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a favorite book
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From: Devereaux, Elizabeth <devereaux>
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 22:45:56 -0600
Many of my favorites of 2000 have already been mentioned -- especially SILENT TO THE BONE and GERSHON'S MONSTER -- but I have not seen any discussion of Mirjam Pressler's ANNE FRANK: A HIDDEN LIFE (if I've missed someone's mention, please forgive me).
Pressler (who helped edit the definitive edition of Frank's diaries) performs an exceptional critical reading of the diaries -- although she doesn't use any such clunky term as "critical reading." She examines the tensions in Frank's diaries, holding up Anne's attempts to make her diary publishable against Anne's portrayals of herself and the others in hiding with her. Her historical, literary and psychological insights are unusually perceptive, making readers aware of the ways a diary can be read and misread. The prose is both informed and passionate, and very clearly matched to a young adult readership.
I confess that I approached this book with a certain skepticism--given the remarkably good books about Anne Frank, how much more illumination could another book really shed? I have been reading about Anne Frank for years, and I even had the honor of visiting Miep and Jan Gies in their home. Yet Pressler's book was completely fresh and often startling.
This is the first time I've posted to ccbc-net in the several years that I've subscribed; my admiration for this book and my hope that it find a wide audience has dragged me from my lurker's corner.
Elizabeth Devereaux
Received on Mon 18 Dec 2000 10:45:56 PM CST
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 22:45:56 -0600
Many of my favorites of 2000 have already been mentioned -- especially SILENT TO THE BONE and GERSHON'S MONSTER -- but I have not seen any discussion of Mirjam Pressler's ANNE FRANK: A HIDDEN LIFE (if I've missed someone's mention, please forgive me).
Pressler (who helped edit the definitive edition of Frank's diaries) performs an exceptional critical reading of the diaries -- although she doesn't use any such clunky term as "critical reading." She examines the tensions in Frank's diaries, holding up Anne's attempts to make her diary publishable against Anne's portrayals of herself and the others in hiding with her. Her historical, literary and psychological insights are unusually perceptive, making readers aware of the ways a diary can be read and misread. The prose is both informed and passionate, and very clearly matched to a young adult readership.
I confess that I approached this book with a certain skepticism--given the remarkably good books about Anne Frank, how much more illumination could another book really shed? I have been reading about Anne Frank for years, and I even had the honor of visiting Miep and Jan Gies in their home. Yet Pressler's book was completely fresh and often startling.
This is the first time I've posted to ccbc-net in the several years that I've subscribed; my admiration for this book and my hope that it find a wide audience has dragged me from my lurker's corner.
Elizabeth Devereaux
Received on Mon 18 Dec 2000 10:45:56 PM CST
