The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

"I want to go on living even after my death! And therefore I am grateful to God for giving me this gift, this possibility of developing myself and of writing, of expressing all that is in me."
               -Anne Frank from The Diary of a Young Girl

Anticipating a trip to Amsterdam, including a tour of the Anne Frank house there, I chose to read this book. I can't actually remember having read it in my youth although I probably did. I had seen the film and stage adaptations so I was quite familiar with Anne's story. I had hoped to finish the book before our tour but had only completed about a quarter. As it turned out, the tour greatly enhanced the reading of the remainder. Seeing the "Secret Annex" as it was called, was very profound. It was hard to imagine being exiled with 8 people in such a small space for close to 2 years.

Anne Frank, a precocious and high-spirited girl, receives a diary for her 13th birthday and it will become her best friend, in a sense, as she and her Jewish family are forced into hiding in Amsterdam during the Nazi occupation. Anne names her diary Kitty and shares her deepest feelings about her father, mother, sister, the Van Daan family and Mr. Dussel (Fritz Pfeffer). The reader learns that Anne feels great affection for her father but has a contentious relationship with her mother. She lets it be known she feels mistreated and under-appreciated by the others. She gradually forms a strong bond with Peter Van Daan. I recently read that Otto Frank, the only survivor of the family, excerpted portions of the diary which referred to Anne's sexual feelings and conflict with her mother, before publication of the book. This edition had all the original material. It was interesting that such feelings weren't revealed in our tour of the "Secret Annex" at Prinsengracht, Amsterdam, even though a number of exhibits in the museum come straight from the book.

It is so sad to be reminded that all these refugees are caught just before the end of WWII and sent to separate concentration camps where all perish except for Anne's father, who finds her diary and thankfully, passes it on to the world. I will rate the book a 4. It was the perfect time for me to read it.