The Diary of Anne Frank

I just finished Anne's diary today. Of course, I know how it all ends for this poor girl, but I knew that from the beginning. I've always wanted to read the whole diary but it was never assigned in school, and I never had enough gumption on my own the actually read it all. It was very prolific and prodigious, to think that a girl so young would have such keen insight and attention to the most minute detail. I learned a lot from her, not the least of which is how to be a good diarist. True, there were some disturbing parts to her character, like her ambivalance and professed antipathy towards her mother. I hope my children never feel that way about me, was all I could think as I read through the more disturbing passages. All through the diary, you get the distinct feeling that Anne never loses hope, never really dispairs, always has a sense of optimism. She muses about how she's going to be when she's eighty years old, and we know as we're reading that she dies before she's sixteen. She wanted to become a journalist and wanted to write things that will last after she dies. Imagine that. Her wish definitely came true!