This book was very hard to read, not because its not beautifully written, it is. Its purely down to the subject - its heartbreaking. Even 80 odd years after the fact it is still very upsetting what women like Renia went through.

Tissues ready!

Wow! I had no idea what to expect when I started reading but I couldn't put it down. As a people, we've forgotten how important writing journals are. Thank you for approving this title for me.

Reviewing a book such as this is very difficult and so I am not going to try. In fact, on my Goodreads page I have not given it a star rating. However, Netgalley feedback insists that I do.

Now, I am in no way criticising those who have, but personally I do not think it appropriate to do so. My reasoning is that this was never written with the intention of publication so, I ask myself, how can I possibly judge it as such?

Further thoughts can be seen on my blog :https://leftontheshelfbookblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/renias-diary-young-girls-life-in-shadow.html

A very poignant and harrowing story told in a diary by the young Renia, reminiscent of Anne Frank it is upsetting but an account well worth reading

A very powerful and well written book. Very informative, interesting, harrowing and upsetting. I would recommend this book if you want to know what it was like to live in this regime.

A beautifully tragic account during a time of such exposed hatred and evil. The prose is poetic and lyrically raw. A fantastic read, truly unforgettable

This book was interesting, but not brilliant! If you're a fan of this genre then you will probably love it so pick it up and give it a go :)

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Publishing for allowing me to read Renia's Diary.

I always hate leaving ratings for diary's and historical fiction such as these because it feels like you're rating the experience of the characters. I think sometimes we go into diaries such as this expecting them to be profound and insightful and offer all this wisdom about the world they're experiencing, but we largely forget that they're being written by teenage girls who never expected their diaries to be shared with the world and never expected their lives to be cut short the way they were or events to happen as they did.

Sometimes the diary starts because of what is happening or sometimes it starts before because teenage girls like to write diaries; we shouldn't expect every diary to be Anne Frank's diary. Sometimes a girl just wants to write about how in love she is and the drama she's having with her friends. And that's what Renia does. You do get some moments where the tension of the outside world creeps in but largely this diary is about her personal life.

I did find this hard to read at times because the focus is so much on her love life drama and friendship drama. The forward and the end are arguably the most interesting parts of the diary, however they're written with the reflection and knowledge of what has happened whereas Renia was writing her thoughts and feelings so they are not really comparative.

I think Renia's sister sums it up best herself at the start of the book, so i'm going to leave you with that:

"At some points, my thoughts and Renia's may feel scattered or not linear, but that's how a diary is. It's immediate and impulsive, and sometimes my memories are like that, too.

In the end, I know that my words are the legacy of the life my sister didn't get to have, while Renia's are the memories of a youth trapped for ever in war".

I can't find words enough to say how much I loved this book. The horrors of war, and the strength of human spirit. Should be recommended reading in schools.

This was another heartbreaking text soft the Holocaust. It's a diary of a Jewish Polish woman. Her boyfriend managed to hide her with his family in a tenement outside of the ghetto so she managed to evade some of the hardships inflicted on the Jews during World War 2. She documents the persecution of the Jews and her own life in this diary. There are also examples of some beautiful poetry penned by her hand. Such pieces of work are heartbreaking to read knowing what fate befell so many of these authors but they are also very important pieces of literature. This is worthwhile and very valuable read.

Renia is a young girl who dreams of becoming a poet. But Renia is Jewish, she lives in Poland and the year is 1939. When Russia and Germany invade her country, Renia's world shatters. Separated from her mother, her life takes on a new urgency as she flees Przemysl to escape night bombing raids, observes the disappearances of other Jewish families and, finally, witnesses the creation of the ghetto.

But alongside the terror of war, there is also great beauty, as she begins to find her voice as a writer and falls in love for the first time. She and the boy she falls in love with, Zygmunt, share their first kiss a few hours before the Nazis reach her hometown. And it is Zygmunt who writes the final, heartbreaking entry in Renia’s diary.

