Customer Reviews

The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank: A Novel

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

The author of this book details the historical, and little known facts regarding the diary of Anne Frank. She gives the audience a perspective of, "what if", if Peter had survived, what his life might have been like. The flow of the story shows how the boy Peter, who grew into the man who hated himself, through guilt, denial, assimilation, new identity, and fear.

The analogies in the novel are compelling, the fear often causing a Holocaust of Self, so to speak. Peter's attempt to forget his past, and start anew, only digs him deeper into the roots he tries to forget...cultivating them vividly and entwining them in his mind...some memories real, some imagined, all after-effects the Holocaust. We watch him deteriorate before our eyes, and can envision his actions...such as when he discovers Anne Frank's Diary has been published. The events that follow that discovery are an analogy to the fear Holocaust victims carried with them...hiding, moving, whispering, running. The book became his stepping stone backwards and forwards, into fear and loathing.

I was intrigued by the events leading to the lawsuit filed against Otto Frank, disputing some of the facts that were permitted to be given creative license in the play and film.

All in all...I recommend this book, the effort put forth by the author is one that you will not soon forget.

Ellen Feldman has developed a niche in the genre of 'mixed' or 'blended' history and fiction. In 2003, she published Lucy which focused on the love triangle of President Rooseelt, Eleanor and Lucy Mercer. This novel skilfully wove history and fact and the result was a powerful tale answering the 'what if' questions. Now, in The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, the author explores the question: what if there was a survivor from the annex and what if the survivor lived to tell a tale but chooses not to...Anne Frank is a historical character grounded in the horrible reality of the holocaust. Ellen Feldman creates the character of Peter van Pels who survives but moves to America and denies his past and his Jewish heritage. Through the character of Peter, the reader enters the world of a survivor whose traumatic experiences take on a surrealist quality as he is forced to encounter his past even though he spends much time creating a new identity for himself. The novel is a powerful read as despite the fictitious world, Feldman deals with issues of the memory, the psychological effects of trauma and the Holocaust experience. It is quite a risk to develop imaginary worlds around historical figures but Feldman does this remarkably well. A compelling read though as Peter confronts his past and ghosts of the past there is the desire that he could be stronger and faster. This of course may be just our natural urge for quick solutions which may not hold true or be valid for intense trauma. For readers who enjoy games that fiction plays, this novel challenges one as we watch a 'real' person Peter van Daan from Anne Frank's story become Peter van Pels (Feldman's character) who reinvents himself and then embarks on rediscovering himself. A journey of denial, deceit, truth and confrontation - where history and fiction are blended.

This is the story of Peter van Pels, known as Peter van Daan in Anne Frank's Diary, and what might have been had he actually survived the death camps. Feldman takes the idea and gives Peter a life in America, a life in which he attempts to deny his Jewishness by pretending he is a lapsed Christian. He marries and has children, explaining his time in the prison camp as his being part of the Resistance movement. But try as he might, Peter is swept back into his old life of hiding as Anne's Diary is published by her father. Both longing for and repulsed by his own history, Peter tries to lead his life as he'd hoped he would but finds himself feeling righteous anger at how the movie and play based on Anne's book portrays his father. His years long journey into self-discovery is well-played by Feldman's expert imagination. I could absolutely believe that Peter did in fact survive, and I still wish it had turned out to be so. Feldman has invented a wonderfully tragic tale that is sure to stay with you a very long time. Excellent storytelling. Recommended!

For people around the world, Anne Frank has become a symbol of hope and a reminder of the tragedy of the Holocaust. From her diary, readers learn not only a lot about this particular young woman and the people she went into hiding with, but also about the state of desperation that Jews like those in the secret annex felt. While for readers Anne is a vivid person, full of life, we know that she died a tragic and senseless death as did those, except her father, in the annex with her. But what if someone else survived? Someone who chose to disassociate himself not only with Anne Frank and the secret annex, but with his identity altogether? What if Peter survived, yet assumed a new identity? Ellen Feldman's new novel, THE BOY WHO LOVED ANNE FRANK, asks just this question and then sets out to examine the new life of a scarred, scared and traumatized man.

