Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Jan 28, 2012

Whitney rated it:

For her 13th birthday Anne Frank received a diary she dubbed Kitty. Shortly after her birthday with the fear that her older sister, Margo may be taken by the Nazis the Franks disappear into the night and go into hiding. It is through Kitty that Anne records her thoughts and daily life living behind a bookcase in the secret annex.

When I was younger I went through a "holocaust" phase before moving on to Harriet Tubman and slavery. The funny thing is that Anne Frank's Diary w More...

2 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jan 22, 2008

Brenda rated it:

I confess to feeling slightly voyeuristic while reading this. It was constantly in the back of my mind that this was no ordinary novel, or even a true-to-life account. This was someone’s diary. Every page written in confidence, each word revealing the thoughts closest to the heart of this young girl. As a journal-keeper myself, I sometimes find myself wondering, “What if someone else were to read this?” which causes me to wonder how much to filter my words. But then, isn’t the purpose of a diary More...

3 comments like (102 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

HRH rated it:

I first read this book in the eighth grade. Our junior high school simultaneously did a preformance of the play. I remember that I enjoyed both the book and the play. I think I liked the love story aspect most of all -- what 13 year-old wouldn't? But I don't think I really "got" the book.
For her 13th birthday the German-born Anne Frank received a diary which she named Kitty. About a month after her birthday, her older sister, Margot, at the time just 16 years old, was "calle More...

4 comments like (30 people liked it)

Feb 17, 2008

Monica rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

9 comments like (33 people liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

★ Jess rated it:

Honestly, I just cant do it. I cant bring myself to finish the book.
Ive tried three times already, and each time I have been forced to throw it aside.
I love books about the Holocaust, but not this one. I couldnt care less.
Maybe I will try again in a few years?

On the up side, I firmly believe that Anne Frank, if she survived the war, would have grown up to be a marvelous, best selling writer. At the age of 13 her words are better then that of many current, famous More...

4 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jun 21, 2010

Jodi Lu rated it:

come ON, how can anyone give ANNE FRANK a rating other than "it was amazing"??? some of these reviews cracked me up. it's certainly not my favorite book, but i definitely won't say it's a pity vote either. although i'll say this: i was recently at her house and was SHOCKED that it's HUGE. i mean, the diary makes it sound like they're living in a matchbox when even the hideaway part is two stories and far bigger than anywhere i've ever lived--FRANKly (HA!) i don't know how it took a More...

9 comments like (23 people liked it)

Jun 30, 2008

David rated it:

While her story is sad, the naked Emperor cult around this book is unmerited.

The key quotation about people being basically good at heart is absurd in the light of the story, and from a theological perspective, just plain wrong.

26 comments like (24 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2009

Mr. Z rated it:

If only every teenager would read and embrace this story, I wonder if it would change the instant-gratification, me-me-me society that has evolved over the last 50 years? Of course, this novel is a staple in any Holocaust lesson planning. In a world in which so few teenagers (or adults, for that matter) seem to stop and give thanks for what they have (instead chirping about what they want or complaining about what they don't have), Anne Frank faced the most unfair of cruelties with a certain str More...

4 comments like (31 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2008

Brian rated it:

I went to the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. which left me overwhelmed and sick, like I had just finished a terrible bout with the flu or something. In the museum, a lot of the exhibits depict what Jewish life was like before the war (mainly in Lithuania, where a lot of photos and testimonials were recovered). I thought of Anne Frank immediately, and the fact that I'd never read her diary. It was a good follow up to the museum, being a very personal story as well as a clear, well-articul More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

♣Ðᾰƞƞᾰ♥ rated it:

This is not just a classic book to me. It is not a tale in the age of crazy writers. It is a collection of memories, of thoughts of a young, yet real, girl. Woman. Human. Jewish.
The book presents a tough point of view about everything, Anne had the most strong opinions I have ever read. Perhaos because she did not know that some one would read her words and feel so close, so in love with the mentality and beauty of Anne.
I have read painful stories in my life, but I feel as if this on More...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 13, 2011

nat rated it:

Sepenting apakah catatan harian seorang remaja putri berusia 13 tahun ?
Pernahkah kau membayangkan diary yang kau tulis pada usia belasan, tiba-tiba mendapatkan perhatian dari seluruh dunia, ironisnya saat dirimu sudah meninggal ?

