abrswf's review against another edition
5.0
I can't do justice to these books. But everyone should read them. In the first, Levi recounts his time in Auschwitz. No other survivor that I have read or heard has his devastatingly dispassionate voice. In the second, his humor and eye for the absurd emerges as he tells the tale of his long trek home to Italy.
punkasschloe's review against another edition
4.0
Primo Levi, an Italian chemist, writes of his time in one of the Auschwitz camps in If This Is a Man, and of his liberation and long journey back to Italy in The Truce. Levi writes with an almost detached voice; it reads as if we are simply observing without emotion the harrows of the Holocaust. Yet he does not need to inflict emotion in his writing, because what he describes was indeed a fact, his life, and is truly horrible (perhaps this choice in writing is also a reflection and honour to his career as a scientist, wherein one typically only states what is observed). It is hard to rate such books, because I think it is a necessity to remind ourselves of the worst of humanity, so we do not repeat such a thing. Would I read these books again? No. Would I recommend them? Absolutely yes.
“This is hell. Today, in our times, hell must be like this. A huge, empty room: we are tired, standing on our feet, with a tap which drips while we cannot drink the water, and we wait for something which will certainly be terrible, and nothing happens and nothing continues to happen.”
“This is hell. Today, in our times, hell must be like this. A huge, empty room: we are tired, standing on our feet, with a tap which drips while we cannot drink the water, and we wait for something which will certainly be terrible, and nothing happens and nothing continues to happen.”
louisek's review against another edition
5.0
One of the greatest books I've ever read. The thing that surprised me the most with this is how easy it is to read, for something set in literal Hell it was so page-turning! That's down to the excellent way Primo writes as he writes with a directness and frankness as he relays the facts of what happened to him in the camps. This is definitely a must read for all.
demsael's review against another edition
5.0
Violently human. The truth about life and humanity. Not technically hard to read, but hard to read.
Different category, but made me want to read "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil" by Hannah Arendt (still haven't read it)
(I haven't read The Truce, my version only had "If this is a man")
Different category, but made me want to read "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil" by Hannah Arendt (still haven't read it)
(I haven't read The Truce, my version only had "If this is a man")
thebookofdanny's review against another edition
5.0
To give this anything less than five stars would be a kick in the tits.
annamour's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
ruthlessly's review against another edition
4.0
IN THE INTEREST OF FAIRNESS: I've really only read If This is a Man, because that's what I have to read for school, but it was (and I hesitate to say it because it is a true account) good! I'll go back and read The Truce once I have time.
vitoriajardim's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0