The Diary of a Young Girl Book Review

Book: - The Diary of a Young Girl

Author: -Anne Frank

Genre: - Autobiography

Publication date: - 25 June 1947

Published in English: - 1952

Original language: - Dutch

Review by: - Mahima Shreshtha

 

The dairy of a young girl is a compilation of dairy of Anne Frank which she maintained when she was hiding for two years during the Nazi occupation in Netherland. She referred her dairy as kitty and wrote about every little thing that happened to her during the period. Her diary became a powerful classic which remind us of the sufferings of people during the Nazi attacks.

Anne frank was a thirteen year old Jewish girl. I know it’s a little weird to mention she was Jewish, but her being Jewish was the only reason for all of her sufferings. So, it was her thirteenth birthday when she got her dairy. And she started to write dairy on a daily basis. That was the time when the Nazi attacked Germany. It was tough time for the Jewish people as they were being discriminated in their own country.

The dairy is not only about the sufferings during the Nazi attack but also about her own agony as a person. Being so young she penned down what it actually mean being alone.

 That period was harsh forb the Jewish people, they were not allowed to use the streetcar; the students were being transferred to Jewish school away from other children. Random Jewish people were called and, but it was unknown to her what was done to them.

When the situation got worse she along with her family went on hiding at her father’s office. They were accompanied by the van Daan family. They were hidden there for two years. The hiding was excruciating, as they can’t go out, or even peep through the window as they don’t want their neighbor to know they were there. As it was office they didn’t have proper space for bathing and stuffs. Her father’s collogues helped them to get the essentials from outside.

Apart from these she was already having problems growing up, which was a normal thing for a teenager, but since she was hiding it was even worse for her. There were a lot of people to judge her, and she did not have any friend of her own age. She was also having problems living with Mrs. Van Daan as she was not a very good person. Anne never liked her. She has mentioned about it blatantly in her dairy. Her encounters with her mother and how it changed into hatred is very normal for a teenage girl, but as it was already a time of hardship for them it became worse. It was her father she loved the most. She thought her father was the only person who understands her.

Peter, son of Mr. and Mrs. van Daan was a good friend of her at a time. But that too ended up soon.

At the end of the story, it broke my heart when they were caught by the Nazi’s even after bearing so much. 

Almost the entire member from the Annex died, except for Anne’s father. After a while the dairy was found in the attic of the Annex, his father decided to publish her dairy to let people know how they were suffering.

 

Anne referred her dairy as kitty. For many year people were confused about the reference, some thought that she was referred to Kitty Egyedi, a prewar friend of Anne's. but later on it was discovered that kitty was just a name she gave to her diary.

 

Reading her story you will get attached to the little girl, her death will leave you in grief.