Anne Frank's World Re-Visited

Annexed by Sharon Dogar

In Amsterdam in the middle of World War II, two Jewish families--the Franks and the Van Pels--hide away in an annex above an office, praying for survival and the downfall of the Nazis. In Annexed, Dogar has created her vision of what it was like in the annex with Anne Frank from Peter van Pels' point of view. To take a time and character so closely scrutinized by the world and so well documented--by the world renowned diary of Anne Frank--is a challenge, to say the least, but Dogar has done a good job at not over-sensationalizing the material. She also manages to stay true to what she believes might have gone through the mind of a teenage boy in a time of personal and world-wide crisis. Following Peter from the morning before seclusion to his death (potentially, according to records, in a concentration camp sick bay), readers see the hope and the despair, two sides of many moments he experienced as his memories are shared in the book.

Full of hate and fear, love, shame, sexual longing, wavering faith, and all the “why” questions one could ponder, Peter examines life both inside and outside the walls of the annex and tries to make sense of it all, all the while experiencing the morphing relationships inside the hideout as tensions flow between the families and genders. Why, Peter asks, must I hide instead of fight? Why do we have to be the chosen people? Why does being Jewish have to define everything about me? Will I ever experience life beyond this point?

Dogar’s writing is powerful and conveys life in the annex as it probably was: stifling, claustrophobic, lacking in privacy, and frustrating while at times also joyful, grateful, and full of the knowledge that beauty truly is in the small, unnoticed things. As Dogar examines the emotions Peter, the lone adolescent male, might have felt as he matured, readers also get a sense of the other characters through Peter’s descriptions of them. And unlike other narratives, Dogar follows Peter and imagines--with the aid of research--what he must have gone through after capture, both in Auschwitz and on the death march that followed in his final days.

I highly recommend this, whether you're a fan of literary fiction, historical fiction, coming-of-age stories, or just about any other type. It's not a light story, as the premise indicates, but it's worth the journey. This as Dogar's first historical fiction, and she worked hard to get the research right (though she admits in the back to altering minor timeline events for continuity's sake). The whole product is well done, emotional, and absolutely worth the read.

-Jenny

Age 13+ (some mature content)
Copyright October 2010
ISBN: 9780547501956
Available as an eBook
Image from www.goodreads.com

An Amazing Whirlwind of Emotions and History

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
(Review based on Advanced Reader Copy.)

You've got to respect a historical fiction novel for teens that has three pages of bibliography.

In this emotional whirlwind of a book, an American high school student--lost in despair over the death of her younger brother and the mental instability of her mother--finds herself through music and the history of the French revolution.

Andi is the equivalent of a musical prodigy, and when her brother dies, music is the only thing besides caring for her mother that keeps her going. (The anti-depressants help, but only just.) She's flunking out of her private school, and she gets an ultimatum: complete a well-orchestrated senior thesis or don't graduate. Andi's dad sweeps her off to Paris, hoping she can focus on graduation while he tests a 200-year-old heart for proof that it belonged to the dauphin, son of Marie-Antoinette. In the process, Andi discovers a hidden diary belonging to another 17-year-old girl, Alexandrine Paradis, the daughter of a puppeteer, who finds herself companion to the dauphin right before the start of the French revolution. Andi's depression continues to rise and fall, and she gets pulled into Alexandrine's story of pain, faith, and hope as Alex tries to survive the bloody massacres of her time and save the child prince. As Alex writes, "They are a truthful account of these bitter, bloody days." Andi finds herself absorbed in the past, so much so that one night she finds herself thrown into the horror of Alexandrine's world, unsure of what is dream and what is reality.

A story within a story could easily backfire or become confusing, but Donnelly pulls it off with a simultaneous grace and intensity that is impressive. Andi acts as a conduit between worlds, and her emotional responses to both are what make Revolution truly successful. Her depression is raw and tangible, not the never-ending list of adjectives some writers use to describe sadness. Donnelly makes both her character and her emotions--sorrow, hope, passion--available and accessible to readers, which is no easy task.

This is a great read for lovers of history, music, and modern-day dramas... and just about anyone else, for that matter. Highly recommended--Revolution captures the depths of depression and the heights of passion in a truly beautiful way, all the while exploring how history isn't always as distant as it may seem.

-Jenny

Age 14+ (some mature content)

Copyright October 2010

ISBN: 9780385737630

Available as an eBook

Image from www.goodreads.com