a little un-classic

I don't think anyone reads this little blog anymore ... but I'm back anyway :)  I have a few other posts brewing in my brain ... so we'll see ...

Disclaimer :)  I feel a little hesitant sharing my opinions with you as Anne Frank is one of those people who seem to be up on an untippable pedestal ... but with the hope that I can benefit at least one family ... I'm setting my hesitations aside.

My 14 year-old daughter requested to read The Diary of Anne Frank and I told her I needed to preview it first.  I'm so glad I did; it was not what I expected it to be.  Why Eleanor Roosevelt called it a "moving war commentary" is beyond me.  A friend of mine read my notes and she called it "soft porn for children".  I would guess that less than 5% of the book pertains to anything of national or international interest.  The bulk of the book is merely a teenage girl's diary.

And what information do most teenage girls fill the pages of their diaries with (and this girl in particular)???  Politics and current news events?  Of course not.  Anne wrote about people that bug her, friends, boys, issues with her family, books she is reading, activities and relationships concerning the 8 people in the building (especially their quirks and quarrels), food, schoolwork/studies, illnesses, birthdays/holidays, aspirations of being a writer (she will never be just a housewife!), her body/puberty.

Although Anne made a few observations which seem pretty poignant for a teenage girl to make ...

"What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again." (p. 227)

"Stupid people usually can't take it if others do better than they do."  (p. 249)

at the end of the day ... Anne said it best herself when she called her ramblings nonsense.  "Sometimes I very much doubt whether in the future anyone will be interested in all my tosh. 'The unbosomings of an ugly duckling' will be the title of all this nonsense." (p. 209)

So ... did I hand it over to my daughter after I finished it???  Absolutely not.  There are a few things in it that are completely inappropriate; I wouldn't even consider putting them in this post.  {If you want to see my notes ... let me know.}  She isn't a great role model.  The book begins with her and an older boy figuring out when they can see each other without his grandparents (who disapprove of the relationship) knowing about it. She isn't respectful towards adults ... especially her mother.  "Aren't the grown-ups idiotic and stupid?" (p. 163) AND "I don't feel in the least bit responsible to any of you." (p. 224)  MANY pages are devoted to musings about a present infatuation Anne is cherishing and nurturing.  Lastly, and not surprisingly, she has bad theology.  "A religion, it doesn't matter which, keeps a person on the right path." (p. 256)  "I don't have to give an account of my deeds to anyone but myself." (p. 225)  And ... "Why shouldn't I follow the way my heart leads me, if it makes [me] happy?" (p. 212)  BECAUSE "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can understand it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)

So what did I tell my daughter???  I told Halo she COULD read it when SHE is a mother in her thirties and SHE has a young daughter asking to read it :)  And ... IF she does decide to read it at this point in the future ... then she would understand why I didn't feel it was best for her to read it as a young woman ... and that I said no because I love her.  Although ... even as a thirty-something ... I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone or laud it as a classic.  If "classic" means "to be judged over a period of time to be of highest quality and outstanding" ... and you want to read a classic from the times of World War II ... then The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom is a far superior option.