If you like this, then you might like that...Part II (Anne Frank, Franz Kafka, Gabriel Garcia Marquez)

I'm so glad you liked my first suggestion part.
As promised, I put together some more book-a-likes.
This part contains books dealing with more serious issues, like WW II and political persecution.


Diary of a Jewish girl during WW II:

Anne Frank
''Diary of a Young Girl''

Image taken from Amazon

Published postmortem by her father, this is the diary of 13-year old Anne during WW II, in which she describes her family's and her life in hiding from the Nazis. What makes it exceptional, is that this is the time of her adolescence, putting a special light on her reflections about life. It is most powerful in its silences and what is only hinted at.  Although Anne was born in Frankfurt am Main/Germany, the setting is in the Netherlands.



Helene Berr
''Helene Berr Journal''

Image taken from Amazon

Considered the 'French Anne Frank', Helene was a 21-year old student of Russian and English literature during the Nazis occupation. We follow her life as more and more rights are taken away from the Jews, and as more and more Jewish families in her surroundings disappear. Helene was older than Anne and did not live in hiding. Thus, we get a more reflected view of the social life of a well-respected Jewish family during WWII.


The Injustices of the Legal System:

 Franz Kafka
''The Trial''

Image taken from Amazon

The story begins with Joseph K. being put under arrest on his 30th birthday. Without knowing what he has done or how things are going to proceed, his trial is initiated.
With elements of magical realism, Kafka visualizes the obscureness of the Justice System in which the protagonist gets caught up more and more until he cannot escape it anymore.


Hans Fallada
''Alone in Berlin''

Image taken from Amazon

Also known as ''Every Man Dies Alone'', this novel depicts the life of a middle-aged couple in Berlin during Nazi Germany.
Where Kafka's ''The Trial'' is clean and sober in its tone, this one is seriously heartbreaking and based on real-life people and events. 
After having lost their son in the war, a working-class married couple find their own way of resisting the Nazi agenda by producing leaflets calling for rebellion and placing them around the city.
Eventually, they are being found out and put on death row.
They are not part of some resistance group but just two people seeking justice for their son's (and many others' death) which makes it all the more personal and unmediated.


Epic Family Saga with Political Undertone Over Several Decades:

Gabriel Garcia Marquez
''One Hundred Years of Solitude''

Image taken from Amazon

We follow the lives of the Buendia family over a period of..you guessed it..one hundred years.
Full of Magical Realism, this masterpiece is written in the most beautiful language.
Alongside the many (similarily named) family members, we experience love, hope, war, despair and most of all: solitude.

Ljudmila Ulitzkaja
''The Big Green Tent''

Image taken from Amazon

"The Big Green Tent" by Ljudmila Ulitzkaja is a story about life during 20th century Sovjet Russia.
It's Orwell meets Nabokov meets Nino Haratischwili.
Anachronistically, we follow the lives of Ilja, Micha and Sanja and all their family members and friends.
Every character has a different attitude towards the government.
And that's not just positive or negative but all the nuances in between.
But it doesn't just deal with the time's politics but also its literature, psychology, religion, pedagogics and music in great detail.

Nino Haratischwili
''The Eighth Life (For Brilka)''

Image taken from Amazon

This epic family saga begins in Georgia in 1900. 
We follow the lives of one family's members through Europe (mainly Russia, England and Germany) up until the 21. century.
Haratischwili takes us through many major political events and currents, each of her characters representing a different notion. With the most beautiful language, she created realistic characters that won't ever leave you and at the same time, teaches you the Georgian way of life.