Status
Available
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Collection
Publication
St. Martin's Press (2019), Edition: Translation, 336 pages
Description
"The long-hidden diary of a young Polish woman's last days during the Holocaust, translated for the first time into English, with a foreword from American Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt. Renia Spiegel was a young girl from an upper-middle class Jewish family living on an estate in Stawki, Poland, near what was at that time the border with Romania. In the summer of 1939, Renia and her sister Elizabeth (née Ariana) were visiting their grandparents in Przemysl, right before the Germans invaded Poland. Like Anne Frank, Renia recorded her days in her beloved diary. She also filled it with beautiful original poetry. Her diary records how she grew up, fell in love, and was rounded up by the invading Nazis and forced to move to the ghetto in Przemsyl with all the other Jews. By luck, Renia's boyfriend Zygmund was able to find a tenement for Renia to hide in with his parents and took her out of the ghetto. This is all described in the Diary, as well as the tragedies that befell her family and her ultimate fate in 1942, as written in by Zygmund on the Diary's final page. Renia's Diary is a significant historical and psychological document. The raw, yet beautiful account depicts Renia's angst over the horrors going on around her. It has been translated from the original Polish, with notes included by her surviving sister, Elizabeth Bellak"--… (more)
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User reviews
LibraryThing member billsearth
This young woman writes her deepest feelings into her diary. At the start, she is a teenager making friends and dealing with social pressures with those school friends, but she loves to learn and to write.
As her story progresses war breaks out and everyone is enduring very hard times. She then
This is such an intimate chronicle of falling in love it is worth reading in spite of the grim circumstances.
There is a secondary theme beneath the love story but it is not the main story.
The reader will find out the difference between believing what needs to be done and actually doing what needs to be done. That theme is actually better addressed in a similar holocaust book called "Irena's Children". but you can get a feel for it in this book. Both the main story of young love and that underlying theme are timeless and so the book is worth reading if you can stomach the suffering that goes on in the last half of the book. For those who want to read only the part before the writer is killed, stop at the bottom of page 271 and don't read the afterward either, or the "notes". But that would be hard to do once you have read that far.
As her story progresses war breaks out and everyone is enduring very hard times. She then
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meets a boy she falls in love with. Her most intimate feelings and hopes are put in the journal. As the timeline moves forward she becomes more mature as does her boyfriend. They are by then totally inseparable and she is building an imaginary home life in her dreams with him. But oppression spills over to long-term violence in the streets and homes. Many of her friends are killed or taken away. The couple survives for a while thanks to the boyfriend's efforts and commitment but she is killed. Eighty years later, the boyfriend and her younger sister look again at the diary she left and decide to publish it. This is such an intimate chronicle of falling in love it is worth reading in spite of the grim circumstances.
There is a secondary theme beneath the love story but it is not the main story.
The reader will find out the difference between believing what needs to be done and actually doing what needs to be done. That theme is actually better addressed in a similar holocaust book called "Irena's Children". but you can get a feel for it in this book. Both the main story of young love and that underlying theme are timeless and so the book is worth reading if you can stomach the suffering that goes on in the last half of the book. For those who want to read only the part before the writer is killed, stop at the bottom of page 271 and don't read the afterward either, or the "notes". But that would be hard to do once you have read that far.
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LibraryThing member Tuke15
Renia's Diary
Had a lot of interesting stuff in it. I didn't care for the poems and songs, but that was just a part of who Renia was.
I'm glad her sister has had the journal printed, so Renia can give a SHOUT OUT to the world!
Had a lot of interesting stuff in it. I didn't care for the poems and songs, but that was just a part of who Renia was.
I'm glad her sister has had the journal printed, so Renia can give a SHOUT OUT to the world!
LibraryThing member HuberK
Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal by Renia Spiegel; With Her Sister, Elizabeth Bellak and With Writer Sarah Durand
Renia started a diary for herself, in Poland, so she would have a nonjudgmental friend who could console her when she was down January 31, 1939.
Renia shares her hopes and dreams,
She gets a boyfriend Zygmunt. He survived and Renia did not. She had given Zygu (a nickname she called him by) her journal. Her journal is interesting, she lives is Przemysl, Poland with her grandparents, who live in the apartment above their stationary shop. Her mother is mostly in Warsaw and their father lives out on their country estate, farming and keeping people working for him.
