I've read so much WW2 historical fiction, but had never read this - even though as most have, I'd heard a lot about it. I wasn't sure how interested I was in watching the Disney "A Small Light" series, but I started it and was soon sucked in. Rather a difficult watch, knowing what was to come (that the eight+ would be discovered and taken away). The gal who played Anne did a good job. In the show, we see the discovery of the diary by Meip, and it being given to Otto after it was revealed that Anne and Margo hadn't made it. I figured it was time to read the original.

IS there an "original" version ... in the forward here (I went with the audio edition, read by Selma Blair ... I must admit I didn't care for her narration) it mentions Anne's original diary, written by her for her. Then when the idea of diaries/journals being made public after the war (this was showcased in one of the "A Small Light" episodes) we are told that Anne went back through her journal and re-wrote some with that in mind, changing names, etc. Then, when her father prepared the diary for publication, he held back portions (so there was A, B and C versions early on). Then there have been different publications that include or exclude different portions. Regardless of which version, this diary wasn't really prepared the way a regular novel, or biography or book would have been. It makes it hard to "rate" and review.  One can only ponder what the presentation would have been had Anne survived and been able to publish it as she wished (would she have stuck to the diary, or would she have gone the with a more fictional "Secret Annex" as mentioned). What things would she have included or excluded?

Looking at the diary from a historical perspective - to get a personal glimpse of the war and what people were going through ... all the sexual stuff (I know this is a hot-button topic), it was much more than I would have anticipated for this age, this time ... and it just seemed odd to me. Of course there is some questioning but what Anne chose to write about ("How on earth would I go about describing a girl’s parts?" ... and then she proceeds to do so). I kept a journal at that same age and while I had some similar talk, talk, talk about boys as Anne does Peter, I would never randomly say "let me talk about female anatomy and describe parts". I mean she wrote "women's genitals, or whatever they are called" which seems to indicate a lack of knowledge, then she goes on to describe and name the labia and clitoris? Those back to back statements seem to contradict each other! So beyond any parent stressing about their child reading this content, it just doesn't fit with why most people are reading this (a historical holocaust perspective). I guess if one was reading it solely  about "what does a 14 year old girl write about in her diary" ...  I don't know, it just felt like it didn't fit. I could definitely understand why some would prefer an 'edited' version, even if they aren't a prude. 

As mentioned, there was the original and re-written (with the idea of it being read) ... so there's that contradiction as well, as Anne writes " it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. I feel like writing, and I have an even greater need to get all kinds of things off my chest" and "since I’m not planning to let anyone else read this" ... and then she indicates she IS writing for an audience and including things for some future reader (i.e. "Since no one would understand a word of my stories to Kitty if I were to plunge right in, I’d better provide a brief sketch of my life, much as I dislike doing so" and "That’s a little hard for outsiders to understand, so I’ll explain"  and "At least one long chapter on our life in hiding should be about politics, but I’ve been avoiding the subject, since it interests me so little. Today, however, I’ll devote an entire letter to politics."  So back to the sexual stuff ... WAS she really writing that to be read by others? My 14-year old self would be SO embarrassed, even my adult self, but everyone is different.

Some parts of the diary do feel exactly like what you'd expect from a young girl's diary "Daddy is always nice to me, and he also understands me much better. At moments like these I can’t stand Mother" and the day-to-day of events unfolding, and then hiding in the annex are very interesting. It actually didn't seem quite as bad, I think I had pictured a tiny closet, is that [book:The Hiding Place: The Triumphant True Story of Corrie Ten Boom|561909]? Here while they only had one toilet and had flushing restrictions during the day, they had several rooms and space. More food was mentioned than I had thought (cakes and gifts and strawberries and such mentioned). I remember in "A Small Light" it really showed that everyone, Meip and Jan, were practically starving too. I just never quite got that feeling from the diary (Anne spends more time moaning about Peter than about her stomach). 

Anne uses quite a bit of dialog (lots, word for word from long discussions) ... I had to wonder about that. I've been reading [book:The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vol. 1|52085140], fictional but presented in a journal format, and wondered at the use of of all the dialog in it too. I have kept a journal for years, from my teen times, and while I might paraphrase something that was said here and there, I've never included dialog in my journal writing ... Anne IS wanting to be a writer, so it's not beyond possibility, and it reads better than how I write ;) As Anne mentioned "it seems to me that later on neither I nor anyone else will be interested in the musings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl" honestly ... MY journal entries from my younger years, and more recently ... are generally boring even to me! Sometimes I just have to shake my head at all the details and what I chose/choose to include. Like Anne, it's just my own record, and getting things off my chest. 

I wondered about "I have little desire to still be a freshman when I’m fourteen or fifteen" ... today's freshman in the US are fourteen or fifteen. Was it different in school then/there?

Lately I've looked into a few graphic novel adaptations of books ([book:To Kill a Mockingbird: A Graphic Novel|38359009], [book:The Giver: Graphic Novel|40796210]) and I see there is a graphic novel adaptation of this (and a different biography one). I might look into those to see how that presentation compares.