A review by jasonfurman
Anne Frank's Tales from the Secret Annex: A Collection of Her Short Stories, Fables, and Lesser-Known Writings, Revised Edition, by Anne Frank
5.0
Although uneven (what else would one expect from a story collection and unfinished novel by a 15 year old in hiding), the best of these pieces are excellent and provide an interesting complement to Anne Frank's Diary.
This collection has four types of pieces: (1) additional sketches about life in hiding that were included in the [b:The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition|11786839|The Diary of a Young Girl The Definitive Edition|Anne Frank|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328346057l/11786839._SY75_.jpg|78182066] published in 1995 but not in the [b:The Diary of a Young Girl|48855|The Diary of a Young Girl|Anne Frank|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560816565l/48855._SY75_.jpg|3532896] that was the original version edited by her father Otto Frank and is about 25 percent shorter; (2) realistic short stories generally set in Holland; (3) fables and fairy tales, many of which she referred to the writing of in her diary; and (4) fragments from an unfinished novel "Cady's Life." I will address each of these in turn.
The additional sketches are almost all excellent and should ideally be read in the context of the diary itself, they are each wonderfully written and observed, succinctly written, and both witty and insightful observations on every day life in hiding, including "The Dentist" about Dussel, "Sausage Day" about the making of sausages, and "Sundays" which describes each of the inhabitants lives on that day.
If you read the "Definitive" edition of the Diary already then the most exciting new writing in this collection is the realistic short stories (although some are less than fully realistic, including my favorite "Paula's Dream" about a German girl who hides in an Air Force plane during World War I, ends up flying on a bombing mission to Russia, gets shot down, is raised by Russians, and after the war has to make her way back to Germany). Like the sketches, they are well observed but they are also more the product of imagination than experience and often, like a short story, center around a particular incident and psychological shift, mostly in the manner of a Chekhov story. In addition to "Paula's Dream" I would also recommend "Roomers or Renters," "Happiness," and "Fear."
Then there are the fairy tales and fables. I wish these had been included in the Diary itself on the dates they were written because I think interspersing them with her day-to-day recollections would have more accurately captured her writing and given you the texts of the stories along with her references to writing them. In this context, however, they are mildly interesting but can also be a bit tedious and a little overly saccharine.
Finally there is "Cady's Life," an unfinished novel about a girl who has a terrible accident and ends up in a sanatorium forming a relationship with a nurse and having intense discussions about subjects like the existence of God while the beginnings of World War II are rumbling in the background. The unfinished novel is about 50 pages with a sustained opening stretch and then several fragments of unclear order. What is there was actually interesting and engaging reading and read like an actual novel, but it is all so unfinished that it leaves one both marveling at her writing but also sad that it will never been finished or fully realized.
This collection has four types of pieces: (1) additional sketches about life in hiding that were included in the [b:The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition|11786839|The Diary of a Young Girl The Definitive Edition|Anne Frank|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328346057l/11786839._SY75_.jpg|78182066] published in 1995 but not in the [b:The Diary of a Young Girl|48855|The Diary of a Young Girl|Anne Frank|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1560816565l/48855._SY75_.jpg|3532896] that was the original version edited by her father Otto Frank and is about 25 percent shorter; (2) realistic short stories generally set in Holland; (3) fables and fairy tales, many of which she referred to the writing of in her diary; and (4) fragments from an unfinished novel "Cady's Life." I will address each of these in turn.
The additional sketches are almost all excellent and should ideally be read in the context of the diary itself, they are each wonderfully written and observed, succinctly written, and both witty and insightful observations on every day life in hiding, including "The Dentist" about Dussel, "Sausage Day" about the making of sausages, and "Sundays" which describes each of the inhabitants lives on that day.
If you read the "Definitive" edition of the Diary already then the most exciting new writing in this collection is the realistic short stories (although some are less than fully realistic, including my favorite "Paula's Dream" about a German girl who hides in an Air Force plane during World War I, ends up flying on a bombing mission to Russia, gets shot down, is raised by Russians, and after the war has to make her way back to Germany). Like the sketches, they are well observed but they are also more the product of imagination than experience and often, like a short story, center around a particular incident and psychological shift, mostly in the manner of a Chekhov story. In addition to "Paula's Dream" I would also recommend "Roomers or Renters," "Happiness," and "Fear."
Then there are the fairy tales and fables. I wish these had been included in the Diary itself on the dates they were written because I think interspersing them with her day-to-day recollections would have more accurately captured her writing and given you the texts of the stories along with her references to writing them. In this context, however, they are mildly interesting but can also be a bit tedious and a little overly saccharine.
Finally there is "Cady's Life," an unfinished novel about a girl who has a terrible accident and ends up in a sanatorium forming a relationship with a nurse and having intense discussions about subjects like the existence of God while the beginnings of World War II are rumbling in the background. The unfinished novel is about 50 pages with a sustained opening stretch and then several fragments of unclear order. What is there was actually interesting and engaging reading and read like an actual novel, but it is all so unfinished that it leaves one both marveling at her writing but also sad that it will never been finished or fully realized.