Renia gets together with her friends regularly, there are 6 or 8 guys and girls that hang out together, regularly.
Her diary is interesting, but seems to stay in one place. There was an expectation, that this was a diary from someone who lived and died during the Holocaust, or who survived. It wasn't until the Epilogue by her sister Elizabeth that explained a lot of things. The poetry and songs aren't my thing, but for the right person, it would be great.
Renia was murdered by the Nazis in 1942.
I received a complimentary copy from Goodreads and St. Martin's Press with no obligation to review.
Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal by Renia Spiegel; With Her Sister, Elizabeth Bellak and With Writer Sarah Durand
Renia started a diary for herself, in Poland, so she would have a nonjudgmental friend who could console her when she was down January 31, 1939.
Renia shares her hopes and dreams,
Show More
poetry and songs-some that she made up and others that spoke to her. She hangs out with her friends. She misses her sister-who is a start and is gone a lot. She misses her mama-who lives in a different part of the country.She gets a boyfriend Zygmunt. He survived and Renia did not. She had given Zygu (a nickname she called him by) her journal. Her journal is interesting, she lives is Przemysl, Poland with her grandparents, who live in the apartment above their stationary shop. Her mother is mostly in Warsaw and their father lives out on their country estate, farming and keeping people working for him.
Renia gets together with her friends regularly, there are 6 or 8 guys and girls that hang out together, regularly.
Her diary is interesting, but seems to stay in one place. There was an expectation, that this was a diary from someone who lived and died during the Holocaust, or who survived. It wasn't until the Epilogue by her sister Elizabeth that explained a lot of things. The poetry and songs aren't my thing, but for the right person, it would be great.
Renia was murdered by the Nazis in 1942.
I received a complimentary copy from Goodreads and St. Martin's Press with no obligation to review.
Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal by Renia Spiegel; With Her Sister, Elizabeth Bellak and With Writer Sarah Durand
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LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
Renia’s Diary, Renia Spiegel and Deborah Lipstadt, authors
I have been reading this book for quite some time. It was hard to read more than a few pages at a time because the content made me think about the richness of her short life that never made it to its natural end. Overwhelmed by the awful
Renia, was only a teenager when Hitler began his rise to power. Her diary reveals how her ordinary teenage feelings, her friendships, little spats, school relationships and her dreams for her future occupied her mind and daily life. Using poems, she filled her diary with her thoughts. After all these years, her sister has compiled them into this memoir dedicated to her memory.
The world was robbed of a genuinely brilliant young poet from what I have read. Her emotions are raw, on the page, and because we know she dies, it is really hard to get one’s arms around her thoughts without feeling overwhelmed. What a life she dreamt for herself? How naïve she was, and how ordinary, except for being Jewish, a condition that Hitler and those that followed him could not tolerate. Keep tissues handy or keep a stiff upper lip because she was robbed of her future, her life, unjustly.
I have been reading this book for quite some time. It was hard to read more than a few pages at a time because the content made me think about the richness of her short life that never made it to its natural end. Overwhelmed by the awful
Show More
reality, most often I would put the book down to read the next day or the next.Renia, was only a teenager when Hitler began his rise to power. Her diary reveals how her ordinary teenage feelings, her friendships, little spats, school relationships and her dreams for her future occupied her mind and daily life. Using poems, she filled her diary with her thoughts. After all these years, her sister has compiled them into this memoir dedicated to her memory.
The world was robbed of a genuinely brilliant young poet from what I have read. Her emotions are raw, on the page, and because we know she dies, it is really hard to get one’s arms around her thoughts without feeling overwhelmed. What a life she dreamt for herself? How naïve she was, and how ordinary, except for being Jewish, a condition that Hitler and those that followed him could not tolerate. Keep tissues handy or keep a stiff upper lip because she was robbed of her future, her life, unjustly.
