The child’s diary that awakened the conscience of the worldWhen Zlata’s Diary was first published at the height of the Bosnian conflict, it became an international bestseller and was compared to The Diary of Anne Frank, both for the freshness of its voice and the grimness of the world it describes. It begins as the day-to-day record of the life of a typical eleven-year-old girl, preoccupied by … eleven-year-old girl, preoccupied by piano lessons and birthday parties. But as war engulfs Sarajevo, Zlata Filipovic becomes a witness to food shortages and the deaths of friends and learns to wait out bombardments in a neighbor’s cellar. Yet throughout she remains courageous and observant. The result is a book that has the power to move and instruct readers a world away.
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a girl in the clutches of war
This is the diary of a girl named Zlata. In the early 1990s when Zlata was 11 years old and enjoying a typical young girl’s life, a war was starting. It slowly trickled to where she lived in Bosnia causing World War II like conditions for the country. Quickly electricity became scarce and then non-existent. Water, gas, and food became things to ration carefully. Winter came and Zlata’s family had to start to burn furniture just to keep warm.
Zlata had started her diary shortly before the war broke out, and for 2 years she kept almost a daily account of what was happening around her. Through the eyes of a young girl, we learn what war was like for children. And at the age of 13, when she finally escaped to Paris with her family and she was free from Bosnia’s war, the relief she felt was expressed at the end of her diary.
This was a quick read, and an interesting perspective of the war. Like Anne Frank’s diary (except with much less detail), we get to hear what it was like for a child. I have two 12 year old children myself, and I can imagine them writing the exact same way if they kept a diary. IT is innocent and focuses on what children miss the most and how very little understand they have of grown up problems.
It is a good read. I encourage you to try it for yourself.
Incredible story of how this individual survived all of the strife in Sarajavo.
The reader quickly identifies with Zlata, wanting her to succeed in fooling the authorities so that she and her father will make enough money for their family to buy food to eat. Zlata is forced to accept more adult responsibilities, and the reader agonizes with her as she makes difficult decisions. It was a terrific read!
It was so moving to here the impact of war from a child’s perspective. The fact that she didn’t understand the reasoning that caused the war was enlightening.
Informative and good history.
A tender story of growing up during war.
A very good book for adults and young adults alike to understand what it is like to live in a city in the midst of war. It makes it clear that you basically return to a nearly the dark ages life style. This book brings that message home.
It shares the experiences and emotions of a 13 year old girl in Large city for most of two years of bombardment and strafing.
It helps You experience living in a modern building where there is no running water, electricity or gas day after day. And most of your home is unsafe due to the high probability of bullets. You must walk to get water. You are lucky to have bread and cheese. It is not safe to have the children go to school. Eventually education is improvised by putting multiple grades in a single room in smaller groups closer to home.
This book provides invaluable insight into the affects of war on the noncombatantants while the political leaders fight over things that were not significant issues before the war. The people are left to suffer while the governments holds them hostage and doesn’t conclude the fighting in an expeditious way. They go around and around in circles and squabble like children meanwhile people are suffering and dying and their countries and economies are being destroyed. .
It makes it clear that the leaders are actually not leaders at all. They fail to do the job that would truly define them as leaders – negotiate a settlement for peace for all that sets all the regular people up for prosperity and peace.
A great true story about this wonderful young lady and what she went sure. Everyone needs to read her story!
Read this book when it was first published. Amazing chronicle of war through a child’s eyes and heart. I work with immigrants and their children and have recommended this book as a way to look back at seeing their own strenghs and lessons learned.