and captured.

I am disappointed I was never required to read this book in school, because it was so enlightening. I probably enjoyed reading it on my own more though rather than being required to, but still. I believe everybody should read this. It's also a little easier to read when you're younger because this is from the point of view of a young girl. Thus, there's a lot of talk of friends, boys, and getting your period for the first time. However, Anne was also a brilliant girl for her age and lived during a terrible time. You get the mix of the young girl, but also someone much older and wiser than they should be.

"On the contrary, beauty remains, even in misfortune. If you just look for it, you discover more and more happiness and regain your balance. A person who's happy will make others happy; a person who has courage and faith will never die in misery!"

She has some great tidbits and parts where she criticizes the adults' attitude towards the war. I think in some ways we receive a much purer account of the happenings through the diary of someone who hasn't had the chance to develop a bias or much of a political opinion.

Since she was so young there was a lot of hope and talk about "after the war." She had barely lived her life and people in their early teens are always thinking about when they're older so Anne was no different. There's one part where she talks about what kind of mother she will be and you just know she never got that chance. That was the hardest part about this book for me. Older people had already lived a larger portion of their lives and were able to have the more major experiences, but Anne and the many other children who died barely had a life. Their dreams and goals were never accomplished.

Except, Anne did achieve part of her dream:

"And if I don't have the talent to write books or newspaper articles, I can always write for myself. But I want to achieve more than that. I can't imagine having to live like Mother, Mrs van Daan and all the women who go about their work and are then forgotten. I need to have something besides a husband and children to devote myself to! I don't want to have lived in vain like most people. I want to be useful or bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living even after my death!"

This was the moment where I started crying in my school library. I am happy that Anne got her wish in this respect as the cover of my book says more than 35 million copies have been sold. Anne's writings have also been read by millions of people that she's never met. It might not be the most enjoyable book to read, as she had wanted, but I do think it's useful and more meaningful than so many others. It is just heart-wrenching that World War II occurred for her to accomplish this dream. For being fourteen years old she was a superb writer as well. I wish she could have had a chance to write and live more.

"What I condemn are our system of values and the men who don't acknowledge how great, difficult, but ultimately beautiful women's share in society is."

Anne was talking about how much women have to go through to have children, but this quote reminded me of the Women's Marches that occurred around the world after Trump's inauguration and I think she would have walked as well. All she wanted was to spread happiness, although she was certainly not perfect herself. Teenagers are moody and dramatic and Anne was no different. This book is incredibly important because I don't think it hides that. It is still authentic as at times you roll your eyes at Anne and her behavior. I like that they show that even though a horrific war was going on, they could never stop being human. They still thought about boys, petty quarrels, or family traditions. Even though they were in hiding for being Jews, they never stopped being human.

This time period took away too many before their times and Anne's documentation of that is frightening in how fictional it all seems, but it truly happened. It can never be forgotten or allowed to occur again. We need to all try and share love and acceptance to become a better world.

Everybody ought to read this book because I think it'll affect everybody differently. It moved me so much and then seeing the house in Amsterdam made it all the more real. Overall, it is worthwhile and impacting.