Annexed Audiobook By Sharon Dogar cover art

Annexed

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Annexed

By: Sharon Dogar
Narrated by: Joe Barrett, Rachel Butera, Jeremy Gage, Peter Ganim, L. J. Ganser, Elisabeth Rodgers, Jay Snyder, Eileen Stevens, Suzanne Toren, Oliver Wyman
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Earphones Award Winner (AudioFile Magazine)

Most of us know about Anne Frank and her life hiding in the secret annex; but what about the boy, Peter van Pels, who hid with her?

In Annexed, Sharon Dogar imagines Peter’s life. What was it like being forced into hiding with Anne Frank, first hating her and then falling in love with her? Especially with their parents watching almost everything they did together. To know Anne was writing about you in her diary, day after day? What was it like to start questioning your religion, wondering why simply being Jewish inspired such hatred and persecution? Or to just sit and wait and watch while others died, and wish you were fighting? As Peter and Anne became closer and closer in their confined quarters, how did they make sense of what they saw happening around them?

Anne's diary ends on August 4, 1944, but Peter's story takes us beyond and into the Nazi death camps. He details with accuracy, clarity, and compassion the day-to-day survival in Auschwitz, and the horrific fates of the annex's occupants.

This powerful story is read by an incredibly talented cast of narrators: Oliver Wyman, Eileen Stevens, Suzanne Toren, Joe Barrett, Rachel Butera, Marc Vietor, Gabra Zackman, Elisabeth Rodgers, Jeremy Gage, Peter Ganim, Jay Snyder, and L. J. Ganser.

©2010 Sharon Dogar (P)2010 Audible, Inc. Fiction Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction Multicultural Romance

Editorial reviews

Reading any book — fiction or non — about the Holocaust is, of course, a bleak experience. But listening to a book about the Holocaust is something else entirely. And so it goes with Annexed, a young adult novel by the British writer Sharon Dogar, which reimagines the Anne Frank story from the perspective of the doomed teen’s crush, Peter Van Pels. Here, it’s 16-year-old Peter who keeps the diary, chronicling the two years spent hiding from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic with his parents and the Frank family; the last section of the book is devoted to his tragic fate at Mauthausen, a Nazi death camp in Austria.

Emotions — and sometimes hormones — run high in this novel, and narrator Oliver Wyman nails it. He’s not just narrating; he’s emoting, and, with his vague, lilting European accent, he delivers one convincing performance as the confused 16-year-old Peter. (Other characters in the book are performed by a full cast.) From his initial resistance to the precocious Anne to realizing that he’s falling in love with her, there isn’t a doubt we’re listening to a smart, gentle, and thoughtful young man. More haunting is when his story moves to the camp, and he relates, in heartbreaking detail, the cruelty inflicted on the Jews. As his body gets weaker, so too does his voice, until it’s barely a whisper.

A flurry of controversy swirled around Annexed upon its release, with critics accusing Dogar of exploiting both Anne Frank’s legacy and that of Peter Van Pels, who was, of course, a real person. Regardless of how you view Dogar’s intentions, the effect of her efforts is the same: a reimagining that takes the well-known story of Anne Frank and enriches it by bringing alive the boy who we all know died too soon. —Jaime Buerger

Critic reviews

"Oliver Wyman portrays a resentful 15-year-old Peter van Pels, who lives in Amsterdam in 1942… Wyman's voice measures the way Peter has been robbed of his sense of self. The rest of the full cast plays the other annex residents, their tones and voices contrasting vividly with Peter's sense of darkness—especially Anne Frank's." (AudioFile)
"[Dogar] creates a captivating historical novel and fully fleshes out the character of Peter… Annexed is a superb addition to the Holocaust literature, and should not be missed." (School Library Journal)
"A dramatic and ambitious companion to The Diary of Anne Frank…. Showing equal skill in bringing history to life and in capturing the spirit of a young man searching for his identity amid chaos, Dogar has written a novel as provocative as it is devastating." (Publishers Weekly)
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Some books are just good....this is one such book. I really enjoyed listening to it. Thanks to Audible for having this in store.

Some books are just good....this is one such book.

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This story was remarkable! I loved that there was a full cast of narrators, so each character had his or her own unique voice. Anne Frank's story is well known, so it was interesting to hear the scenario from someone else's perspective. Of course, considering the setting, there are depressing moments in the story, but there are also lighthearted scenes to be enjoyed. I would recommend listening to this book. You won't regret it!

Loved, Loved, Loved It!!

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This story was a great addition to those who would like to understand the lives of the Franks and their friends better. At times, the story read like a romance novel. Of course, this was written about a teenage boy, but it could have spent less time discussing his sexual fantasies. Overall, I think that the author did a great job demonstrating the multi-faceted lives of her characters. The narrator did a very good job along with the rest of the cast. My only complaint is that he seemed a bit broody. But again, this was about a teenage boy.

Great Addition, but too much romance.

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Would you try another book from Sharon Dogar and/or the narrators?

Maybe

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Not sure. Either a book grabs you or it doesn't. I had to rewind a lot and re-listen so it did not suck me it. Overall not bad just not a real page turner for me.

Was Annexed worth the listening time?

If you have a lot of it.

Really wanted to love this book

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I think this is a great book. It is historical fiction, but it shows a male side of the heavily female originals (Anne Frank, Rutka Laskier and such). I have read some complaints that Dogar did not treat the individuals of the Annex with respect, but in fact I would say she was kinder to them than Anne was herself. I would say this is strongly a PG-13 book, but I think it would be much easier for young males to identify with.

The second part of the book is disturbing, but powerful. Not for the faint of heart, but I would suggest anyone who is interested in looking into the darkness that was the holocaust read this book.

Disturbing, but Powerful

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