Anne Frank adalah remaja putri biasa berkebangsaan Belanda keturunan Yahudi. Ia mulai menulis diarynya pada ulang tahun ke-13, dan mengakhirinya pada usia 15 tahun. Diary yang disebutnya dengan “Kitty” ini adalah hadiah ulang tahun dari keluarganya saat More...

6 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 15, 2012

Varsha rated it:

My intention of writing a review for this book is only so I can tell all the negative reviewers to SHUT UP! I am all for everyone's right to express their opinion but I read a few of the '1 star' reviews and I was shocked to read what a few people had to say about this book. Before making an opinion I suggest people to keep a few things in mind:

1. This is someone's DIARY not a book meant to entertain people. If you think it was boring then answer me, how many interesting things can y More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 18, 2008

Chris rated it:

From my spring/summer, indelibly written in my consciousness, of Life In DC, Walking to the Metro Listening to In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. So Neutral Milk Hotel got me to read it. The shocking part is how normal and boring the diary is ... until it ends. And it does just that. Writing a diary myself, it horrifies me that one day I will have an entry that will be my last. Of course the cataclysm happens in the last three pages where everything goes to literal hell and you just finish the More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2010

notgettingenough rated it:

Not enough sex.

------------------------------------

This was about my first review on goodreads.

So, I'm a bit irritated now. It turns out that if I'd written:

NOT ENOUGH SEX

and timed it for when it was suddenly trendy to review like that, I would have gotten a whole heap of votes and everybody would have thought I was REALLY CLEVER.

Shit.

13 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 03, 2008

Kara rated it:

This book was awful! I hated it and thats all i have to say about it.

23 comments like (21 people liked it)

Jun 21, 2010

JG (The Introverted Reader) rated it:

Any kind of synopsis feels extremely redundant, but I'll write one anyway. Anne Frank is a young Jewish girl in hiding in Amsterdam during WWII.

I don't know how I made it to be 31 years old without reading The Diary of Anne Frank. I'm glad I finally got to it though.

I think Anne's diary made the Holocaust real to me in a way that other books haven't because she is a typical teenage girl in a lot of ways. She's growing up, she dislikes her family and "roommates" More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jun 21, 2010

Tiffany who finally decided to change her name rated it:

We might have to read it this year in English... Ugh... at least it's about the Holocaust.... but the Book Thief is still totally much better, even if I haven't read this before!

Well, I guess I haven't hit the bad parts yet. It's actually quite good. Okay. So I haven't posted about this in quite a while. I can't say this book is great, but there haven't been a lot of parts that killed me, you know? It is okay, but not great. Like, go ahead and read it. You might want to skip More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 10, 2008

Rosie rated it:

The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most well known books in the world. At the beginning of this book, Anne Frank and her family go to hide out in a secret annex to avoid being taken to the concentration camps by the Nazis. Throughout this diary Anne documents her most treasured and horrible moments and feelings while hiding out in the annex. The Van Daans , a very peculiar family, is also hiding out with the Franks. Peter Van Daan is a character that Anne writes many diary entrys about. Throu More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2008

Nikki rated it:

When I read The Diary of Anne Frank for the first time, I identified with her at every turn. I felt her emotions, I understood the plight she had with her mother. Funny how this time around (decades later) I identify more with her mother. As children we expect our parents to be perfect. As parents we keep the secret that we are still children, just older.

'Friday 20 November, 1942

None of us really knows how to take it all. The news about the Jews had not really penetra More...