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LibraryThing member JamesBanzer
We're already familiar with the Diary of Anne Frank, in which a young Jewish girl detailed personal experiences as she hid in the attic of a home in Amsterdam. She didn't survive the Holocaust and the diary was found subsequent to her death at the hands of the German Nazis. Her story of the horrors
Another diary with potential to serve as a similar educational tool was published in 2019. It's titled Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal. Like the aforementioned journal from Frank, this diary also records thoughts of a Jewish girl who died during the World War II Holocaust. Her real name was Renata Spiegal. As Adolph Hitler spread his terror, this girl regularly made diary entries in her homeland of Poland. The Nazis in 1942 employed gunfire to kill Renia and the parents of her boyfriend.
As a teen she became infatuated with a young man who she hoped would one day become her husband. Her times spent with him and thinking about him are happily detailed. Renia talks about experiencing the first kiss with boyfriend Zygmunt Schwarzer shortly after her 17th birthday. While she appears to have had in large degee a remarkable ability avoid being overly obsessed with negatives associated with the war, she still reflected sadness. Then in July of 1941, she was forced to wear a white arm band and a blue star.
Words she put to paper showed maturity beyond her years. Although not belaboring the subject, she wrote of a fear of death. Perhaps what sustained her was her dream of marrying Zygu. After her death he found the diary and made additional entries. Many years following liberation of the Jews, Zygu took the diary with him to New York City. Renia's mother and younger surviving sister were living there by that time. They were given the diary. For years following the war, the diary had been kept locked away in a safe deposit box.
It is now in print in book form, thanks to St. Martin's Press. This work should be studied in schools; it is deserving of wide discussion. The girl who carefully journaled her thoughts during the teen years of 14 to 18 has now been dead the better part of eight decades. It's interesting to contemplate what Renia would have made of her life had she survived the Holocaust. Zygmunt was lucky to have lived. Like his father, he went on to become a physician. He married and became a father. Renia was robbed. How she would have spent her adulthood is something of which we can only speculate.
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that raged all around has been studied by generations of post-war readers. It has served to help keep alive the memory of the carnage of the times.Another diary with potential to serve as a similar educational tool was published in 2019. It's titled Renia's Diary: A Holocaust Journal. Like the aforementioned journal from Frank, this diary also records thoughts of a Jewish girl who died during the World War II Holocaust. Her real name was Renata Spiegal. As Adolph Hitler spread his terror, this girl regularly made diary entries in her homeland of Poland. The Nazis in 1942 employed gunfire to kill Renia and the parents of her boyfriend.
As a teen she became infatuated with a young man who she hoped would one day become her husband. Her times spent with him and thinking about him are happily detailed. Renia talks about experiencing the first kiss with boyfriend Zygmunt Schwarzer shortly after her 17th birthday. While she appears to have had in large degee a remarkable ability avoid being overly obsessed with negatives associated with the war, she still reflected sadness. Then in July of 1941, she was forced to wear a white arm band and a blue star.
Words she put to paper showed maturity beyond her years. Although not belaboring the subject, she wrote of a fear of death. Perhaps what sustained her was her dream of marrying Zygu. After her death he found the diary and made additional entries. Many years following liberation of the Jews, Zygu took the diary with him to New York City. Renia's mother and younger surviving sister were living there by that time. They were given the diary. For years following the war, the diary had been kept locked away in a safe deposit box.
It is now in print in book form, thanks to St. Martin's Press. This work should be studied in schools; it is deserving of wide discussion. The girl who carefully journaled her thoughts during the teen years of 14 to 18 has now been dead the better part of eight decades. It's interesting to contemplate what Renia would have made of her life had she survived the Holocaust. Zygmunt was lucky to have lived. Like his father, he went on to become a physician. He married and became a father. Renia was robbed. How she would have spent her adulthood is something of which we can only speculate.
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LibraryThing member Slevyr26
Not going to rate this because I cannot rate the innermost thoughts of a young teenage girl who never had any intention of this being published. Moreover, there was something about the translation that was so very difficult for me to connect with. Maybe it was a direct transliteration, so very
The majority of Renia’s Diary, as any young girl’s diary might be, was filled endlessly about boys and friends and parties. That was about 95% of the entire book and rightly so — but it was a bit deceiving, as this is sold as a Holocaust journal. It was not really about the Holocaust or the trauma Renia or her family experienced. It seems a little dishonest to sell it in such a way and thus I can understand the low-starred reviews. I will not rate this because how dare I rate a young, innocent girl’s private words that weren’t intended to be shared? Every story of the Holocaust, all twelve-plus million of them, deserve to be told and heard and never forgotten. Renia’s is one of those.
