Love, Otto: The Legacy of Anne Frank [Hardcover]

Cara Wilson (Author), Otto Frank (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1995

Everyone who's ever found inspiration in Anne Frank's story will want to read this engaging new book based on the 22-year correspondence between Cara Wilson and Otto Frank, Anne's father. Readers learn more about the man who raised Anne Frank, his opinions and philosophies, and finally, about Wilson's journey to the "hiding place" and to Otto's home.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In 1957, Wilson, a 12-year-old growing up in North Hollywood, auditioned unsuccessfully for the lead in The Diary of Anne Frank, the film based on the inspiring diary written by a Dutch Jewish teenager while in hiding with her family from the Germans during WWII. As a Jewish teenager herself, Wilson identified with Anne and in 1959 began a 22-year correspondence with Anne's father, Otto, the only member of his family to survive the Holocaust. The letters printed here reflect Wilson's idealism, which was nurtured by the political struggles taking place in the 1960s. She frequently asked for Frank's opinion about her problems, including her conflict over her relationship with a gentile boyfriend, whom she eventually married. Frank's thoughtful responses are marked by support and understanding. In 1977, Wilson visited Frank for the first time, in Switzerland. He died in 1980 at the age of 91.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is the 22-year correspondence between Cara Weiss Wilson, a young woman in California, and Otto Frank, the father of Anne, in Switzerland. In 1957, when Cara was 13, she wrote to Otto to express her emotions about Anne's diary and received a prompt and caring answer. From that time on, the letters go back and forth, reprinted here with occasional comments on what's happening in the rest of the world. Through these candid epistles, we watch Cara grow from a bothered teen to a worried young woman of the Sixties. Soon she is concerned with college. She falls in love, marries, and becomes a mother and a fledgling writer. Otto responds at intervals with thoughtful messages, giving fatherly advice. The highlight of the book is Cara's trip to Switzerland to meet her beloved mentor. She realizes then that the aging Otto is the surrogate father to young people the world over. The book is well written, very moving, and informed with a love for life and humankind. For most collections.
Gerda Haas, formerly Bates Coll. Lib., Lewiston, Maine
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 146 pages
• Publisher: Andrews Mcmeel Pub (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0836270320
• ISBN-13: 978-0836270327
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,059,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Totally not what I expected, April 26, 2006

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Nay (CT...USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love, Otto: The Legacy of Anne Frank (Hardcover)

As an avid reader of Anne Frank, her story and family history, I was interested in this book, as there are few written of Otto Frank.
I was appalled to say the least. It left me questioning the authors motives?
I feltthe author had an unnatural obsession with Otto,and to be "part" of his world. She wrote him from her teens to adulthood. In early letters, it's as if she's trying to "channel" Anne Frank,to write and be like her, claim she "feels her" all around.It's as if she is trying to BE her for Otto, in hopes that she'll remind him of Anne. She talks/complains about her younger life in letters and asks for advice. After Otto's history and his family's fate, it seems bizarre she would do this. Especially since his daughters never had the chance to live their lives.It's unnerving. In one letter, as the author is older, she excitedly shares news that her new house has an attic and she's always wanted one. Saying this to a man who hid his family in an attic to try and save their lives is tactless. I cringed through most of the book and wondered why it seemed in some letters, genuine and others, self serving. It was just plain odd.
There are clear instances when Otto Frank, refuses to answer questions, suggests he's not able to do what she wants him to do (visit her, come to her wedding, etc) The author tells him she wants to write a book about him, he states he wants no part of it, and specifically requests that she does not follow up on the idea. (pg56) Her "love" for this "adopted grandfather" is questionable to me, as she went against these wishes to write this book anyway. In reading and learning about Otto Frank, he was an intensly private man who would have never wanted his letters shared.He corresponded with anyone who was kind enough to write him.He turned no one away and often met with people who wrote. I think his genuiness,care and thankfulness for people who appreciated and loved his daughter was exploited here. He wrote back to her and cared for this author, but his letters rarely seem anything other than polite.
It's not a book I'd recommend, it left me feeling so sorry for Otto Frank. I felt this book exploited him (in my opinion)