Book: The Diary Of A Young Girl

Author: Anne Frank

Pages: 427

Price: Rs. 350

Publications: Penguin Books India

Plot: Anne Frank was a young thirteen year old girl, who lived during the time period of second world war. She was born in Frankfurt, and her family moved to Amsterdam when she was four years  old.

On her thirteenth birthday, she got a diary from her parents as a birthday gift, and since then she started to confide in her diary, whom she named Kitty.

She wrote this diary for over two years. In the beginning, she wrote about her school life, her normal and usual teenage girl’s life. Describing her friends, her crush in school. Her favorite subjects and many other little things.

But in the time of war how can there be a life so unsurprising and normal?

Her sister Margot got a call up orders of the German Army. Anne’s family was frightened, but they had already anticipated the situation coming, so her father, Otto Frank has already prepared a place to hide, which Anne called The Secret Annexe.  In this Annexe they had food and all those things which they would need during hiding. They moved there with one more family, Vaan Daans, and Mr. Dussel a dentist. Of course they were helped by some friends outside who will bring everything which they would need from time to time.

Here in this annexe she wrote her diary entries. She wrote about how she felt left out in the house, how she often face nagging  from Vaan Daans and Mr. Dussel. She also wrote about her relationship with her mother, with whom she did not feel any emotional attachment. She adored her father, but never confided in him. In between she developed good friendship with Peter Van Daan, the  teenage son of Mr. and Mrs. Van Daan. Though her father was first reluctant about her friendship with him, but eventually he got used to it.

But the book is not only about this. In these two years, Anne gained maturity in her thoughts, she had questions about the war, about the condition which has occurred due to it, she questioned who made Jews different from others.

The young girl had dreams, dream to become a writer, dream to be not a regular home centered women, but a career oriented one.There were days when she was frustrated and just wanted to go outside, wanted to be unshackled, without giving any thought to consequences, she just wanted to be free.

Everyone in the house was optimistic about the war, they had hoped that it will end soon and they will live a normal peaceful life. During the end of the book, she was happy that the day will come soon when she will go outside and witness the beautiful nature.

The diary ended abruptly on August 1, 1944, the last entry of Anne’s diary.

I expected another diary entry, but there were none to read.

What happened to her, why the diary ended so abruptly? Did she get this opportunity to go out, to be a free bird?

What happened to her and her family after this was heartbreaking. Otto Frank was the only survivor, he got Anne’s diary from Miep, one of their helpers. And he decided to fulfill his daughter’s dream. He edited the diary and got it published.

Oh yes, she is a writer, but sadly she was not there to witness her dream come true.

My views: A classic, acclaimed by many, this book is one of the must read. The book depicts the situation of world war II, not having any political view, no facts, but a book written by an ordinary girl. There are sufferings, fear of death, hunger all that which ordinary people faced during that time.

The thought that she had dreams, which she did not even get a chance to make true, made me feel extremely bad about all those people living in that period of time.

I found it really astounding  and shocking that how a young girl made a comment, where she said that war is not just political. We all are responsible for it. Somewhere we human has this tendency to hurt others. I find this book a thought-provoking. In the end, I would say  would say that Anne Frank was an ordinary teenage girl, but yet so extraordinary with her thoughts.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book to all those who wants to jump in the history of world war II. To all those who not only want to learn about facts but want to know about ordinary people who faced it.

I believe that this is a book one should definitely read once.

Ratings: 4/5

Komal Bagri

A traveler and a bookworm at heart, Komal Bagri has explored many destinations across India. But that never seems to be enough and she’s always ready to hit the road again. Her obsession for travel is combined with a love for books. She is currently working as a Content Developer at an eminent press.