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literal and dissimilar to how an English speaker would write or speak. This is not to say it was wrong or incorrect to be translated this way, but it was very difficult to find any rhythm or flow and therefore hard for me to connect with the writing and the content. I enjoyed Elizabeth’s detailed and informative explanations at the end that filled in some of the gaps in Renia’s diary entries. The majority of Renia’s Diary, as any young girl’s diary might be, was filled endlessly about boys and friends and parties. That was about 95% of the entire book and rightly so — but it was a bit deceiving, as this is sold as a Holocaust journal. It was not really about the Holocaust or the trauma Renia or her family experienced. It seems a little dishonest to sell it in such a way and thus I can understand the low-starred reviews. I will not rate this because how dare I rate a young, innocent girl’s private words that weren’t intended to be shared? Every story of the Holocaust, all twelve-plus million of them, deserve to be told and heard and never forgotten. Renia’s is one of those.
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LibraryThing member pivic
This book is the edited version of Renia Spiegel‘s diary that spans nearly 700 pages and nearly four years in 1939-1942.
Sergey Yarov wrote brilliantly about morality in the siege of Leningrad during World War II. He read a lot of previously redacted diaries that belonged to people who were part
Equally, Viktor Klemperer‘s essential diaries from World War II told a most chilling tale where Jews were violently targeted, people that weren’t The Teutonic Ideal were persecuted, and entire populations razed off the face of the Earth. But not without testimony.
Most importantly, diaries offer us something that memoirs do not: an emotional immediacy. And it is this immediacy that is so very compelling. I am reminded of Helene Berr, the Israelite young Parisian woman who kept a diary from 1942 through to the day she and her parents were rounded up in March 1944. Fortuitously, she begins to write but a short time before the decree that all Jews must wear a yellow star.
She confides to the diary her struggle with whether to wear it or not. Was wearing it an act of compliance with a hateful regime or did it demonstrate a pride in one’s Jewish identity? We read of her reactions to passerby’s comments. Some express solidarity and others pity. She reflects on them, not from a distance of many years, but on the day she encountered them. She does not—because she cannot—contextualize this act as the first step in an array of far worse persecution to come.
The above is part of the introduction that is written by Renia’s sister, Ariana Spiegel, who is currently named Elizabeth Leszczyska Bellak.
JANUARY 31, 1939
Why did I decide to start my diary today? Did something important happen? Have I discovered that my friends are keeping diaries of their own? No! I just want a friend. I want somebody I can talk to about my everyday worries and joys. Somebody who will feel what I feel, believe what I say and never reveal my secrets. No human could ever be that kind of friend and that’s why I have decided to look for a confidant in the form of a diary. Today, my dear Diary, is the beginning of our deep friendship.
Renia was fourteen years old when she started her diary, a tumultuous time for any teenager, for sure.
She writes of everyday troubles, of boys that she likes, of friends, family, her constant longing for her mother, and to begin with, this diary offers a reprieve from all things sensationalistic – which is exactly why it is extraordinary; the horrors of World War seep in over time.
FEBRUARY 13, 1939
Can there be a worse day than Monday the 13th? Monday on its own is usually quite bad, and now we have the number 13 added to it. Bad luck! It was definitely not a good day for me.
There are naturally sudden changes all throughout the book, as war is seldom predictable, especially for the victims.
SEPTEMBER 10, 1939
Oh, God! My God! We’ve been on the road for three days now. Przemyel was attacked. We had to flee. The three of us escaped: me, Arianka and Grandpa. We have left the burning, partially destroyed city in the middle of the night on foot, carrying our bags. Granny stayed behind. Lord, please protect her. We heard on the road that Przemyel was being destroyed.
One stand-out thing about Renia is her poetry. She writes poetry all throughout her diary, about all kinds of things. To me, it is apparent how the poetry changes, both from her age and also from the war.
