Ari Folman

Anne Frank may be the face of the Holocaust, and this graphic novel, by adapter Ari Folman and illustrator David Polonsky, is a beautiful adaptation of her famous diary. Adapting Frank's diary couldn't have been easy--and, as Folman and Polonsky explain in the end notes, the pressure was on to do the diary justice--but they did it with great skill. Folman chose select entries to highlight and worked closely with Polonsky to bring those to life. For entries that seemed to beg to be included show more in total, Folman did just that. It's an inspired take that should please all who’ve read the source material.

The illustrations are detailed and expressive, but most of all, they’re some of the most inventive I've seen in a graphic novel. I was so impressed by how Polonsky tackled the daunting task of taking Frank's wise-beyond-her-years observations and thoughts and translating them into a concrete depiction. He did it perfectly. Adapter and illustrator worked very well as a team, and it’s obvious that this graphic novel was a labor of love that they were determined to get right.

Folman and Polonsky emphasized just how human Frank was. What comes across over and over is that Frank was remarkably astute for her age; there’s a predestined feel to her diary, as if her pen was guided by a future that knew her diary would eventually become one of the best-selling books of all time. But Frank was also very much a typical adolescent, and her adolescent, mundane musings live alongside her mature, wiser ones. Her early entries express outrage over the--as she saw it--unrelenting criticism she received from the adults around her. She struggled to relate to her mom and felt closer to her dad. She was sometimes jealous of the positive attention Margot got and annoyed by suggestions that she emulate her. She thought about Peter van Daan and their budding romance. Later entries have a slightly different tone and focus, hinting that Frank resolved many of her past grievances.

This graphic novel isn’t solely about Frank, however, and Folman and Polonsky didn’t sugar-coat life in the attic. They showed boring, difficult life in hiding: meager food rations, lack of privacy, and general tension that comes with living in close quarters. Zooming out, they also highlighted the frequent bombings, precariousness of the living situation, terrifying close calls, and so much else.

The source material contains a lot, and as good as this graphic adaptation is, it’s very abridged. The adapter couldn't include everything in Frank’s diary, and he didn’t quote most parts in their entirety. It also has a loose chronology that may confuse those who haven't read the diary. Most importantly, it doesn’t deliver quite the same gut-punch that the diary does at the end, when it abruptly stops after the reader has gotten to know Frank so intimately. It is, however, an exceptional companion work. I also recommend the moving [b:Anne Frank: Her life in words and pictures from the archives of The Anne Frank House|6665210|Anne Frank Her life in words and pictures from the archives of The Anne Frank House|Menno Metselaar|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1317792387l/6665210._SX50_.jpg|6860076], which contains lots of photos of the Frank family and succeeds in really humanizing them as a regular, normal family doing regular, normal things. These two, read alongside the diary, will provide a complete, satisfying portrait.

(Note: An animated Anne Frank movie is now available: https://forward.com/culture/472841/a-newly-animated-anne-frank-for-todays-europe... ) show less

This very strong adaptation of one of the most famous diaries in history works best when the creators trust their instincts and use the graphic novel format to truly visualize Anne's life, thoughts and dreams. They drop in large blocks of text from Anne's diaries a few too many times, but when they actually adapt, we are given a playful and imaginative look into a life which was rich in so much even while lived in confinement and with a scarcity of supplies.

The most moving moment for me was show more a portrait late in the book of a grown-up Anne surrounded by the mementos of the writing career that should have been. Devastating.

I look forward to the animated movie being produced in conjunction with this graphic adaptation. show less

Reading Waltz With Bashir has been an interesting experience. Initially I was under the impression that it was a graphic novel based on a live-action movie, but as I came to learn more of the graphic novel's history I realized that this is a direct film-to-book translation of an animated piece. Each panel is captured from the film and given English dialogue. Despite my general dislike for book adaptations of movies, Waltz With Bashir actually works, because as a graphic novel it is as show more visually stimulating as a film might be and had an immense impact on me as a reader.

Waltz With Bashir follows a man named Folman, one of the authors, actually, who has begun having strange and terrible dreams related to his involvement in the 1982 Lebanon War. But he can't remember anything from the war beyond vague details and sets out to unravel the pieces to finally achieve some semblance of piece in his sleep. In doing so, however,
he begins to discover things about himself and the war that he would much rather forget.

Waltz With Bashir is clearly an emotional piece, and it successfully strikes home the feeling of regret and terror that comes with war, and especially with particularly bloody ones. While the story never fully completes itself--Folman never recalls his past in its entirety--Waltz With Bashir does give us a detailed glimpse into the world of a modern day soldier in the Middle East.

Particularly touching, for me, were the last few pages of the book, which showed real pictures from the events described by Folman in his memories. These are, to say the least, disturbing precisely because they are real images, not doctored or staged photos--at least, I assume they're not staged. The vast majority of us in the U.S. and other Western countries have not experienced the darker aspects of war, and probably never will. Waltz With Bashir, however, is a graphic novel that wants us to see these things; it wants to pull us out of our comfort zones to relay reality.

Already I am a fan of this piece. While the artwork has a tendency to be a tad simplistic, the merger of real backgrounds with drawn figures is a welcome change from the more typical styles of comic art. And while Waltz With Bashir may not be science fiction or fantasy, I think readers here will enjoy not only the movie, but this graphic novel, because it manages to do what few graphic novels have done successfully: tell a self-contained, deep, and detailed story that is aware of the psychological conditions of its characters. This one is definitely worth picking up! show less

This adaptation of "The Diary of a Young Girl," by Anne Frank, is beautifully done. The storyline introduces us to a 13-year-old Anne who is vibrant and longs for attention and then takes us through the psychological journey that she experiences once she, her family, the van Daans, and Albert Dussel go into hiding in the secret annex above her father's shop. Hiding from the Nazis, Anne experiences moments of extreme fear, but she also blossoms into a young woman discovering her own show more sexuality. The illustrations are well done--some capturing the horror of bombing but others capturing Anne's vivid imagination. Overall, this book is a good shorter version of the original guaranteed to build interest and empathy. show less