Book Review: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

About a year or so ago I came across Audible's free trial offer.  Within that I was able to partake in other free offers, so I got some good free audio versions of books I have wanted to read for a while.  In the middle of listening to one I lost interest and it wasn't until just recently that I decided to pick up the books and listen to them.  The one I started with was Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.  This audio book was read by Selma Blair.  At first I thought that was an odd choice, but she became the voice of Anne and the voice of the diary.  I like it.  It was distinct.

Anne's diary portrays life for a German Jew in World War II.  Her family moved to Holland and had their German citizenship renounced.  She no longer thought of Germany has her home anyway.  It starts out on her 13th birthday when she is given the diary as a gift.  She's worried about the war and the Jews treatment but her biggest local concern was who was going to pass onto the next grade.

The majority of the story takes place in the annex of the building where her father works, the place her family hides in for two years with another family and a family friend.  Anne describes her every day life and how she gets along with everyone.  She has her complaints and finds fault in the people she's forced to live with.  Even though she's forced into hiding because she's a Jew, she's a normal teenage girl.

Yes, there is some frank talk about female body parts and menstruation, but it only covers two or three diary entries.  It is graphic, but like I said, it's an extremely small part of the diary.

I really enjoyed Anne's diary and am glad she allowed us a glimpse into her life.  It was her desire to be a writer and to have her diary published.  Fortunately, her diary was saved and her father was able to have it published.

I listened to the audio version from Audible.com via my laptop.  All opinions are my own.  I was not compensated for this review in any way.