The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Bantam

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The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Bantam ACH, DU LIEEEEEEEBEEEEEERRRRR!!!! Why, oh, why ist das Diary des Anne Frank oh-sooooo FRIGGIN' Laaaaaaaaaaangweeeeeeeeil ig?!?!?
ACH, DU LIEBER!!!! That's the biting phrase that can best epitomize my personal feelings at the disconnect between the expectation of Anne Frank's diary and the actual reality of reading it. The Diary of Anne Frank is very, very, very disappointing and a humongous letdown!!!! To wit, I must implacably question and hold in contempt the judgment processes of the many, previous, sycophant reviewers who've been exaggerating the "beauty" or "grace" or whatever politically correct term of flattery they can invent for this diary. The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most caustic examples of herd mentality-syndrome and mass hysteria among the many positive-rating, Amazon reviewers. In truth, this diary of Anne's is just plain, bloody awful and doesn't deserve its classic status to say the least!!!! I suppose the hordes of five-star reviewers simply turned off their brains, refused to analyze Anne's diary critically, and just subserviently jumped on the bandwagon of conventional wisdom, where her diary is hailed a "classic." BS!!!! After having thoroughly read this, I can assure you that it's no classic and D-E-F-I-N-I-T-E-L-Y not worth your time or money...unless, of course, you get your kicks and jollies from plumbing the trivial and superficial mind of a fourteen-year-old. This stellar, brutally-but-intellectually-honest review of mine will analytically break down precisely what the hell's wrong with Anne's diary (plenty!) and warn you against reading it. If you're not narrow-minded and can take an analysis which intrepidly contravenes the discreditable conventional wisdom of the masses, then you'll be grateful for this review. If you're a hypersensitive sheeple, then I expect you to be appalled and shocked at the alleged "audacity" of this review, but that's YOUR problem, not mine. All I concern myself with is an intellectually honest review of this diary. I went into The Diary of Anne Frank because it came to my attention that I hadn't read it in high school, whereas many of my peers had indeed had it mandated for reading in school. I attended a Catholic high school, and it's not like Catholics have something even remotely to be shameful about concerning their treatment of Jews in WWII. Why, in fact, educated people know that even Nzi Adolf Eichmann confessed in his diaries that the Catholic Church in occupied Italy was the only organization that loudly protested and opposed the mass deportation of Jews from their "ghetto" in Rome. So, I wanted to catch up on this apparent "classic" because it was missed reading at my old, Catholic high school. However, I absolutely regret and curse this misjudgment of mine due to the appalling quality and shortcoming of the content of the diary. See, as a new reader, I perceptively went into the Diary of Anne Frank with the reasonable expectation that it would, you know, perhaps talk about her feelings relating to--I don't know!--the genocidal, Nzi occupation, which had forced her family and some acquaintances into an attic, where they lived like imprisoned animals under extreme duress. That would make for an interesting read obviously because one would delve into the psychology of a person in such duress and try to relate. Conventional wisdom has it that that's what her diary mainly relates to, but in actuality...her diary's actually filled to the nauseating brim with her infatuation (nah, kids these days would call it her "crushing) on her attic-mate Peter; endlessly boring stories about preparing and storing vegetables in their attic; girl talk about her prior crush before she went into hiding; lurid tales about her discovering her budding sexuality; typical teen-girl angst about how she's never really had close girlfriends; grumbling about the adults in the attic always rebuking her due to her forthrightness; and how she hates her mother like a typical EMO teenager, just to name a few!!!! Anne disappointingly spends precious few entries (the vast minority) on the more interesting and valuable ruminations, such as those on human nature, persecution of Jews, and the terror felt inside the attic that came primarily from being discovered, or from the sounds and sights of war breaking loose outside her attic (on a couple of entries, she even recounts stories of downed fighter planes and their pilots' fate). That's the unpardonable fault of her diary because only these kinds of idiosyncratic entries actually material to WW2 are what would elevate her diary above that of any other, mundane, teen girl's. That so much of her diary is precisely so ordinary according to what one stereotypically expects from ANY teen girl's entries is the real pity in this exaggeratedly hyped work. I found the purpose of Anne's diary much more useful in detailing how more wonderfully