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A review by elizc3
Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal by Renia Spiegel
4.0
~~An advanced copy of this book was provided by St. Martin's Press and Goodreads with no promise of a review~~
I believe my review will reiterate the feelings of most of the people who have had the pleasure of reading this book. Renia Spiegel‘s diary takes place over four years in 1939-1942 - which makes it extremely difficult to review. This is someone's immediate recollection of their own life events. I find it to be unnecessary to try to analyze this book from a pure writing perspective.
Renia is a teen girl so a lot of her musings are focused on crushes, friendship issues, and her day to day life. Which quite frankly gets a bit tedious at times but it's a teen girl's diary. I think this gives you a better picture of Renia as a whole and that's what this book is primarily intended to do: give you Renia's account of the last 4 years of her life. I am no longer a teen girl but I do believe that most teenagers/middle/high schoolers would be able to related to this content making it easier to read and absorb as opposed to other WWII non-fiction accounts.
Her poetry is amazing and she paints beautiful images with her words; her ability to be introspective is one that most don't expect from a teenager which comes as a pleasant burst of beauty within her day to day observations. She was an extremely talented and well rounded young woman whose pain was clearly depicted when she wrote about missing her mother and later about trying to protect her sister while fleeing with her grandparents. Reina uses her diary to give her some semblance of normalcy in her ever changing traumatic situation. This is an amazing feat of strength in my opinion. To strive and work to give yourself something to hold on to when everything is falling apart.
The afterword is equally as heartbreaking if not more with the additional traumatic details provided by Elizabeth. Elizabeth's details provided some much needed perspective and information that was missed in the diary. I think it could be a good resource to read prior to the diary especially if the intention is to use this book in a classroom/book club setting.
I believe my review will reiterate the feelings of most of the people who have had the pleasure of reading this book. Renia Spiegel‘s diary takes place over four years in 1939-1942 - which makes it extremely difficult to review. This is someone's immediate recollection of their own life events. I find it to be unnecessary to try to analyze this book from a pure writing perspective.
Renia is a teen girl so a lot of her musings are focused on crushes, friendship issues, and her day to day life. Which quite frankly gets a bit tedious at times but it's a teen girl's diary. I think this gives you a better picture of Renia as a whole and that's what this book is primarily intended to do: give you Renia's account of the last 4 years of her life. I am no longer a teen girl but I do believe that most teenagers/middle/high schoolers would be able to related to this content making it easier to read and absorb as opposed to other WWII non-fiction accounts.
Her poetry is amazing and she paints beautiful images with her words; her ability to be introspective is one that most don't expect from a teenager which comes as a pleasant burst of beauty within her day to day observations. She was an extremely talented and well rounded young woman whose pain was clearly depicted when she wrote about missing her mother and later about trying to protect her sister while fleeing with her grandparents. Reina uses her diary to give her some semblance of normalcy in her ever changing traumatic situation. This is an amazing feat of strength in my opinion. To strive and work to give yourself something to hold on to when everything is falling apart.
The afterword is equally as heartbreaking if not more with the additional traumatic details provided by Elizabeth. Elizabeth's details provided some much needed perspective and information that was missed in the diary. I think it could be a good resource to read prior to the diary especially if the intention is to use this book in a classroom/book club setting.