This one elicits soooo many different feelings, but the reader must keep in mind that this is first and foremost a thought experiment built through creative license:

About grief (and guilt);
About childhood trauma and adult PTSD;
About how the denial of mental illness puts loved ones at risk;
About anti-semitism even after WWII, even in America;
About survival and survivors;
About legacy and revisions and marketing and questions of authenticity and memory.

It’s a lot.

3.5/5⭐️

P.S. I don’t usually read Holocaust narratives that aren’t essentially biographical, but this one seems like an appropriate exception. However, if you are interested in reading nonfiction accounts of Anne Frank survivors, check out “After Auschwitz” by step-sister Eva Schloss (previously reviewed), “Anne Frank Remembered” by the faithful Miep Gies, or “The Hidden Life of Otto Frank” by Carol Ann Lee.

The book was very interesting! I liked seeing how Peter Van Pels’s life may have turned out if he had lived. I thought it was interesting how Peter decided to claim he was not Jewish, like he actually had said to Anne in the diary. I took one star off because I had thought the book would be more about Peter after the war and living his life. But then, he sees Anne’s diary becoming famous and he talks about their relationship more. Like how he felt about her and hearing about her death. But overall, it was a pretty good story! It’s a shame Peter Van Pels didn’t actually get to get married or have children of his own:(

I just came across this book at the library and was instantly interested... can't wait to dive into this one. I think that the author did a nice job picking up where Peter's life could have left off after WWII ended. I think that she really did her research and portrayed Peter in a very realistic way. It was interesting to read about his coping skills after the war ended and what he thought that he needed to protect his family from (wife and children). I liked the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and thought that the his reaction to Anne Frank's diary was likely. Overall a good read. Looking forward to reading more from this author.

This was so much more than I expected it to be. Thoughtful, incisive, challenging, taut, fraught with emotion and memory. My obsession with Anne has led me down some weird rabbit trails, but this one paid off in the end. 4.5 stars.

This book has a good story line... But I struggled to get into the outset of it.

Was it a good book? Yes
Was it the best book I have ever read? No
Did it show the process of realizing that maybe you are not as mentally-healthy as you thought, even when you see others struggle? Absolutley.
This book thaught me a little about the life after the second world war in the US but more about running from your own demons and how that can manifest in different ways.

Very intriguing

Lot of history about Anne Frank and the Nazis. Has an interesting twist at the end of the book. You should read it

Ellen Feldman has created an alternate universe in her novel The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank. In this universe, Peter Van Pels (Peter Van Daam in Anne's famous diary) survives the Holocaust. Keeping his identity and Judaism a secret, he emigrates to the United States. The story begins in the 1960s. Peter is married, has children and is co-owner of successful business. However, his life begins to unravel when he notices the cover of a book his wife is reading: The Diary of a Young Girl. Peter is haunted by Anne's image. He feels all the things any survivor feels: guilt, anger, anguish.


While the reader knows that Peter Van Pels died days before Mauthausen was liberated, the details Feldman includes in her novel begins to convince the reader otherwise. I especially enjoyed the inclusion of the controversy surrounding the dramatization of Anne's diary. I had only heard of the controversy after reading Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife.


I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed Feldman's novel. While I was inclined to believe the book would be sugar-coated tripe, it was actually a compelling look at what could have been.

The story and subject matter is interesting without a doubt, and if you are someone like me who likes reading anything and everything connected to Anne then you will most likely enjoy the book too. The one thing that really gets me down about this book is that, as other reviewers have mentioned, I thought it would be somewhat more grounded in history and what actually happened - perhaps talking about the relationship between Anne and Peter when they lived in the annex - instead of an entirely fictional story. There are so many other TRUE storied about what people went through in the Second World War that this alternate reality/fictional story seems a bit unneccessary in the grand scheme of things, but I say that as a history teacher who knew nothing about the book before reading, and who still enjoyed the story.

I'm not saying this book was horrible, nor was the character, Peter, who was supposed to have loved Anne Frank in his youth and is now living the best he can as an adult, without her.

But I thought the story would explore the relationship between the two a little bit. Other than the very rare, occasional quote from Anne's diary concerning a thought about Peter, I had a tough time finding any ties, connections, or any kind of affection, between the two, and I found that absence disappointing.

Fantastic. I love it when books make me thing of historical events from a different point of view. This fictional account of Peter van Pels resonated with me, and brought to light one of the reasons for my own fascination of this time period, as said by one of the characters: "People like me, people who have had it easy, have no right to close their eyes." A major theme of the book is reconciling with your past, but one of the minor ones sparked my attention: when fiction is made from the true story and is distorted, people usually believe the distorted version. The themes are strings that are knitted into a whole, much like someone's actions, words and memories are knitted into who they are. The Holocaust is merely the backdrop of the protagonist's past, and cause of turmoil. It's living with the aftermath of your actions, or lack thereof, that's difficult after tragic circumstances.

Recomand aceasta carte pentru cei care au citit "Jurnalul Annei Frank".
Desi este doar fictiune, m-a impresionat si mi-a placut tare mult.