I stumbled upon this book--not even sure where. It feels like a disservice saying this book was amazing. Because it was so much more than amazing. It changed me. I know that I'm a different person as a result of this book. Perhaps, it just solidified my obsession with Anne Frank or maybe it's because I'm older now, than when I first discovered Anne and her diary---but the book gave me hope that survival is always possible. That our past may haunt us but in the end when we trust and embrace the past we are able to move forward.

It is rare that i find a writer that has such grace with words. The words seem to float on the page, despite being so heavy.

I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. While I know that the blurb of this book was about Peter trying not to live in the past, I also was expecting him to grieve Anne Frank later on. I just finished reading her diary. I wanted to mourn with someone who had truly known her even if it's just a simulation in my head prompted by a realistic alternate fiction novel.

But no, it almost barely does that, this book is more focused on Peter's trauma and his every day struggle. His grief is there, but mostly focused on his parents. He did eventually acknowledge the diary and admits to missing Anne, but he won't even want to see her father lest he is pulled back to the past like him.

And while his silent suffering is a testament to his hurting over her and loved ones who had passed on, I was disappointed that the novel didn't divulge into the mourning and acknowledgement part. At least, it didn't seem enough to me, so maybe that's just me.

The plot is also interesting but also quite slow, that I couldn't help but skim the remaining pages. I didn't like what I saw.

Peter and Otto didn't even have a proper reunion, and while I respect that the author probably didn't want to somehow (further?) mar Otto Frank's survival by writing such that may border on pandering (yes, even for this novel), it still made me feel heartbroken that in the story, Otto Frank had refused to acknowledge Peter as the real Peter for a number of reasons that involved lawsuits and heartbreak.

I don't think they even got to talk to each other until Otto died. Which is almost silly, because there is a high possibility that Otto would try to investigate a person claiming to be Peter Van Pels, despite everything, even though there's a chance of danger/embarrassment.

Hell, in real life, Otto was practically comforted by the fact that a penpal of his has Anne as her first name (https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-n...) and thus confided and trusted her, what more could he be with the whole lot as 'Peter Van Pels'? And the real deal too?

This really has a good execution, if only it pulled through in the end with something more satisfying as a conclusion. I truly wanted to like this book, and I did during the first half. Too bad I can't say the same for the rest.

The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank by Ellen Feldman is an intriguing novel; however it had a disappointing ending. This is a story of "what if" Peter Van Daan [Van Pels] had lived? He survived the concentration camps, but the Red Cross has no record of him living. So what does he do? He moves to America, where he marries a Jewish girl (but insists that he is not Jewish himself) and starts a family. His family knows that he was in Amsterdam during the war and was sent to a concentration camp, but he claims as a resistor, not a Jew. Will Peter's repression of his past catch up to him? What happens when Anne Frank's infamous diary goes public?

The story was very intriguing because of the mystery behind Peter, and I kept wondering about his past. This is what kept me moving forward with the reading. There was a lot of psychology in his character to analyze, and it was fascinating. The ending was frustrating because the ending was almost-too-expected, too easy. I would recommend this book to those interested in learning the affects the Holocaust had on victims, but they should realize that this story is fictional.

Die Geschichte von Peter van Pels, der mit Anne Frank, ihren Familien und dem Zahnarzt Fritz Pfeffer mehr als zwei Jahre im "Hinterhaus" versteckt lebten ehe sie - wahrscheinlich - verraten und deportiert wurden.
Laut Autorin ist Peter der Einzige, der Hinterhaus-Bewohner über dessen Verbleib man zunächst nichts genaues wusste. Sehr wahrscheinlich ist aber, dass er während eines Gewaltmarsches von Auschwitz nach Mauthausen ums Leben kam. Aber was wäre, wenn er überlebt hatte? Wenn er nur seine Identität weitestgehend verleugnet hätte? Genau darum geht es in diesem Buch.
Unglücklich gewählt ist dabei vielleicht schon der Titel. Es geht nicht nur und überwiegend um die Liebe Peters zu Anne Frank. Es geht in erster Linie um Peter selbst, wie er versucht mit dem Leben zurecht zu kommen, glaubt, es gelänge ihm und dabei nicht wahrnimmt, was Krieg, Verfolgung, Lager und Identitätskrise mit und aus ihm gemacht haben.
Das Buch ist sehr gut geschrieben. Es wird erstaunlich wenig über Anne Frank geschrieben. Sie taucht auf, besonders ihr Tagebuch, aber sie steht nicht wie überall sonst im Vordergrund. Auch die Folgen einer posttraumatischen Störung werden meiner Meinung nach, sehr gut beschrieben und einfühlsam dargestellt.
Nachdem ich mich eingelesen hatte, konnte ich das Buch nicht mehr weg legen (Schlaf ist ja sowieso überbewertet). Auf jeden Fall ein neuer Blickwinkel auf die Zeit im und nach dem Versteck im Hinterhaus, sehr lesenswert, aber auch kein sehr einfacher Stoff.

