The Diary of a Young Girl

What better book to take in than this classic memoir of two years spent within the four walls of a secret annex? Of course I came to this book knowing about its reputation as a moving and spirited account of the down to earth details of what it was like to hide from the Gestapo and SS, and about the tragic fate of everyone described. It lived up to all of this, with the tremendously sympathetic personality of Anne and of the others she sheltered with shining in every entry. The philosophical passages too, where she thinks about her future, about ethics, and about the violent conflict surrounding her added to the spell. I was surprised what a coherent narrative these pages turned out to be, largely without editing of the events and personalities, and can see how it represents a literary achievement as well as its historical significance. The inconveniences this year has imposed on me are insignificant in comparison to the deprivation she underwent, making the essential optimism even more striking. The tragedy of her death hit me the way I imagine it would affect anyone with an open heart.

The audiobook reading I listened too was a very old one originally issued on cassette tapes, complete with instructions to fast-forward and turn the recordings over to the second side. The narration by Susan Adams was first-rate. When I was born the events were about twenty five years in the past, not that long as I see it now, and I wonder how it will be for children of today to experience this account now that ninety years have passed since the war began.