Night, by Elie Wiesel
Night is an autobiographical book, the first of a trilogy, by Eliezer Wiesel.
Elie Wiesel (as he is commonly known) was born in Romania and taken to the Auschwitz death camp when he was only 15 years of age, together with his father, mother and sisters. In this book, he tells us how he and his family were taken from their homes and carried like animals into the camp. At the entrance, he only managed to stay with his father, having lost contact with the others. His father then turns into a constant presence, being the only source of love and comfort to the little boy.
For about a year, Elie lived terrors, having witnessed some of the most horrid atrocities committed at the camp. These are told in the raw simplicity of Elie’s writing and are, to say the least, shocking. Surprisingly and against all odds, he managed to survive and was freed when the American Soldiers liberated the camp. His father, unfortunately, didn’t make it, and, to say the way Elie remembers this to be heartbreaking, would be an understatement.
Elie was then sent to France, where he studied and grew into a man.
This book of around 100 pages is one of the most powerful you will ever have the chance to read, and it will most definitely make you grow as a person. Extremely thought provoking and with a very accessible and “pure” writing, it is impossible to stay indifferent to Night. You will feel anger, revolt, and a strange sense of accountability: the one to keep the story alive and to prevent it from happening again.
[ This was actually a book "review" I had to write for my English class. Lesson learned: reviewing your favorite book in around 250 words = not easy ]
One of the most powerful and intense books I’ve ever read–its intensity heightened by the brevity of the work. I read this one along with Primo Levi’s THE DROWNED AND THE SAVED and SURVIVAL IN AUSCHWITZ and it’s NIGHT that persists in memory. Elie Wiesel has famously said that, for him, God died at Auschwitz…but his humanity and desire to enact change in the world was born there so I guess there was a necessary trade-off…
I read this book for a history class–thank you for reminding me of it. I also read Levi’s Survival in Auschwitz and Alexander Solzhenitsyn for a freshman lit class and had to do a paper comparing the two. The book that haunted me the most, however, from when I was in high school was THE ENDLESS STEPPE: A GIRL IN EXILE by Esther Hautzig. I still have it on my bookshelf in a place of honor in my home office (my major library is in my basement), and now I think I will have to reread all these books–when my grad studies give me time to breathe!
Thank you for sharing! I’m glad I’m not the only one who posts about homework assignments!
I first read “Night” my freshman year in college. I went on to take a course strictly devoted to Wiesel and read many more of his books. His works are haunting yet humanizing at the same time. Great works.
I heard about this book on NPR and have been dying to read it!
I first read this book in the 8th grade. witch I am in now, and it had told me all that I wanted to know. And Elie Wiesel is the strongest person I’ve ever heard of.
i read this book last week and Elie wiesel change my live because now i realised that i’m not the only one that has been in bad situations.
i had read this book in my English class, and it was the most intensifying book i have ever read. Reading this book makes you want to just break down and cry considering this is how some humans can do such a thing. I think this book is all about discrimination and Germans wanting power. on a scale from 1 to 5, 5 being the best this book gets a 5. I suggest you read it and maybe you will change the way you feel sometimes.
I loved your book. i am so sorry to what happened to your dad. i am a 12 year old girl that learned about your book in social studied so i decided to read it. i cryed in so many parts. i would never image me losing my family. you should have never lost hope in god but i would have been mad to. God bless you and thank you. I hope your foot held very quick.
– Your Friend
laura seymour
im am 16 and i just read this book in english
it was a good book and sad!
but it didn’t make me feel anything… like not in a bad way, it was just, i was afraid to feel, because i didn’t want to feel the wrong thing. i found it interesting. and it made me wonder about alot of things i never thought before.
but then we watched his interview with opera, and everything came crashing into my head, and thats when i started feeling the saddness that i hadn’t felt while reading.
i think im going to re read it, to get the whole idea of it again.
but just on the interview. watching him and listening to him. you just were like. wow. he really did go through it. and thats when the whole story began to feel so much more real to me.
The book was’nt that awesome. Sure it would suck to be him, but you know, what ever.
That’s a bit cold. “Awesome” isn’t the adjective I’d choose either, but I thought it was extremely honest and direct. I don’t really see how anyone could stay indifferent to it, but okay.