Book Review: Annexed

TITLE: Annexed
AUTHOR: Sharon Dogar
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: historical fiction, drama
PREMISE: See Anne Frank's story and beyond through the eyes of Peter van Pels...
MY REVIEW: I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book or not. The Diary of Anne Frank is one of my most beloved books. I think everyone should read it at least once. While I was curious about it from Peter's view, this idea seemed unnecessary to me. Luckily Dogar managed to surprise me.
I will say sometimes the writing style took some getting used to, and Peter doesn't seem as personable as Anne Frank but this does give a lot of insight to the story of Anne Frank. It gives insight to how other people in the Annex viewed Anne, to the van Pels family, and even to what they may have thought on Anne's views in her diary. I also have to say it's gutsy of the author to give us a glimpse of what life might have been like for Peter in the camps. Most authors in YA probably would have been uncomfortable with that aspect of the story and I must say I too found it difficult to get through because of all the horror that occured in these camps (if you're one of those who think the holocaust was a big hoax, it WASN'T. Trust me, I actually went to one of the camps on a trip to Europe in High School. It happened as horrifying as that is to think about).
This is not a cheesy romantic typical YA book so if you want that, you'll be horribly disapointed. If however, you want a different take on the Anne Frank story, I highly recomend this read. Thank you to the publisher on Net Galley for sending me an ebook copy of this for reading.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read Diary of Anne Frank, you aren't squeemish
MY RATING: Four and a half out of Five diaries

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