Reviews

Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo by Zlata Filipović, Christina Pribićević-Zorić, Janine di Giovanni

tony_t's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.25

"Zlata's Diary" by Zlata Filipovic is two years worth of entries in the diary of an eleven-year-old Sarajevo girl during the war there (1991-1993). I think the comparison to Anne Frank does both young ladies a disservice. Zlata faces many horrific situations during the war but she also receives letters from friends, food packages, and visits from world media when her diary is selected for publication. Plus Zlata survived. The diary yo-yos between mundane everyday activities and the horrors of war like watching her mother run across the bridge to get to work and trying to avoid becoming the target of snipers.

caseymr's review against another edition

Just couldn't get into it. 

karinlib's review against another edition

4.0

Zlata Filipovic wrote a diary during the Bosnian War from 1991 - 1993, from her home in Sarajevo. She was 11 years old when the war started, and she writes about the war in her diary. She talks of nightly shelling, bomb shelters, hunger and cold. She complains that the combatants don't understand the ordinary people, and their needs. I love that she calls the officials "kids".

This is a book that describes what it is like to be a child in a war zone and I am glad I read this.

remigves's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

shantelmarie's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

4.0

The story was so sad and so realistic.  I remember small details about the war in Bosnia when I was a kid.  I was young and remembered very little other than that it occurred.  I went to school with many people that had fled Bosnia but had no idea the extent to which they had suffered.  While reading Zlata’s diary, it felt like I was experiencing the war right there with her.  Hearing about war from the perspective of a young, happy child was absolutely heart-breaking.  Great book, a must read for both young and old alike.  

lexstorie's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

texreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Reading an 11-year-old’s diary when she’s a happy child and then suffering the fates of the Bosnian War is tragic and sad. Pages of the diary were published during the war in 1991-93 when she lived in Sarajevo, and she knew she was being compared to Anne Frank. Her writing is exemplary for her age but she never understood why there was a war and why peace wasn’t coming. She was both hopeful and sometimes suicidal as friends were killed and families, friends, and neighbors were displaced. From the introduction we learn her family eventually escapes to Paris and from Wikipedia we learn she went to Oxford and now champions the cause of children suffering through war. Of course an inspiration. Reading about war from a child’s perspective is eye-opening to say the least. I am glad she left us this legacy. 

mdpbernal's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.0

lydiaahufinger's review against another edition

3.0

Recuerdo haber leído este libro en el instituto, he conseguido recordar que iba sobre Sarajevo y he dado con el título. Recuerdo que me gustó, que me entristeció el relato de la guerra.

lindapatin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

3.5