The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank: A Novel [Paperback]

Ellen Feldman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2006

"An appealing and inventive novel…original and cathartic."—Dana Kennedy, New York Times

On February 16, 1944, Anne Frank recorded in her diary that Peter, whom she at first disliked but eventually came to love, had confided in her that if he got out alive, he would reinvent himself entirely. This is the story of what might have happened if the boy in hiding survived to become a man.

Peter arrives in America, the land of self-creation; he flourishes in business, marries, and raises a family. He thrives in the present, plans for the future, and has no past. But when The Diary of a Young Girl is published to worldwide acclaim and gives rise to bitter infighting, he realizes the cost of forgetting.

Based on extensive research of Peter van Pels and the strange and disturbing life Anne Frank's diary took on after her death, this is a novel about the memory of death, the death of memory, and the inescapability of the past. Reading group guide included.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Feldman (Lucy) pens a deeply affecting, unsettling look into the soul of a man whose attempts to bury his past cannot prevent it from seeping into his present life. Anne Frank and Peter van Pels shared an awkward first love in the Amsterdam annex where they lived in hiding. In Feldman's novel, Peter has emigrated to America and, as he promised Anne he would do, completely denied his persecution in the Holocaust and his identity as a Jew. The happiness and safety of his new life confounds him: he has a beautiful wife (who is herself Jewish), lovely children and a good job. But when his wife begins reading Anne's newly published diary and later attends the play and the movie, Peter begins to spiral into flashbacks, paranoia and guilt as he questions who he is and where his responsibilities lie. The true story of the controversy over the authenticity of the diary and its stage and screen adaptations is woven into Peter's own struggle with the truth and its consequences, and Feldman convincingly takes readers into the horrors of the Holocaust and the effects on its survivors. The only thing missing is a portrayal of Peter's relationship with Anne herself. A psychologically gripping tale, this will cause readers to think about the price of safety and the complex obligations of memory. Agent, Emma Sweeney. Author tour. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Peter Van Pels hid in the attic with Anne Frank and died in the camps just before liberation. But what if he survived, forged a new identity, and came to the U.S. after the war? Feldman imagines the young immigrant, who denies his Jewishness and his horrific past, marries, raises a happy family, and succeeds in business. He reveals his identity to no one, including his Jewish wife, and he never speaks of the Holocaust cruelty he witnessed. But when the Diary, edited by Otto Frank, is an international bestseller, followed by the play and the movie, Peter can no longer suppress his survivor guilt, his fury at the exploitation and cover-ups, and his traumatic breakdown. The fiction is sometimes far-fetched, especially the perfect wife (even if it is the '50s). But the history will grab the many devoted readers of the Diary, as will Peter's rage at the falsely uplifting message that "people are really good at heart." Feldman strips away the reverential veneer to show the secrets and lies. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (May 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393327809
• ISBN-13: 978-0393327809
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #417,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alternate History, June 4, 2005

By 

Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank: A Novel (Hardcover)

In view of full disclosure I will lead with the following comment: I am a bit of an amateur scholar of all things Anne Frank and so I am disposed towards liking something along the lines of a novel like this. That being said, if you accept the premise of this novel, then I think it is a very good one.

Of course, anyone familiar with the Anne Frank story will know the premise is based on an inaccuracy: that Peter van Pels survived the war and made his way to America. It is well established that Peter van Pels died in Mauthausen concentration camp in May 1945. So that puts this novel firmly in the genre of alternate history. But if you can allow yourself the suspension of disbelief over this one point The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank is an interesting one.

What made the novel enjoyable for me after leaping that first big hurdle is that the "Peter" Ms. Feldman gives us is a realistic one. I found him to be a convincing character. His struggles with denial and anger, atheism and Judaism, episodes of madness, as well as his desire to just live a normal life in the wake of his experiences all came across as very authentic. And, of course, Peter's story is heightened by the growing fame of Anne Frank and her story from the 1950's on. His reactions to Anne's diary and its subsequent dramatizations for stage and screen seem real.

