Reviews

Annelies by David R. Gillham

abrswf's review against another edition

5.0

A wrenching novel which accurately reports Anne Frank's story but imagines her surviving Bergen Belsen. It tore me up to read this, but it is beautifully researched and written.

morgan23070307's review

emotional hopeful inspiring

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

hmcmahon's review

4.0

I truly enjoyed this book. At first I was upset with how Anne was portrayed after the war, angry at the world. But, she deserved to be. Anne Frank’s diary made a huge impact on me when I first read it, and this just felt like an extension of that. I felt I got to know Anne even better, and what she and her family went through.

rachelcbentley's review against another edition

2.0

I knew going in that this book was going to be gritty and hard. Unfortunately, it wasn't gritty in the way that I wanted it to be. I felt like we brushed over a lot of events and that left the development not unjustified, but unbuilt. I understand the anger of Anne, but the way the actual hiding and the time at the camps makes it hard to fully comprehend the level of anger she had. I'm sold on the anguish surviving had - I just wanted it to be harder on the reader to get there.
I also found myself separating the Anne Frank we know as a historical figure from the character Anne. There was a sense of disjointedness like I knew who we were reading about and then didn't.
I think I'm going to stick to reading accounts and that if nothing else I've gleaned from this book that I'm not a fan of reworking history.
I don't regret reading it though, I made it through it, but I don't know if I'd recommend it to someone with a similar taste in books.

ketysread8's review

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

lisa_bergin's review against another edition

4.0

This is an interesting ‘ what if’ Anne Frank had survived the war story. I think on the whole it is very well executed and I appreciated the authors note at the end which clarified what was fact and fiction.

skorned's review against another edition

1.0

Interesting premise but I just could not get into it. Part of it was that the author seems to have felt the need to EMPHASIZE practically EVERY other WORD by putting it in ITALICS, which was wearying. Maybe if I had skipped ahead 150 pages to where he's done imagining what Anne Frank's pre-diary life was like, I might've cared more, but I just couldn't make it past 50 pages.