Hey guys! I would have loved to have this done a lot earlier than this but with my schedule it kinda took a back burner. I faked my way through an essay and had some late starts for school, also had tons of homework. Now since I have a minute or two to spare I thought I would try to get this done. So the moment you all have been waiting for.... My non-fiction review! This week I am reviewing a book on the Russian holocaust. Most of the reason I read this book is because I needed it for english and it just so happened to fit in with academic decathlon. I am so sorry this is out later than expected, I had some school stuff that needed done and I just completely forgot. Now on with the review!
The Secret Holocaust Diaries by Nonna Bannister
In the beginning of this book/diary we learn about Nonna. Nonna is a Russian girl who lives in a very rich family. Or what could be considered rich at the time. It is about 5 or 6 years before world war 2. Nonna explains her first couple years in her diary. ( That is her first couple years after she got her diary.) Most of it is just explaining who her family is and about her grandmas house and all the other houses they lived at. After a couple of years the war finally reaches them. It had been effecting them for years but they never saw it until this point. As the book goes on we get to see the a different side of the holocaust. Nonna and her mom got the better end of the stick most of the time. They moved to different camps quite a lot but for the most part stayed together. Nonna explains lots of things during the book. She even drew how the patches when on the people at the camps. Eventually the war ends and she tries to go and live a normal life.
I rate this book a 3/5 stars. The reason for this is because I thought it was rather scatter brained and some of the facts where wrong. Some times Nonna would be writing about her child hood then bounce forward a couple of years then come right back to when she was a kid again. Also when her mom went to another camp and had a number tattooed on her arm she named a camp that didn't put numbers on their "prisoners". They really only did that at Auschwitz. ( as far as I know. I could be wrong...) there where some other small details that bugged me but I over came those ones. Other than that if you wanted to read about the some what up side to the Russian Holocaust then be my guest, read the book. It really wasn't all that bad, then again I am not one for non-fiction books. At least this one was for the most part entertaining.
To my english teacher: here is the assignment that you wanted....
The first paragraph is up top.
I wouldn't care if this story was shared with others or not. The reason for this is that it was an OK book. The reason I wouldn't share this book is because it is a little scatterbrained and has some things that are inconstant with the history we know now. The reason I would share this with others is because over all this is a pretty good book. It didn't put me to sleep like other books and some one else may find helpful or interesting.
This issue I really only knew half of the story. Every one thinks that the Holocaust was all about the Jews but really in fact it also dealt with the Russians, poles, and some other groups. So I wouldn't mind learning a bit more, maybe next time my dad is watching the history channel this subject will be on and it will shed more light in this dark region of the holocaust.
Here is a video on the this topic..................
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_DYyUd7RM
This is all I have for now, I hope you all enjoyed this review and read the book if you want to know more! Talk To You All Later! -Kaitlynn
