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A review by shebreatheswords
Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo: Revised Edition by Zlata Filipović
I have difficulties rating books that are based on true-life events, especially when they are set into a horrifying time in history.
This book is nothing compared to the written style of the Diary of Anne Frank, and I do not like the comparison. As Zlata said, the comparison was frightening to her cause she didn't want to live the same fate as Anne did, and that itself is a tell on her maturity. Comparing them and the wars is just appalling, and it is taking away the focus of the REAL importance of books like these!
ON THE BOOK ITSELF:
The book is contained of her diary entries in a form of a letter to a friend. It starts with her happy childhood and was interrupted by the war. Her daily thought of when to play the piano and see her friends and go to school is now replaced with a constant worry. How to get the food, water, her parent's struggles, not seeing her friends, family, death, devastation, and often suicidal thoughts as she grows older in these circumstances. I was reading it with empathy, and a lot of bias to be honest. But I can't separate the reality of it, and the thought that a child is not supposed to feel and think these things, or any human for that matter. I understood her, her teenage and innocent view on certain matters as her parents didn't want her to be involved in politics and her need for an answer that often comes with a quick surrender. Seeing how certain names she mentions, of people, animals, streets, etc not existing anymore, really breaks a heart.
ON THE REVIEWS I'VE READ HERE:
It is so sad to read reviews of adult people with such a privileged view, on a book written by an 11-year-old girl, living through a siege. I do respect not liking the written style but saying that it wasn't interesting enough or that she was whiny and should move on?? ... let me remind you that this was a real-time in history, people were robbed of their life, they were surviving, this is a perspective of A CHILD. It is not published for your entertainment, but to remind the world of the horrendous aspects of the war and how it affects people physically and psychologically if they survive. To give you individual stories that need to be shared, so they wouldn't be forgotten or repeated.
You want something interesting, don't read wartime entries but memoirs of celebrities.
This book is nothing compared to the written style of the Diary of Anne Frank, and I do not like the comparison. As Zlata said, the comparison was frightening to her cause she didn't want to live the same fate as Anne did, and that itself is a tell on her maturity. Comparing them and the wars is just appalling, and it is taking away the focus of the REAL importance of books like these!
ON THE BOOK ITSELF:
The book is contained of her diary entries in a form of a letter to a friend. It starts with her happy childhood and was interrupted by the war. Her daily thought of when to play the piano and see her friends and go to school is now replaced with a constant worry. How to get the food, water, her parent's struggles, not seeing her friends, family, death, devastation, and often suicidal thoughts as she grows older in these circumstances. I was reading it with empathy, and a lot of bias to be honest. But I can't separate the reality of it, and the thought that a child is not supposed to feel and think these things, or any human for that matter. I understood her, her teenage and innocent view on certain matters as her parents didn't want her to be involved in politics and her need for an answer that often comes with a quick surrender. Seeing how certain names she mentions, of people, animals, streets, etc not existing anymore, really breaks a heart.
ON THE REVIEWS I'VE READ HERE:
It is so sad to read reviews of adult people with such a privileged view, on a book written by an 11-year-old girl, living through a siege. I do respect not liking the written style but saying that it wasn't interesting enough or that she was whiny and should move on?? ... let me remind you that this was a real-time in history, people were robbed of their life, they were surviving, this is a perspective of A CHILD. It is not published for your entertainment, but to remind the world of the horrendous aspects of the war and how it affects people physically and psychologically if they survive. To give you individual stories that need to be shared, so they wouldn't be forgotten or repeated.
You want something interesting, don't read wartime entries but memoirs of celebrities.