Even if your beauty could outshine that of Greek goddesses’ line
Your fate will remain the same
Your life will not be reframed
Life doesn’t care about your eyes
Your ugly lips
Nose the wrong size!
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Tell me the truth you reflect and all.
Her words on her love interests radiate from the page:
JANUARY 5, 1941, SUNDAY
And? Didn’t I say it was better not to see him? I was so regretful, but tough. It always so happens that when you love somebody, you tease them. The greetings were sweet, but then he didn’t dance with me, he sat there fuming, in a bad mood, but tough, after all (oh, God) love can (i.e., must!!!) sulk too. Today I’m in bed; I’m unwell. Oh, I so hope that everything pans out well!! Please, Great One! I find evidence of his liking even in anger.
A 16-YEAR-OLD
When you’re 16 years old you dearly love the whole world with all its parties, pranks and jokes and especially with your favorite folks.
When you hide your crumpled diary from your mother’s strict inquiries.
When you sing love songs
Then you are 16 years old.
Her true beloved, Zygu, shines through the pages, even when he is “a boor”, and their love is mutual. It makes me remember the turmoils and torpor that youth entails.
JULY 1, 1941
We’re all alive and well. All of us, Norka, Irka, Zygu, my friends, my family. And today I want to speak with you as a free person still. Today I’m like everyone else … Tomorrow, along with other Jews, I’ll have to start wearing a white armband. To you I will always remain the same Renia, a friend, but to others I will become someone inferior, I will become someone wearing a white armband with a blue star. I will be a Jude. I’m not crying or complaining. I have resigned myself to my fate. It just feels so strange and sorrowful. My school vacation and my dates with Zygu are coming to an end. I don’t know when I’ll see him next. Everyone is working today. No news about Mama. God protect us all. Goodbye, dear Diary. I’m writing this while I’m still independent and free. Tomorrow I’ll be someone else—but only on the outside. And perhaps one day I’ll greet you as someone else still. Grant me that, Lord God, I believe in You. You will help me, Bulus and God!
Zygu and Renia loved each other dearly, seemingly as she loved her mother. Renia’s sister, Elizabeth, provides a loving epilogue to this book, which also details as much as we know happened to Renia, and also to Zygmunt (Zygu).
This diary stood the test of time, and will forever be a tome over what happened to a young person who was murdered during the Holocaust.
Sergey Yarov wrote brilliantly about morality in the siege of Leningrad during World War II. He read a lot of previously redacted diaries that belonged to people who were part
Show More
of the siege. Those diaries told a clear tale of how things changed gradually, and how what was once considered extreme behaviours were normalised, from making potato-skin soup to pilfering corpses for food stamps.Equally, Viktor Klemperer‘s essential diaries from World War II told a most chilling tale where Jews were violently targeted, people that weren’t The Teutonic Ideal were persecuted, and entire populations razed off the face of the Earth. But not without testimony.
Most importantly, diaries offer us something that memoirs do not: an emotional immediacy. And it is this immediacy that is so very compelling. I am reminded of Helene Berr, the Israelite young Parisian woman who kept a diary from 1942 through to the day she and her parents were rounded up in March 1944. Fortuitously, she begins to write but a short time before the decree that all Jews must wear a yellow star.
She confides to the diary her struggle with whether to wear it or not. Was wearing it an act of compliance with a hateful regime or did it demonstrate a pride in one’s Jewish identity? We read of her reactions to passerby’s comments. Some express solidarity and others pity. She reflects on them, not from a distance of many years, but on the day she encountered them. She does not—because she cannot—contextualize this act as the first step in an array of far worse persecution to come.
The above is part of the introduction that is written by Renia’s sister, Ariana Spiegel, who is currently named Elizabeth Leszczyska Bellak.
JANUARY 31, 1939
Why did I decide to start my diary today? Did something important happen? Have I discovered that my friends are keeping diaries of their own? No! I just want a friend. I want somebody I can talk to about my everyday worries and joys. Somebody who will feel what I feel, believe what I say and never reveal my secrets. No human could ever be that kind of friend and that’s why I have decided to look for a confidant in the form of a diary. Today, my dear Diary, is the beginning of our deep friendship.
