Zlata's Diary by Zlata Filipovic (book review by Eleni)

Author: Zlata Filipovic
Release Date: February 1st 1994
Publisher: Viking Penguin
Pages: 208
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon

In a voice both innocent and wise, touchingly reminiscent of Anne Frank's, Zlata Filipovic's diary has awoken the conscience of the world. Now thirteen years old, Zlata began her diary just before her eleventh birthday, when there was peace in Sarajevo and her life was that of a bright, intelligent, carefree young girl. Her early entries describe her friends, her new skis, her family, her grades at school, her interest in joining the Madonna Fan Club. And then, on television, she sees the bombs falling on Dubrovnik. Though repelled by the sight, Zlata cannot conceive of the same thing happening in Sarajevo. When it does, the whole tone of her diary changes. 

Review:

In my opinion you can really review a diary, a diary written by a little girl that had her childhood stolen from the cruelty of war. A lot of people have compared this diary to the Diary of Anne Frank and I have to agree to that. It's pretty much the same situations but different times, and that makes you think how can things like that happen today? How people go into war without even thinking of the consequences that it will have on children, to their country, to their world?

We see Zlata writing in her diary before the war broke out and all you can see is a happy kid, a kid listening to Michael Jackson, and Madonna, going to her friends homes , watching MTV and dreaming of rock stars and pop stars, we see a kid that he utmost concern is homework and all that change in an instant with the declaration of war.

War transforms a person from kind to cruel, from soft to hard, imagine the impact that it has to a 12 year old child, the damage it can create. Suddenly, Zlata changes and starts thinking about politics and worry about things that kids their age should not, either because they are too young to comprehend or because simply they have other fun stuff in their minds. We see Zlata growing up and get more serious, more worried about her family's safety and her own and its heart breaking.

Although, most of us can only read diaries like these we should try and prevent situations similar to what Zlata and Anne Frank went through to occur again. 

The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne (book review by Eleni)

Author: John Boyne
Release Date: September 12th 2006
Publisher: Fickling Books
Pages: 224
Rating: 3 stars
Buy on: Barnes and Noble

Berlin 1942

When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance.

But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

REVIEW:

This is another book that I read during my experiment with World War 2 Literature and I have to say that I am little dissapointed. I made the mistake and watched the movie first before reading this book and usually the term ''the book is always better than the movie'' is true although it does not apply in this situation. The movie itself was not great but I expected the book to be for that reason only.

The first thing that I noticed was the writing of course. It was very good but no great but you get in the story pretty quickly. The author did a great job telling the story of a nine year old boy in Nazi Germany, son of an SS Officer , a boy who only wanted to explore everything, even the darkest corners of his home ,a boy sourounded by the world;s darkest time and humanities lowest point and be totally oblivious to what exactly was happening around him. 

When he moved with his family to Poland, a few kilometers from Auschwitz he could see the chimneys of the most notorious death camp and yet he simply could not comprehend what this was...for him it was a farm with people that were wearing pajamas all day and the only thing that he wanted to do was find new friends in this new ''neighborhood'' and play with them. Until he meets one of the boys in that ;;farm;;.

A story nicely told with a tint of sadness and a friendship evolving in the two different worlds with just a wired fence to separate them, a sad ending and message so well passed, this is a book that should stand along with other novels about the holocaust with the exception of a few mistakes by the author.

How can a boy growing up in Nazi Germany does not what Heil Hitler means and how can he possibly believe that this is a form of saying hello? How can the author refer to the English name of Auschwitz (out-with) when this book is supposed to be taking place in Germany - Poland and the main characters speak German? Also there are some plot holes in the story that there are not hard to pass but anyone can notice them. Due to those little mistakes the book loses some of its just thus the 3 stars.

Night by Ellie Wiesel (book review by Eleni)

Author: Ellie Wiesel
Release Date: January 1st 1958
Publisher: Hill and Wang
Series: Night #1
Pages: 120
Rating: 4 stars
Buy on: Amazon

A terrifying account of the Nazi death camp horror that turns a young Jewish boy into an agonized witness to the death of his family...the death of his innocence...and the death of his God. Penetrating and powerful, as personal as The Diary Of Anne Frank, Night awakens the shocking memory of evil at its absolute and carries with it the unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again.

Review: 

While doing an experiment on reading books of WWII Death Camp survivor's accounts and memoirs I came across this little book and to be honest, this is the most memorable in comparison to the rest.

Like every autobiographical book, it starts with a little background on the authors life at the time and fast enough it progresses to the main events of the book - at this point the story turns into Nightmare.  Young Ellie was taken to Auschwitz - Birkenau in train vagons that were for animals - he and his family were treated like animals. Once in the death camp he is being separeted from his family and stays with his father and thats because an inmate warned them by telling them to lie about their ages.

From that point on we see the everyday life in Auschwitz - the nightmares those people had to go through, the starvation and the treatment they were receiving.The most important of all in this book is how a person changes - how war can change a human being from good to bad, from ethical to unethical. 

At some point in the book we actually read how Ellie wished his father was dead so he wouldn't bear his burden, how he was disgusted at himself a second later for thinking of it and how he realised that he was changed so much within those few months he was in the camp, but anyone would think that way, especially when you try to survive, when life becomes a struggle about your life and when you are willing to do anything to survive, sacrifice everything just to get alive from this nightmare.I felt so sad after reading this paragraph, so guilty for a reason I cannot comprehend.

The reason I gave this book 4 stars is because of the way the book is written, although I know that is is an abridged version of the book in comparison to the original one which is only available in Yiddish (the full version). I think the publisher went too far with cutting out shocking scenes from the book that it severed a lot the content and especially for those who wanted to read more and wanted more insight of Auschwitz. 

It;s a great account of the Holocaust that everyone should read.