This is a fictional novel written from the viewpoint of Peter Van Pels, the young man who was in the attic/annex with Anne Frank. In the novel, he survives and moves to New York, telling no one about his past. Anne referred to him as "Peter Van Daan" in the book, so this helps him stay anonymous. He struggles with his past as it is and with the Anne's diary released in the US in 1952, followed by the play in 1955, his sanity is in danger. As a student of history, I enjoyed this book and the "what if" aspect of it.

Fascinating premise, but it felt somewhat long and overly drawn out.

I liked it. It certainly wasn't the best written book but it really provided alot of insight into the life of a post war survivor who thinks that by moving to a new country and hiding his past and his heritage that he will be able to leave it all behind and the reality that no matter how hard we try those things did happen and it will continue to impact you and your life. Even in a new country.

Good. I may have had higher expectations given the subject matter, but I appreciated the story.

Peter is not likable.

Very well written, but drawn out. I could not like Peter…something was missing so I could not feel the sympathy I think I should feel for him.

8/8 - It was interesting reading this because I kept forgetting it wasn't real, that Peter hadn't actually survived the Nazis and made it to America. I was very impressed with the amount of research Feldman put into the story and I really liked the quotes, taken from numerous sources, that started each paragraph. Those quotes gave authenticity to what was happening in the story, they seemed to make Peter fit in to the documented events completely believably.

Some of Peter's actions and reactions to life were a bit weird and I found it hard to understand why he did some of the things he did. But then I'm not a survivor of anything (except a few heart operations), so I know that I have no way of knowing how I would behave if I was Holocaust survivor. So while I didn't understand some of his reactions to every day life, I didn't question the legitimacy of any of it, I just found it hard to relate to.

At the start I was surprised to read that they had no records of exactly what happened to Peter after the secret annexe was discovered. I was sure I remembered there being the final information for each of the inhabitants of the Secret Annexe in the epilogue or notes at the end of The Diary of Anne Frank. But it has been over a year since I read it, so I figured maybe I was misremembering. It turns out I was not, that Feldman had used the mistake of a tour guide (got to say that's a pretty stupid mistake for a tour guide of the Secret Annexe to make) to create her alternate history. A stupid mistake that lead to a pretty good book that I would recommend to anyone who enjoyed The Diary of Anne Frank or any other piece of literature on the subject.

The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank: A Novel is by Ellen Feldman. This is an interesting novel but it must definitely be said that it is fiction all the way. It answers a question of what might it look like if Peter or one of the others in the Annex had lived. How would they act and what would they do? The idea of this book came from a tour guide at the Annex in 1994 when he told the group he was leading that they had documentation of the deaths of all the members of the Annex except Peter. In actuality, the Red Cross had identified his number at Mathausen in 1945 and that he had died on May 5. However, the idea of his having survived had been born and eventually turned into this book. The book sounds so realistic that if you didn’t know better, you might think it was true. The book is definitely well-written and easy to read. Peter, himself, tells the story.
On August 13, 1946, a young man stepped off a ship carrying refugees from Europe to the United States. He got in line with his documents to go through customs and enter the United States. Since he had no birth certificate or any other documentation, he had been given a Certificate of Identity in lieu of a passport. Unlike other documents, this one did not give his religion. Since his name was van Pels and sounded Dutch, the customs man decided he must be Christian and welcomed him to the US. Peter had heard the man talk to others who were Jewish and knew he was being treated differently so he did not tell the man he was Jewish. Since Peter felt only derision and shame at being a Jew and he no longer believed, he decided to not be Jewish as far as anyone knew. He managed to create a new person in the place of the old Peter van Pels. It was only years later, after being married and having two children that Peter began having dreams that he didn’t understand. When his wife started reading a new book, The Diary of Anne Frank, he completely lost his voice for no apparent reason. Thus began his work with a psychologist to help him figure out why he had no voice. Even in talking with Dr. Gabor, Peter never told him who he was and what he might have done after the war. Peter is having more problems with dreams and flashbacks that he doesn’t understand. He begins to get more and more confused as does the book. What will Peter end up doing?

Please see my detailed review at Amazon.com n  Grace's "Boy Who Loved Anne Frank" Reviewn

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This was such an intriguing premise, and another winner from the pen of Ellen Feldman. Having read and enjoyed "Lucy," I had high hopes for this one, and I was in no way disappointed. I will be thinking about it for a while.