Renia was fourteen years old when she started her diary, a tumultuous time for any teenager, for sure.
She writes of everyday troubles, of boys that she likes, of friends, family, her constant longing for her mother, and to begin with, this diary offers a reprieve from all things sensationalistic – which is exactly why it is extraordinary; the horrors of World War seep in over time.
FEBRUARY 13, 1939
Can there be a worse day than Monday the 13th? Monday on its own is usually quite bad, and now we have the number 13 added to it. Bad luck! It was definitely not a good day for me.
There are naturally sudden changes all throughout the book, as war is seldom predictable, especially for the victims.
SEPTEMBER 10, 1939
Oh, God! My God! We’ve been on the road for three days now. Przemyel was attacked. We had to flee. The three of us escaped: me, Arianka and Grandpa. We have left the burning, partially destroyed city in the middle of the night on foot, carrying our bags. Granny stayed behind. Lord, please protect her. We heard on the road that Przemyel was being destroyed.
One stand-out thing about Renia is her poetry. She writes poetry all throughout her diary, about all kinds of things. To me, it is apparent how the poetry changes, both from her age and also from the war.
Even if your beauty could outshine that of Greek goddesses’ line
Your fate will remain the same
Your life will not be reframed
Life doesn’t care about your eyes
Your ugly lips
Nose the wrong size!
Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Tell me the truth you reflect and all.
Her words on her love interests radiate from the page:
JANUARY 5, 1941, SUNDAY
And? Didn’t I say it was better not to see him? I was so regretful, but tough. It always so happens that when you love somebody, you tease them. The greetings were sweet, but then he didn’t dance with me, he sat there fuming, in a bad mood, but tough, after all (oh, God) love can (i.e., must!!!) sulk too. Today I’m in bed; I’m unwell. Oh, I so hope that everything pans out well!! Please, Great One! I find evidence of his liking even in anger.
A 16-YEAR-OLD
When you’re 16 years old you dearly love the whole world with all its parties, pranks and jokes and especially with your favorite folks.
When you hide your crumpled diary from your mother’s strict inquiries.
When you sing love songs
Then you are 16 years old.
Her true beloved, Zygu, shines through the pages, even when he is “a boor”, and their love is mutual. It makes me remember the turmoils and torpor that youth entails.
JULY 1, 1941
We’re all alive and well. All of us, Norka, Irka, Zygu, my friends, my family. And today I want to speak with you as a free person still. Today I’m like everyone else … Tomorrow, along with other Jews, I’ll have to start wearing a white armband. To you I will always remain the same Renia, a friend, but to others I will become someone inferior, I will become someone wearing a white armband with a blue star. I will be a Jude. I’m not crying or complaining. I have resigned myself to my fate. It just feels so strange and sorrowful. My school vacation and my dates with Zygu are coming to an end. I don’t know when I’ll see him next. Everyone is working today. No news about Mama. God protect us all. Goodbye, dear Diary. I’m writing this while I’m still independent and free. Tomorrow I’ll be someone else—but only on the outside. And perhaps one day I’ll greet you as someone else still. Grant me that, Lord God, I believe in You. You will help me, Bulus and God!
Zygu and Renia loved each other dearly, seemingly as she loved her mother. Renia’s sister, Elizabeth, provides a loving epilogue to this book, which also details as much as we know happened to Renia, and also to Zygmunt (Zygu).
This diary stood the test of time, and will forever be a tome over what happened to a young person who was murdered during the Holocaust.
Show Less
LibraryThing member purpledog
Renia’s Diary is just that, a diary of a young Jewish girl from Poland. She was just 14 when she started her diary because she wanted a friend. Actually, she had friends, I feel more likely that she wanted a confidant and some way to express all her hopes, dreams and sorrows without fear of
As you can imagine, the diary entries are about Renia’s daily life. When she starts the diary, she is living with her grandparents. Her parents are in Warsaw and have been traveling with her sister who is a child actress. As expected, most of the writing is centered around school, her friends and her longing for her family, mainly her Mother. At the beginning, she does speak occasionally of the troubling times and a few of the historical events.