conservative society was in the 40s--rather than getting the reader to empathize with WW2-era, persecuted Jews--compared to today's liberal nightmare. In example, Anne's many entries where she's "crushing" on her attic-mate, Peter, involve feelings of sincere, simplistic affection and puppy love, maybe quaint but still adorable in hindsight. For instance, in many entries, Anne swoons over attic-mate Peter's confiding in her or the way he merely looks at her; to her as a girl in the 40s back then, that already qualified as a "fantasy." Contrast this to the inarguable fact that in today's world, many 14-year-olds in Anne's shoes would probably have infectious thoughts of desiring to sexually please their crushes (and then do so!) just so they could feel like "true women!" Another unmistakable motif in Anne's experiences that comes through as a confirmation of how more wonderfully conservative things were back then is the constant reference to schoolwork, and, by golly, actually doing well at it! In some entries, Anne actually gulp takes pride in getting good grades in school and measuring herself as a person based on her work ethic in class, again, wonderfully "old-fashioned." Again, contrast this with many 14-year-olds today who--especially if they're in the NEA's public schools--can't read, write or do any `rithmetic, yet can tell you all kinds of things about the btches and hes in rap music!!!! This latest edition of her diary, The so-called Definitive Edition, includes inexcusably AWKWARD entries involving Anne's sexual awakening, which is also a discomforting sign of the incrementing liberalism that's occurring societally, whereas her dad, Otto, wisely omitted these lewd entries from the original publication. For instance, on page 162, she writes, "Once when I was spending the night at Jacque's, I could no longer restrain my curiosity about her body, which she'd always hidden from me and which I'd never seen. I asked her whether, as proof of our friendship, we could touch each other's brasts. Jacque refused. I also had a terrible desire to kiss her, which I did. Every time I see a female nude...I go into ecstasy." Gross!!!! This egregiously has nothing to do with WW2, or a person's feelings of being imprisoned in an attic while hoping the Nzis don't discover her. The inclusion of this lewdness was utterly ill-advised. Surprisingly, though, some of Anne's entries include reflections which prove she possessed moral clarity and, unlike today's liberals (the arbiters of moral relativism), had the ability to judge between good and evil with regards to WW2. For instance, on page 334 (from July 21, 1944), she writes, "Now, at last, things are going well!...An ssssination attempt has been made on Htler's life, and for once not by Jewish Communists or English capitalists, but by a German general...This is the best proof we've had so far that many officers and generals are fed up with the war and would like to see Htler sink into a bottomless pit..." Here, Anne clearly demonstrates that she confidently feels it's perfectly all right to be happy at the prospect of your enemy being killed in a war. Further, she also interprets the ssssination attempt in a pro-Allies, anti-German way, suspecting that H*tler's generals are turning on him. Contrast that to today's dreadful, modern liberals who would have a hell of a hard time rejoicing about the prospect of Bin Laden's death or any terrorist's, for that matter, because they're too obsessed with getting them "legal rights" through habeas corpus and moving them onto the US mainland for detention purposes!!!! Still, Anne's diary is soooo disappointingly off-the-mark that I want anyone even flirting with the idea of reading a fourteen-year-old's musings to just boycott it. It's so dreadful because it mostly evades reflecting on WW2 and the hardships of attic life. Mainly, it reads like every other fourteen-year-old girl's diary from the beginning of time to infinity, and, so, is an absolutely superficial read!!!! To get an idea of how WW2 affected people, you can get a better read almost ANYWHERE ELSE. If you want to get inside a fourteen-year-old girl's trivial head--which Anne's diary is really mostly about: crushes, boys, resentment of parents, etc.--you should just steal your kid sister's. What's that? Don't have a kid sister?! Well, then steal the diary of your friend's or neighbor's kid sister because you'll get the same trivialities there as in Anne Frank's diary.
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Bantam Moving, poignant
Great read, highly recommend for all jr. high and Sr. high kids. I read this book in high school (many many years ago) and wanted to read it again because of the movie "Freedom Writers" and it's integral part in the movie. I highly recommend it
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Bantam A classic!
A classic that we all should read when we are young, and again when we are older. It emphasizes the fact that evil does exist in our world, and that evil often comes from a government. It belongs in all of our libraries.
