A great biography of Anne Frank; its style is simple and selfless, entirely in service of the subject.

I'm a slow reader, but it took me less than two days to finish.

Actually I felt as if I read three books here.

The first of these consists of the years before the Franks went into hiding. Ms. Muller tells us vividly about what was going on in Germany in the eyes of ordinary people like Anne's father, Otto. It is gripping to read about people's decisions in those days to leave or not to leave Germany. Their growing fear is palpable, and if you've only read Anne's diary, it may be especially interesting for you to read about the impact on the Franks of Hitler's occupation of Holland, which took place two years before Anne began her diary.

Then come the years in hiding, which is a very different part of the biography -- the second of three "books" or distinct experiences that I had. The prelude to the hiding consists of a portrait of the "external" world, in which Anne herself appears as an extroverted child, one with a personality more difficult than I had imagined, and one who was not yet aware of the larger history taking place around her; I dare say she can be the least interesting element of the first part of the biography. But once we come to the years in hiding, Anne is forced to become more introspective, and her inner life comes to the fore.

This part of the biography actually becomes something of a meditation on family life and human intimacy. My reading slowed down, but the content was actually more interesting than the large-scale historical portrait. This was really more than I had expected from a biography of one girl -- it turned into a sympathetic account of Anne's whole family and its individual members. The discussion of a formerly unpublished diary entry concerning the Franks' marriage, which delves as well into the issue of censorship, is, I think, the highlight of the book. It is obvious that Ms. Muller is both sympathetic to the protagonists and committed to the truth, which makes the subsequent turn to other well-trod subjects, like Anne's own love life, appear like an anticlimax.

Still, the story does not flag, and we arrive finally at the "third" section of the biography, the account of the betrayal and the concentration camps. To say that this material is gripping is to say nothing. Yet I was newly disturbed by the details here. From a historical point of view, what Ms. Muller has highlighted to great effect is how everything the Nazis did was intended not just to destroy, but also to humiliate. This had already been clear in Ms. Muller's chronicling of the sequence of restrictions placed upon the lives of Dutch Jews, which are rightly described as "malevolent." Here at the close of the book we see it repeatedly, as when Ms. Muller describes the disorientation that Jewish prisoners must have felt upon disembarking from trains at Auschwitz and being greeted with high floodlights and whippings. This is large-scale history from the personal vantage point, as with any biography -- but it enhances the history around it. Often what the Nazis did, because it is analyzed in an attempt to understand how it came about and how it functioned, is remembered in the abstract, so that, for instance, the restrictions on Dutch Jews can seem merely like the necessary steps to genocide rather than the malevolent expressions of hatred that they also were.

In the end the biography, though impossible to put down, becomes hard to read. The one negative thing I can say about the last part of the book is that it is so horrifying, it overwhelms a reader's reception of the gifts in the earlier sections; those have to be taken in again under a second reading. ( )

Most of have read about Anne Frank, or at least heard of this young girl. Bright , vivacious , and insightful Anne, along with her mother and sister, is murdered by the cruel Nazi regime of WW2.
THIS particular book by Marcia Muller is most likely the most informative and well-researched bio of the the girl that was, and the young woman she was becoming. ( )

Very readable.. compulsively so.. Here is a personal tragedy;
A well-written account, with a strong narrative and a seamless meshing of biographical and historical detail. ( )

Well, I tried. I read the first hundred pages and was bored to tears. Every page was a struggle to finish without nodding off. You'd think it'd be difficult to make Nazi Germany boring, but apparently not. There were so many names and places and dates that I felt like I was reading a textbook, not a biography. Ultimately I realized that as important and tragic as Anne Frank's story is, I just couldn't get through this particular telling of it. I'll stick with the original diary and leave this tome for those who want every last detail. ( )

I usually avoid reading biographies because of the impassive tone of the writing and the endless facts that become tiresome. This biography of a young girl who lived and died in tragic times is an exception. I enjoyed learning about her extended family and the ties that bound them together even when they were forced apart. The Dutch people were amazing in the way they protected their Jewish neighbors to the best of their abilities. There are many unsung heroes who risked their lives to fight the spreading evil of Hitler and his henchmen.

While The Diary of Anne Frank tells about two years in the life of this ordinary girl who loved life and had the remarkable gift of expressing what it felt like to be in hiding, Muller adds much detail to Anne's story through her thorough research. if you've ever wondered what kind of life Anne had before and after her written account, then this is a book that will answer your questions.

There are many family stories, reproductions of photographs, and an extensive Epilogue that tells what happened to most of the key people in the book. Miep Gies was the trusted employee of Otto Frank who made it possible for two families and one dentist to be fed and clothed for two years as they lived in the cramped annex behind the office and warehouse of Mr. Frank's business. I heartily agree with what she wrote in her letter of 1998 that is included in this updated and expanded biography:

"It is often said that Anne symbolizes the six million victims of the Holocaust. I consider this statement wrong. Anne's life and death were her own individual fate, an individual fate that happened six million times over. Anne cannot, and should not, stand for the many individuals whom the Nazis robbed of their lives. Each victim had his or her own ideals and outlook on life; each victim occupied a unique, personal place in the world and in the hearts of his or her relatives and friends." ( )