A review by atticmoth
Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex by Anne Frank

4.0

Part 1 of this book, “Fables and Short Stories,” comprises the fiction that Anne Frank refers to numerous times in her diary. While some have kept in mind that these fictions were written by a teenager, they stand on their own as solid works of fiction, even without the astounding historical context. Frank takes on a surrealistic tone similar to that of Leonora Carrington in some stories, and I found them thoroughly enjoyable to read through. Each story packs a lot into just a few pages, but contain moments of wisdom beyond the author’s years. My favorite was “Eve’s Dream,” but the beginning of her unfinished novel Cady’s Life has some really strong ideas too. The second part of the book was entitled “Personal Reminisces and Essays” and I feel would have been more effective if edited into her Diary. These are mostly autobiographical, but I suppose the distinction is that they describe a period of time before she started writing the diary?