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Bantam Captured in Time
Anne Frank's tale is a snapshot frozen in time. Neither faded recollections nor hindsight feature here. This was written with the clarity of the present tense through the eyes of a young girl living through a terrible chapter of world history. This immediacy serves to empower the story further and move the reader in ways that so few books can. Highly recommended. Owen Zupp Author: "Down to Earth" DOWN TO EARTH: A Fighter Pilot's Experiences of Surviving Dunkirk, The Battle of Britain, Dieppe and D-Day
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Bantam Anne Frank revisited once more, this time I'm a grown-up and a positive psychologist
The Truth: I'm a Girl, I'm Smart and I Know EverythingThe last time I really read the diary of Anne Frank, I was nine, in Sunday school in Connecticut and pretty miserable. I had my own issues-some of the girls made fun of me, I couldn't learn to read Hebrew (no one had recognized that I had a learning disability) and I wanted nothing more than to really belong. Anne's diary made me cry and feel even more miserable. This time, I'm a grown-up. In fact my kids are grown. I'm a psychologist in private practice, with an emphasis on positive psychology. That means I encourage hope and optimism in my clients. I help them look for their talents and even lost potential. And I just wrote a book in diary form, written by a 10-11 year old girl, to help girls and their moms get in touch with the best of themselves. Sooo, things are very different. My reaction to reading Anne Frank this time was as if I had blinders taken away from my eyes. Instead of just seeing a girl in hiding and feeling oppressed with the sadness of her unfulfilled life, I saw a profoundly real teen-age girl with unbelievable wisdom and hosesty. She seems to be the compliation of all the inner knowledge, wisdom, sexual and emotional development of all girls. She is almost like the western world's Shakespeare for girls. For example, as a psychologist and a woman who was once a teenager, I was enthralled with her intimate feelings and thoughts around her crush on Peter. Lots of girls fall in love or have a crush, but few know how to process their feelings. In fact that is why 'the girl' in my new book, The Truth, falls in love, to help kids learn how to share these sorts of feeling. Anne understood so much about the ego development of a person in transition from child to woman. What she is able to put into words about her crush should help any girl experiencing deep and complex feelings. I think every woman should take some time and re-read Anne Frank. You will certainly fall in love with her in a different way than the first time around. You may find yourself sobbing later, as I found myself, when her love of life and feelings and insights about growing-up, welled up inside of me with the realization that Anne never got a chance to do all the things that most of us women take for granted: the husband, the kids, the first apartment, friends over, pets, just getting out in the fresh air! Anne held on to her ideals and dreams and she hoped that there would be a time that she could carry them out. She didn't make it, but we have. And so if every woman who reads this book can just be a little more insightful, a little more caring, a little more loving, listen a little harder to kids and teens-then in a way, we have carried out, as best we can, her ideals. As a positive psychologist and woman, this is my opinion as to how to maintain hope, and fulfill not only her potential, but our own.
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Bantam Product Description
Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl is among the most enduring documents of the twentieth century. Since its publication in 1947, it has been read by tens of millions of people all over the world. It remains a beloved and deeply admired testament to the indestructible nature of the human spirit. Restored in this Definitive Edition are diary entries that were omitted from the original edition. These passages, which constitute 30 percent more material, reinforce the fact that Anne was first and foremost a teenage girl, not a remote and flawless symbol. She fretted about and tried to cope with her own sexuality. Like many young girls, she often found herself in disagreements with her mother. And like any teenager, she veered between the carefree nature of a child and the full-fledged sorrow of an adult. Anne emerges more human, more vulnerable and more vital than ever. Anne Frank and her family, fleeing the horrors of Nazi occupation, hid in the back of an Amsterdam warehouse for two years. She was thirteen when she went into the Secret Annex with her family.
The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition by Bantam Amazon.com
Anne Frank's diaries have always been among the most moving and eloquent documents of the Holocaust. This new edition restores diary entries omitted from the original edition, revealing a new depth to Anne's dreams, irritations, hardships, and passions. Anne emerges as more real, more human, and more vital than ever. If you've never read this remarkable autobiography, do so. If you have read it, you owe it to yourself to read it again.