Recently rediscovered after seventy years, Renia’s Diary is already being described as a classic of Holocaust literature. Written with a clarity and skill that is reminiscent of Anne Frank, Renia's Diary also includes a prologue and epilogue by Renia's sister Elizabeth, as well as an introduction by Deborah E. Lipstadt, author of Denial. It is an extraordinary testament to both the horrors of war, and to the life that can exist even in the darkest times.

Another heart wrenching true story from this time period. These types of books have become really popular recently but I have to say that this is one of the best I have read. It pulled at the heart strings and catapulted me into the 1930's/1940's with style.

The writing is fantastic and Renia's story is not one to be missed. Definitely get out the tissues and prepare to be transported.

Reina dreams of becoming a poet, she lives in Poland and is Jewish and the story begins in 1939. Russia invaded Renia’s country and her world is shattered, she is separated from her mother and all she knows. Ending up in Przemyst to escape the bombing raids, Renia notices other Jewish families begin to disappear.

An emotional read, one which is brutally honest about life under the Gestapo and whilst the ending might not be what you would expect, it’s a read that makes you feel privileged to have shared some of Renia’s history.

In 1942 Renia Spiegel was murdered by the Nazis. Translated by Anna Blasiak and Marta Dziurosz, with all the loves and longings typical of a teen diary, Renia’s Diary would act as refuge for a girl living in occupied Poland. The diary begins in 1939, the German and Russian armies are carving Poland in two, and Renia finds herself cut off from her mother. The glimpses of a war-torn world come to a boil as the diary reaches its dreadful conclusion when the Nazis invade soviet held territories. With a final entry from her boyfriend and the diary's keeper, Zygmunt, and commentary from both author Deborah Lipstadt and Renia's sister Elizabeth, Renia’s Diary is a touching testament to a tragic loss and tribute to a much-loved sister.

The marketing for this books seems to rely heavily on presenting this as a 'war diary', however, I feel this missold the text. Based on the blurb I expected an account of what it was like to live in an occupied city, but Renia writes very little about the war or occupation. If you came thinking it would be descriptions of bombed-out buildings and terrified nighttime escapes, you will be disappointed. This is a teen girl's diary. Absolutely. Renia mentions as much in the diary; that it is her space away from the war and "all the darkness". Unfortunately, this can make reading it a little difficult. We have all been around a teenager who wants to talk of nothing but the person they fancy, reading Renia's diary can be like that. In this, it varies hugely from Anne Frank's diary (and this is the only comparison I shall make), as Anne's repetition is as much a part of living in such a confined space, while Renia chooses to write about her boyfriend. And she does write about him. A lot. Most of her entries are about Zygmunt - how much she loves him, wondering if he loves her, how handsome she thinks he is, will he walk her home tomorrow, and so on, and so on. Once you've finished it can be seen as how hope and love can survive in the face of turmoil, but during the read it got a little... eye-rolly. Can you blame her though? If you were caught in a war and terrible persecution, wouldn't you want to dwell on your "only breath of spring and sunshine"?

It is a teenager's diary, an unedited teenager's diary at that, and readers must remember it's a historical document. The end brings it into sharp focus. Very sharp focus. Her murder, her sister's account of escaping Poland with their mother, and Lipstadt's addition, make you realise what you have just read. A diary of a dead girl. Her life, so similar to yours, was stolen and she never got to look back at her teen diary as an adult and think "G-d, did I really write that!".

As my copy was provided by NetGalley, and therefore an ebook, I can recommend reading a physical copy. No, this is not out of olde-worlde prejudice. Where Renia blots out the war, the notes are vital in keeping the entries in context, both in regards to the Holocaust and to Renia's personal history. The notes, the looming knowledge of how close the Nazis are drawing, changes how you read entries. Reading it through Adobe Digital Editions I read the text without the notes. There is one entry in particular that I groaned through the first read, but my interpretation completely changed when reading in tandem with the notes and commentary. The tone completely alters when you know Renia is writing about kissing her boyfriend on the same day Operation Barbarossa is approved.

