Today on Boxing Day, I have just finished The Annexed by Sharan Dogar. Starting the book, it was very vivid after visiting Amsterdam, earlier in the year. I could imagine the street and some of the rooms; not so much how the warehouse fitted in as don’t think see that. I liked that Anne was not glorified; it is described how Peter found her irritating. As the book continues they become closer, at this point I became less keen to read as you know it is not going to be a happy ending and there is no suspense. Partly, I read it intermittently as book was at my parents but also I chose to start other books whilst at my parents. Sitting down to read it on Boxing Day, after a while I ended up reading blog posts about Anne Frank; I realised it was about 20years since read Anne Frank’s diary so could not remember details. Below are highlights of what I read.
It would be interesting to have read Anne Frank’s diary and Annexed side by side. Annexed reference’s the diary albeit changing sequence of events; it includes some footnotes about alterations. It talks about romantic tension between Anne, Margot and Peter which you can imagine happening with teenagers in intimate, isolated environment but; I can not remember from the diary. In Annexed Peter asks Anne not to write about their closeness; so could it be this was not explicitly written in the diary. Anne rewrote her diary; conscious of recording the experience for public so it is not a private, raw venting diary.
The last part of Annexed is the time in the camp. I do not like all the italics breaking up the writing.
Someone else’s review of Annexed.
https://albertaninmtliteratureblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/12/module-six-annexed/
A post about alternative view that those in the annex were found by accident rather than betrayed. https://givemeliberty01.com/2017/10/16/anne-frank-may-not-have-been-betrayed/
A review of Anne Frank diary. https://thebookllama.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/anne-frank-the-diary-of-a-young-girlhaunting-and-hopeful/
Another alternative to Anne Frank’s diary is discussed in this post where women who knew Anne Frank are interviewed.
http://thereandtheir.com/2017/08/28/the-last-seven-months-of-anne-frank-book-review/
Wonderwall 