Customer Reviews

Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Zlata's Diary is a masterpiece. A modern-day Diary of Anne Frank is what comes to mind when I think about this book. Zlata is a girl from Sarajevo, writing as only a child can write about terrors that only adults can inflict. From start to finish, this remarkable books keeps you hoping and praying, for Zlata and for her family and friends. Her diary begins before the war, with typical young-girl items like piano lessons and parties, but quickly becomes a nightmare of bombs and guns. She escapes to Paris, and looks back with sorrow. It is a truly moving text.

Zlata writes as any girl would write, in the beginning. The early part of her diary (it begins in September 1991) deals with ideas about school starting and what happened last summer. Short entries into a girl's diary, not too deep, somewhat interesting but also very typical. She could be any girl in any city in this country. She talks about her friends, her favorite TV shows, her music lessons, and enjoying pizza.

She is 11 years old.

But in less than a year, all of that changes.

She is writing letters and entries recounting horrible events of warfare. Less than a year after she was wondering about the top songs on MTV and her music and friends, she was writing profound letters of love, life and survival.

She recounts hiding in dark, ugly cellars, and hearing bombs dropping, and being very afraid. She writes of her friend Nina who died in of shrapnel in the brain -- another 11 year old girl, just like Zlata. They went to kindergarten together, they played together. Now Nina was dead.

Zlata and members of her family escaped to Paris by December 1993; the diary ends at that point. Zlata grew up tremendously, much as Anne Frank did, during those few years of the war. She learned the terminology and dangers of war as well as any professional soldier. She learned the horrors and deprivations. She also remained a little girl, with her childish, childlike hope for peace for all.

She escaped, but how many didn't? Published in 1994 while there was still fighting in Sarajevo, this is a book of hope. And sadly the fighting hasn't stopped in that part of the world. Children have lost parents, siblings, family members, friends, and their whole way of life.

It is for them that Zlata wrote her diary. We should remember them.

This chilling book reminded me just how lucky I am. I forget and take it forgranted that I am so lucky and able to live wholeheartedly. I forget that in many places, children must suffer and abandon their childhood because of cold, angry war.

Sheesh...this is the product of a child, not the work of a Pulitzer prize winning journalist. It is an excellent diary, an excellent primary source and an excellent text for a better understanding of the Yugoslav wars. Yes...it does only tell one point of view - hers - it is her diary! Some readers are offended because of the comparison to Anne Frank; a comparison that Filipovic and others make in the book. The comparison is totally fair. Both are intelligent children caught up in situations they have no control over during wars of ethnic cleansing and extermination. It is a testament to Zlata that she can make the connection to Anne Frank...obviously the rest of the world couldn't. They (We) abandoned the Jews sixty years ago and abandoned hundreds of thousands of Croats/Bosniaks/Serbs to genocide forty years later. Zlata remembered Anne Frank's words...the world didn't.

I liked this book because she told people how it is in a war and how terrible it can be. At the end the book was a little boring but over all it was a great book. I really liked at the beginning how it tells about what things she liked to do and said where she was going. I think it is sad that a person could suffer like that and that a person should have to go through that.

Zlata's Diary

Zlata Filipovec

Imagine an ordinary day of your eleven-year-old life. School, friends, family, piano, and pets. Then all of a sudden you're stuck in the middle of a war, a fierce war with no way of hiding but your neighbor's cold, dark, damp basement. You are in the life of Zlata Filipovec. In her diary, Zlata talks about what it is like to live during a war: friends leaving, pets dying, hope falling, and rising.
Zlata started writing in Mimmy, her diary, in September of 1991; she stopped writing in 1993. She got the idea of naming her diary from Anne Frank. Zlata's Diary and the diary of Anne Frank have a lot in common: Anne Frank and Zlata are both a part of a war, they both are loosing friends and family left and right, and of course, they both keep a diary in which they write about the war. Zlata's story is different though, she doesn't write about boys, crushes, and dances. She writes about war and fear. The thing I like about Zlata's diary is that she writes about what is important to her, not to other people. She's an individual.
Zlata writes like a twelve year old, which is not too surprising! When I read her writing I feel like I could have written it. I like her style because I can read it with ease. There isn't hard vocabulary or confusing statements. Zlata's Diary really made me realize that anyone could be part of a war. It's not like they asked for it, it just happened. Her diary made me wonder what I would do if I was put in her shoes. Would I be able to deal with such a calamity? Would I be as fearless; would I go and hide? It really made me think.
This book was one of the best biographies I have ever read. When Zlata started writing her diary she had no intention of publishing it at all. Actually, she started her diary before the war even happened! Zlata's Diary is the type of book that makes you want to make a difference. I wanted to help by donating my time and money to places where war has struck. All in all, Zlata's Diary was a very good book; I would rate it a three out of five stars. I rate it that because it was a very touching book, nevertheless, I would have liked her to continue writing a little longer after she left the war. The diary just sort of ended without a concluding statement or paragraph. I would definitely recommend this book to children that would like to learn about war from a child's point of view. Kids never get to have their own perspective on war because they always are listening to their parents talk about it. To hear it from another child really gave me a picture of what it would be like for me, if I were in her shoes, if I was in the middle of a terrible, horrible war.