This leads me to what I think is the other brilliant part of this novel: it accurately tells the story of the rise of the Anne Frank story in American and world consciousness through the publication of the diary and then the production of the stage play and movie. Peter never interacts directly with the results of Anne's developing fame (despite a few attempts) so he becomes a great observer of the actual historical unfolding, including some of the lesser known events like Meyer Levin's lawsuit against Otto Frank and the debate over inaccuracies in the diary.

Most importantly, however, it is simply a good read. The story is a fascinating one and is handled well. It is interesting for those of us who are very familiar with Anne's diary and will open the eyes of those who may only have peripheral knowledge of Anne's story. It is well worth reading.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Deep moving and utterly engrossing, April 2, 2005

By 

Stephanie Cowell (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank: A Novel (Hardcover)

Like a previous reviewer, I was so involved in this novel I could not put it down, excusing myself from a household of guests to finish reading it in another room! The novel is based on the supposition that Peter, the boy Anne Frank loved when they were hidden away from the Nazis in a house in Amsterdam for two years, did not die in the camps but lived. He has come to America and denied being a Jew; he has told no one about his past and has made himself a successful man in business with a loving, beautiful wife and two little children. But when he finds his wife reading the newly published "Diary of a young girl" one night and sees the child Anne's picture gazing out from the cover, he goes into such shock he loses his voice. From that time on the physical book haunts him; it becomes the most real presence in his life. He can neither keep it or destroy it; in one of the many incredibly moving scenes, he tries to throw it away and rushes back to retrieve it by flashlight in the dark from the railroad tracks. "The flashlight swept up one track and down the other, skittered across the ties, climbed the sides of the platform, crept slowly back, and came to rest inches from where I stood.The black eyes stared up at me. Where have you been, Peter? I have been waiting for you. I stooped to the book. The dirt and cinders felt gritty between my fingers as my hand curled around it..."

Clumsily and secretly, Peter finds a poor little synagogue but can't stay there long enough to really pray. The past he had put behind him is so vivid once more he believes the Nazis have come for him when it is only a suburban volunteer organization knocking on the door for donations. His wife who knows nothing of his past is puzzled and frightened by his strange behavior.

But when he tries to reclaim his past he cannot. The world has made an impossible idol of the dead Anne Frank (he realizes had she herself lived, the diary would not live). People quibble bitterly about the depiction of the characters in the diary, the play and the movie and even the survivors from that time have grown so protective of the dead girl they have created that they have no interest in a man who claims to be the real Peter. Returning to the house in Amsterdam where he hid for two years, he finds not the terrible silence but rooms crowded with tourists. Somehow Peter must claim his past at least to those who are willing to hear him and to himself; he must claim it so he can continue to live.

The words on the page became rooms from that hiding place; the world of Peter in his present and his past so vital and real that the pages shimmer with life. Peter is so real that I expect to open my apartment door and find him in my hallway.

I am recommending this book to everyone. What an original and moving story! Don't invite a houseful of guests over when you're in the middle of reading it. They'll have to wait for you.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly wonderful, April 18, 2005

By 

N. Gargano "nokegchris" (Waynesville NC and Bradenton, Fl) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank: A Novel (Hardcover)

I really loved this book. I didn't think I would like it, but once I started it, I got so involved and could not put it down.
I remember reading The Diary of Anne Frank a few times when I was a teenager, and I used to imagine the premise of this book...what if Peter had survived, or Anne or her sister...what would they be like and what would they be doing now. So when I saw this book I thought, juvenile, I wrote this book in my mind years ago. My apologies to the author! This book is so far removed from a young persons teenage fanatasies...... I am so glad I picked it up.
I won't go into the premise of the book, Amazon does that quite well, but I will tell you I was enthralled with the character of Peter, his guilt, his pain, his anger and his fear. I think Ms. Feldman wrote a beautiful book, one that should not be missed.