The entries are interspersed with Renia's poetry, some touching, some poignant, some letting slip Renia's feelings about her situation than the day-to-day entires. You may feel conflicted about her poetry. On the one hand, it's tragic that Renia never got to develop her writing skill, the growth between poems written in 1939 to those in 1942 is plain to see. On the other hand, they are written by a teenager and can suffer the same reaction as the more angst-filled diary entries. Though, I wonder how much of that is due to the translation choice. The diary, the poems were written in Polish, so why do the translated poems rhyme? Were the translators trying to provide 'sense' or 'intention' rather than a verbatim translation? Did they think we associate rhyming poetry with immaturity and the juvenile, therefore better fitting of a teen girl? Would a different translation better highlight the heartbreaking signs of the woman Renia might have matured to be?

Lastly, I would like to praise Elizabeth's afterword. Even decades later she writes with such candour it's incredibly easy to imagine yourself in her shoes. It also highlights, where Renia avoids, just how precarious their situation was.

It is difficult to rate Renia’s Diary because in part it was never meant to be read as a book. Without the notes or the afterword, it is just a teen diary, the kind of thing you or I would banish to the back of the wardrobe, a little embarrassed by our former selves. However, with them, a clear picture emerges that obliges readers to consider just how normality can be swept aside in the flick of a page. Nothing is clearer in the diary than Renia's desire to live, to love, and to be happy. She was denied that, and the existence of this diary - just as with Anne's - is part of recognising the debt we all owe in ensuring this doesn't happen again.

Renia is a young girl who dreams of becoming a poet. But Renia is Jewish, she lives in Poland and the year is 1939. When Russia and Germany invade her country, Renia's world shatters. Separated from her mother, her life takes on a new urgency as she flees Przemysl to escape night bombing raids, observes the disappearances of other Jewish families and, finally, witnesses the creation of the ghetto.
I found Renia’s sisters comments at the end more enlightening than the actual diary and I felt that the poems told more about what was going on around her than the diary.

Thank you to both NetGalley and publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review.

#ReniasDiary #NetGalley

Anyone expecting a “war” diary is going to be disappointed because it’s much more teenage angst about school, family and boys than what was happening in the wider world. Renia mentions very little so we have no idea of how it felt to be a schoolgirl living through turbulent times. It’s not until the diary finishes that a much clearer picture emerges of the terrible events that were happening. Also the translation seemed to use a few modern day terms which were out of place as I doubt people from the 1940’s would have said/used those words in that context. Sad times, sad book.

This is such an important book to acknowledge, as the years roll by these first hand accounts are being lost and soon the books are all that will be left. Deep, personal and moving, a difficult memoir yet so easy to read.
It doesn’t feel right adding a rating to this as it is Renias personal memories, so I will rate the structure, and style of writing instead. Well written and engaging.

This book is based on the true diary of Renia from 1939. She lives in Poland and starts at the start the war. It is interspersed with poems she wrote. . I really wanted to get from this book all her feelings and fears but I found it very hard to read. Partly because of the disjointed way it was written but I appreciate that a diary is often done this way.

I found this book really hard going, obviously the subject matter had something to do with it but it was actually more the style of writing. I am always interested in these types of books, but found this really dull and not enough historical interest to me in the actual diary part. However, I found the introduction and the ending (which was written by Renia's more interesting than the actual diary.

For the vast majority of this book, you'd never have known it was written during WW2, most references were very scarce. The diary covered the ages of 15-18 but really it mostly felt like it was being written by a young child as it felt like I was reading childish gibberish! The only saving grace were the numerous poems which meant you could quickly go to the next page.

With all of the stories being published about what it was really like for the "untermenschen" and, for the most part, signally failing to do so, I approached Renia's Diary with a much less than positive attitude. Pleased to say that my attitude changed, very much for the better, once I got into her diary because this is not a story about her diary but a translation of same. The translators have done a wonderful job, especially with the pages and pages of poems that Renia wrote and I am still wondering if they did too good a job because, to me, they appear too sophisticated for a 15 year old girl!?! If only I were capable of reading them in their original form.

If anyone wishes to read something that is gentle, shocking and profoundly sad whilst being an accurate teenager's view of day to day survival with no light at the end of her tunnel, please read Renia's Diary. This book should be considered for compulsory reading by all teenagers as I feel it would give them a strong and positive link with a life and time that it is, in the 21st Century, too easy to dismiss as fiction.