How does war affect people. If you read Zlata's Diary, you will find out how war has affected a little girl. Her friends move away, one friend is shot, and there is the lack of electricity, food, and water. She notices that her parents visibly age as the war progresses. Everybody is under tremendous pressure. She spends many days couped up in her apartment without seeing daylight. Snipers shoot into her bedroom making it unsafe. This is the sad fact of war and how it affects civilians. Zlata shows the world the inhumanity of warfare and its affects on children.
One thing not talked about is who Zlata is...Muslim, Serb, Croat. I know the reason why this was left out. It was to show the effects of war on children regardless of enthicity. Other than the reader's curiousity on this, this is a sad story on what warfare really does to people.

This is the true story of a child's life, Zlata Filipovic, in Sarajevo when the war in 1991 began. She writes down her life surviving in the horrible conditions of the war for 3 years. Her life was destroyed, and instead of thinking about normal 11 year old stuff like she should have been, she had to worry about food, shelter and whenever her family stepped outside the door, whether or not she'd see them again. This holds so much detail to life in Sarajevo, so much description about the horror and damage done it's a great novel to sit down and read. It'll keep you on the edge of your seat. If you enjoy non-fiction novels about wars, strife and survival, then you'll truely enjoy this book.

The book Zlata's Diary is a touching and in- depth portrayal of the life of a scared and innocent child during the war. The details of the day to day living and the suffering they endured are eye opening and frightening. The story is one that should be read throughout schools across the world to bring light to the realities of war. Maybe books like this should also be required for politicians to read when they are sworn ito office. This might create a concern for the people of the world and broaden the politicians' visions on life. The concern for any and everyone's life should come before the selfish political concerns of world leaders. All in all, Zlata's Diary is a clear and detailed portrayal of the life of a helpless family and young girl during the war.

The book zlatas diary is very descriptive about the war in sarajevo. it is about a girl who kept a diary of evry thin that happened during the war. She encountered many hardships. During the war, she sometimes had to stay in one room the whole entire day becuase there were shells being fired. If you like books about modern history about people this is the book for you. There are times when she lost electricity and water. She had to use many of her items sparingly. what i like most about the book is how she made bad days feel a little better. This book was fantastico. I recomend it to anyone and i guarentee you will enjoy it. BYE BYE

"Zlata's Diary" by Zlata Filipovic was a good book! For Zlata, life in Sarajevo, Bosnia was good until the war started. When the war started, she began to write in her diary. She wrote from 1991- 1993. In some of the passages in her diary, she wrote of her family and friends, such as her mom, dad, her best friend Mirna, and of her pets CiCi, and Cicko. This book reminded me of the diary of Anne Frank. Both of the girls were about the same age, and both went through extreme hardships in war. This book taught me to count my blessings, and to appreciate being safe from war. It showed how a young girl delt with war life. Bad things things happened, like the death of many of her friends and family. There were good things that happened too, like how she had matured and, learned how to value the important things in life. I thought this book was good, although I would have liked to hear more about Zlata's feelings,and less about the war. All in all, I had a good time reading this book. I liked this book because I like reading diaries of girls. I thought it was interesting to see how a young girl coped with a war life. I would definitely recommend this book to any girl who likes to read diaries, although I think that anybody would enjoy this great book!