After surviving the concentration camps and displaced person camps, Peter van Pels, known as Peter van Daan in Anne Frank's diary, makes it to New York where he plans to start a new life. His idea of a new life, however, entails shedding as much of his identity as possible. His denial about the events he survived is so strong that he admits to no one what he has been through and starts life in America as a Protestant from Amsterdam who, while victimized by the war, was a political prisoner only. Peter works hard and eventually goes into business building homes in the New Jersey suburbs. He meets his beautiful, ironically Jewish, wife Madeleine and has three children. Peter is living the American dream. But no one, not even his wife, knows his true identity.

When Peter sees his wife reading a copy of the newly published THE DIARY OF A YOUNG GIRL and Anne Frank's face confronting him from the cover, he loses his voice. Frank's diary is made into a play and then into a movie, and Peter is unable to escape the story, which is his story too. He is driven to despair and thoughts of violence, and still he is unable to share his identity with anyone. When he finally learns how his father's memory is disrespected in the diary and its reenactments, he begins to work up the courage to accept his past and what it means for his present and future.

Throughout the majority of the novel, the reader is overcome with tension as Peter carries his burden. It is obvious he will confront his past eventually, but we, along with him, are not relieved for a long time. Finally, Peter does share his sadness, his trauma and his guilt and anger in the most unexpected (but perhaps the most logical) place.

THE BOY WHO LOVED ANNE FRANK is an extremely tense and taut psychological portrait of a survivor. Peter's emotions, though hidden, are raw and his suffering feels real. His tale is, apart from details, not unique, as his experiences and trauma are shared by many. Feldman's novel is almost unrelenting in its drama and honest in its conflict, not in the least that Peter isn't always a likable character. While the high level of tension is, for the most part, appreciated and the novel is well-written and researched, it tends to lag a bit as Peter confronts identical situations again and again and his emotional growth is slow, albeit realistically so.

This is a unique and interesting novel, and an original approach to fiction about Holocaust survivors.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman

I loved the premise of this book, even though I knew Peter had died in the camps. It was very brave of Ellen Feldman to take someone who was practically iconic and base a novel on him, knowing him to have perished. However, having done that, she did not make much of a reference to the relationship between Peter and Anne in the book, especially given the title of the book. Mostly it was about his madness, his fears, his paranoia based on his experiences in the camps. And I did not believe that his wife would have gone on unquestionably as she did with a man who was so hidden from everyone, including himself. That Peter could not face who he really was was an interesting idea. That he could not face what he had been through was also realistic. But his family life did not ring true for me. And his "memories" of Anne were virtually non-existent in the book. Overall, I believe the concept is fascinating, but its development did not play out for me.

This is the ultimate foray into fan fiction. The what if's of a famous story or play. What if Peter had survived? And in this book he has and is very, very real. With a multi dimensional personality, Peter is at one and the same time, waiting for the Green Police, joking with his daughters at dinner and appreciating his attractive wife. Yet realistically, he can't be in all of those places. He has to let go of something.

He manages to put his past fairly well behind him until his wife becomes involved in the story of Anne's diary. Then more than ever he is haunted day and night, with every word and gesture by those days in the Secret Annexe.

Only when he reclaims his faith and reveals his identity to his wife, can he rein in his emotions and bring some control to the runaway wanderings of his mind. Only then can he firmly put both feet on the path he has chosen as an American of Jewish descent.

It is a fascinating and fast read. Inspiring and inspirational. It reawakened my interest in Anne Frank and the story of her family.

(Forgive my spelling)I came across this book when it was apart of Borders' sale and ever since I saw the Anne Frank movie, that aired on CBS perhaps 2 years ago, I have been intrigued with the character/real person of Peter van Pels, the shy sweet boy that died far to young. Thus, I was thrilled, when I found a book about what if he had lived. While, it was not my favourite book ever, I felt that the author really made Peter seem real and you felt the anguish and guilt that Peter kept hidden. I could have done with more interpretation of Peter's life in the annex and Anne & the others, but I loved how the author did her research. She told about the van Pel's life before the war, as a family. She also talked about the popularity of Anne's diary, the trial and possible inaccuratacy of the events in the play and movie at least, things most people do not touch when talking about Anne Frank. It made me realize that these people where real, that they felt just the same as I do, that a young girl trapped could have created a different world with her diary, that any teenage girl including a 1940's Dutch/German girl,one who can be vandicative and mean and hate everyone one minute and love them all the next, could have been Anne. She nor the rest of them were saints, they were just human.