As Renia gets older, she talks about going to parties with friends, dating and dreams about the future. She goes to movies and takes long walks with Zygument (Zygu), her boyfriend. In December of 1941 she decides to start writing about the war. She says, “Blood is flowing, cities are ruined, people are dying.” Despite her declaration, most of her writing remains the same.
It is obvious Renia is deeply religious. All throughout the diary she periodic asked God to take care of her and her family. Later in the diary, most entries end with a plea, “You will help me, Bulus and God”. Even though she did not mention the trying times often, they must have weighed heavily on her mind. Sadly, her life ends shortly after her 18th birthday. The final few diary entries are made by Renia’s boyfriend, Zygu, because she along with his parents are shot in July 1942.
The prose I struggled with because it was written by someone so young and was of course immature. She talked about life with her friends and petty things that happened to her and others. As she gets older, the discuss turns to going to parties and boys and finally falling in love.
It is difficult to compare this book to other works of nonfiction because it is a diary and not a book. It was never written for or intended to be read by an end consumer. Therefore, I struggled with how to assign any kind of rating to a nonliterary work? Ultimately, I choose my rating mostly based on the poetry contained in the diary.
There was a lot of poetry in the diary. Enough for an entire collection to be published of just the poetry. There were all types of poems, long (some ran several pages) to short, some sad, some lively and some longing. Regardless of the theme, they were lovely. The poems are the real star of the book. I found it to be not only good, but contemplative. For the prose to be so immature, the poetry was the exact opposite. I am left wondering what her poetry would have been like if she had lived. Would she have been a great poet in the 20th century?
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
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ridicule from pears.As you can imagine, the diary entries are about Renia’s daily life. When she starts the diary, she is living with her grandparents. Her parents are in Warsaw and have been traveling with her sister who is a child actress. As expected, most of the writing is centered around school, her friends and her longing for her family, mainly her Mother. At the beginning, she does speak occasionally of the troubling times and a few of the historical events.
As Renia gets older, she talks about going to parties with friends, dating and dreams about the future. She goes to movies and takes long walks with Zygument (Zygu), her boyfriend. In December of 1941 she decides to start writing about the war. She says, “Blood is flowing, cities are ruined, people are dying.” Despite her declaration, most of her writing remains the same.
It is obvious Renia is deeply religious. All throughout the diary she periodic asked God to take care of her and her family. Later in the diary, most entries end with a plea, “You will help me, Bulus and God”. Even though she did not mention the trying times often, they must have weighed heavily on her mind. Sadly, her life ends shortly after her 18th birthday. The final few diary entries are made by Renia’s boyfriend, Zygu, because she along with his parents are shot in July 1942.
The prose I struggled with because it was written by someone so young and was of course immature. She talked about life with her friends and petty things that happened to her and others. As she gets older, the discuss turns to going to parties and boys and finally falling in love.
It is difficult to compare this book to other works of nonfiction because it is a diary and not a book. It was never written for or intended to be read by an end consumer. Therefore, I struggled with how to assign any kind of rating to a nonliterary work? Ultimately, I choose my rating mostly based on the poetry contained in the diary.
There was a lot of poetry in the diary. Enough for an entire collection to be published of just the poetry. There were all types of poems, long (some ran several pages) to short, some sad, some lively and some longing. Regardless of the theme, they were lovely. The poems are the real star of the book. I found it to be not only good, but contemplative. For the prose to be so immature, the poetry was the exact opposite. I am left wondering what her poetry would have been like if she had lived. Would she have been a great poet in the 20th century?
I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
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LibraryThing member IreneCole
Not quite what I expected
LibraryThing member Micareads
This book shows a different side of the invasion of Poland. Reina's first hand account of what is going on is very interesting. It should be noted that this is nothing like Anne Frank's diary...nothing. Reina's diary goes through every day life during the invasion, this includes (mainly) her
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crushes and how much she misses her Mother whom she has been separated from due to the war. There is far more teenage angst that anything else. As long as the reader does not open this book expecting the deep insights received from Anne Frank, then they will be able to enjoy the read. Show Less
ISBN
1250244021 / 9781250244024