Tag: 3 Star Reviews

Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl is an inspiring and tragic account of an ordinary life lived in extraordinary circumstances that has enthralled readers for generations. In Amsterdam, in the summer of 1942, the Nazis forced teenager Anne Frank and her family into hiding. For over two years, they, another family and a German dentist lived in a ‘secret annexe’, fearing discovery.

This one is really worth reading because it opens your eyes on things you probably didn’t think about or consider. Of course this one is hard to read at times because of what Anne Frank had written about the life in her hidden place and how it really is to be hidden for over then 2 years which is a fucking long time.

It’s important to say that this book might not be for everyone, because of the harsh reality of it and the tragic life which Anne Frank and her family had. 

For everyone who is interested in World War 2 just like me this book is a must read because it gives you a perspective from a jews girl who was very optimistic and hoped for the best even when she knew that the reality might be very different then what she hopes it would be some day.

This book is very different from most books about World War 2 because it comes from a perspective of a little jew girl who was in hiding with her family for over 2 years to escape the Holocaust. 

This book is really hard to review because it’s not a typical book in which you can point out things you like and not like. This book is essentially a diary written by a girl during war time and you sort of cant say “oh, this is wrong” because people who didn’t go through Holocaust dont know what it really was like to suffer in these fucking places. 

But of course this diary / book was written by a 13 / 14 year old girl which means that there are a lots of cringe moments in it. So be warned about that.

This book at times also feels like a hardcore history lesson which not everyone will like, but I guess that there are people who are like me and prefer to rather have a hardcore history lesson than a censured history lesson.

There were also times were this book felt like a major gossip written by a teen girl who is shitty about her parents because they didn’t allow her to do things which she wanted to do. 

I give this book 3 / 5

On July 22, 2011, AUFs and Norwegian Pole Adrian Pracon will face Anders Behring Breivik on Utøya. Pracon prays for his life, but realizes deep down that he is going to die. For a few long seconds, he waits for the shot that will end his life. But the mass murderer lowers his weapon, turns around and walks away.

At the time of writing this book is only available in Polish and Norwegian so keep that in mind. 

This book is a nonfiction book about the July 22, 2011 Norway attacks written from the survivors perspective.

This book was much better than “One of Us” by Åsne Seierstad which was reviewed on the blog somewhen in 2020. (LINK HERE.) But it wasn’t so good to get 5 stars. Because there were various errors which didn’t go so well with me at least. 

The writing style was pretty decent but there were parts where the writing could have been better than it was. 

The whole book is pretty closed-off, and the author sort of tells you how you should feel about things you read in this book. Which shouldn’t happen in books especially when it comes to nonfiction books because everyone will more or less react and feel differently about the same things. And by doing this the author will make it super hard for many readers to like or even relate to what they are reading. 

There were many times in this book where it felt like you are just reading someone’s letter to his / hers therapist and not like you are reading a nonfiction book. It might have been the authors way of dealing with the trauma after the attack but still it didn’t feel like something which should have published for many people read. 

Half of the book was about days and events which the author have done in days leading to July 22, 2011 and pretty much of the topic which this book was about. The whole topic of what it was like to be on the island when the shooting happened tok maximum 10 pages. And then the book went to the criticising and bitching about the predator and the court trails which happened. 

If you want to read something which really will make you think and still is about the July 22, 2011 Norway attacks then you should much rather choose “One of Us” by Åsne Seierstad than this one because 60% of this book is about the authors life before the shooting massacre on that island, 5% is about the shooting and 35% is about the court trails. 

The author could have used more time on it and plan it out much more. It would have been so much better if the author would have written bigger book than what it is (only 170 fish pages) and focus much more on what happened on the island and the court trails than about his life pre July 22, 2011.

I give this book 3 / 5