The Diary of a Young Girl

So as I mentioned before I somehow made it to 35 having never read The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.  In high school I only had to read excerpts, and because I knew it would be sad I just never read it on my own.  So I decided now was the time and took the plunge.  And I am so glad I did.  Anne is sweet, endearing, and pretty funny.  I think I laughed more than I cried.  And lets face it, we all know how it's going to end so it takes the sting off it a little bit.  It's still exceptionally frustrating that they were caught so close to the end of it all though.  Now to mention that most of them died within days of their camp being liberated.  Aargh!  So frustrating!  That being said, I don't know if her diary would've had the same impact had she survived... not sure about that one though, something to think about.  All in all reading her diary really made me want to do more research into the lives of her father Otto (since he's the only family member who survived) as well as the two women who helped them - Bep Voskuigl, who lived until 1983 and Miep Gies, who lived until 2010.  (Can you believe she lived until 2010?)

So I read the definitive edition, which included passages that had never been published before and supposedly included her entire diary.  Having never read the other versions, I have no comparison - but I found her to be an average teenage girl full of angst and love and constantly trying to become the woman she wants to be.  Of course she was very much not the average teenager given her life and the things she had to go through - but at the same time she really was.  Which is probably one of the reasons everyone loves her so much.  I found myself relating to her in a lot of ways - and could really remember feeling similar when I was 14 and 15 years old.  Of course my life was easy by comparison - but the basic emotions of growing up and wanting to be independent, but still being so dependent at the same time were things I could really remember experiencing.  Anyway, if you like me had never read this book, all I have to say is go do it - now.  Very poignant and somewhat voyeuristic to be honest - but wonderful and definitely a must read.  Now I want to go reread a bunch of required reading from school...