3 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

stephanie rated it:

you know, i find i don't know what to say about this book. obviously, it's a seminal text. obviously, it has impacted a great many lives, and it tells a story that is incredible. however, what i think you take from it is this sense of optimism in the face of despair - and the truth is, it's the story of a girl in hiding who gets betrayed by an informant, and then dies in a camp. we so often gloss over the fact that she died - and say, "oh, but anne lives on through her diary" - which i More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2008

Abdullah rated it:

Anne Frank is a 13 year-old girl. She and her family, in addition to four of their friends, were hiding in their "Secret Annex" in the period of World War II.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I feel like I haven't read a good book for a long time. Also, I LOVE books which are written in a "diary format".

I didn't like the way she treated her mother. She ,obviously through her writings, hated her and didn't feel comfortable when they're together!
More...

6 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 21, 2011

Blake rated it:

Casting a watchful eye over two years spent in hiding during the war, the diary is as detailed in its introspective efforts as it is vivid in those details. Anne Frank did more than document; she penned a richly nuanced narrative of the daily struggles and victories that accompanied the circumstances and imbued it with her own hopes and optimism.

Perhaps a curious surprise for any reader picking it up for the first time will be to find that Frank is not just full of feeling, but also ab More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 08, 2011

Alana rated it:

I realize that this book is supposed to be about the true suffering that took place during the Holocaust, but give me a break. The Franks and the others in the Annex were practically living in luxury! All Anne did was complain. Yes, I get that many of your privileges were taken away, and essentially your freedom to roam. But you are alive! Doesn't that account for anything? On another note, maybe this is because I hang out with guys for the most part, but the way she talked about other girl More...

6 comments like (6 people liked it)

Nov 24, 2008

Alia rated it:

When I was in Amsterdam last April I went to see the attic space that Anne Frank's family lived in, and became interested in reading her diary again. I read it when I was in grade school, and our tour guide Stephen told us that recently an un-edited version had been released. This version included many negative descriptions of her parents and other house-mates as well as entries dealing with her sexuality. After all, this is the diary of an adolescent girl but I was amazed with how outspo More...

0 comments like (12 people liked it)

May 15, 2008

Manish rated it:

My reasons for not liking the book. I know many people feel that this is more like a life altering book for them. But that's truly not the same in my case.

1. The book is more like hardcore history which has never been my choice of subject

2. I personally did find the book rather dry as it's major gossip written by a girl whose family is in hiding during World War II

3. I'm 22 and I guess I've grown over a book like this

Although i do agree, some More...

4 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2012

Kritika rated it:

The diary takes us to its times in a very subtle manner. It is always easy to look at a book which is written in first person. The issue is with the thought of dealing with the idiosyncrasies of a fictitious character.
The story takes us through the life of a Jewish family in Holland during 2nd World War. The 13 year old girl starts with the account of how her life was until the one day when things suddenly changed for everyone. The musings and hopes of the girl and the reactions and circum More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 14, 2009

Melani rated it:

There were parts of this book that I found really disturbing, if only because it recalled to my mind very vividly what it was like to be a teenager. The discomfort of it, especially. The mortification of feeling totally misunderstood. The embarassment of looking back and seeing how cocky that you were. It is amazing that the writings of a child so bursting with vitality and growing so rapidly would have been penned and polished inside a pratical prison.

Then there is the very la More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2008

Eric rated it:

Anne Frank is a diary - One that I didn't enjoy. The time period is great, everything should set up for a good story, but Anne flunks out. Her book seems to have chapters of dialog between people that we don't even know - People she hasn't introduced properly.

Some people may gain insight into WWII life, but for me it was just a jumbled mess.

~Eric

8 comments like (11 people liked it)

Feb 27, 2009

Devon rated it:

I've read so many books about the Holocaust, particularly the ones aimed toward young (mostly adolescent) readers. I own a huge collection and I re-read them frequently. I've owned The Diary of a Young Girl for YEARS (so long that the inside cover has turned yellow) but I've never read it until now.

I'm so glad I waited to read it. I don't think I would have appreciated it as much when I was younger (I would've thought it was boring.) But now I'm able to appreciate it for what it is: More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Mar 24, 2009

Annie rated it:

I thought it was pretty boring.... I had to read it for English class.

5 comments like (9 people liked it)