cmwilliams29's review against another edition

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3.75

I read bits and piece of this many years ago, but it's great to finally read the full text. A harrowing and powerful account of life in a concentration camp and the insights he gathers from the behaviour of those prisoners is just stunning. To see how Frankl used his training from before the war to then develop his theories afterwards is impressive. An important book - I understand why it has received so much praise in the past.

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jataraxia's review against another edition

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5.0


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ghostycell's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

Difficult to get through at times, for different reasons. The subject matter is very dark but the story is told in a very engaging way and I was keen to keep going. The second half becomes a bit technical and I struggled to get through it at times, but it is well worth the time spent. 

The audiobook experience was decent. I think everyone should give this book a go, at the very least.

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jayvdw's review against another edition

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4.5

This book is split into a few parts. I only read the first part of the book: Experiences in a Concentration Camp. This is the original book that Frankl wrote. Later on, other parts of the book about logotherapy were added. I read a bit from these parts but it was personally of no interest to me to read about it. But since I am rating the whole book and I was only interested in half of the book, I deduced 0.25 from my rating. 

The first part was a unique experience to read. It was written as a combination of a narrative and a psychological analysis of this narrative. Frankl wrote about his own experiences in the different Concentration camps and what he did to mentally survive. The book teaches the reader a lot about life in a concentration camp and how it was organized from the prisoner's perspective. 

The book is also full of great quotes from other people. My personal favorites were:
The story about the death in Teheran. A short story that highlights that people should let fate run its course. 
It did not really matter what we expected of life, but rather what life expected from us. 
What you have experienced, no power on earth can take away from you.

I have visited the Dachau concentration camp, the camp where Frankl was liberated from. This made reading the book a bit extra special, since I was aware of how to camp looked and I have walked around it myself. This also made me rethink my visit and the next time I will visit a concentration camp, I am sure to have this book in the back of my mind. 

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mblanke's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0


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cryptidskunk's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

I expected the entire book to be more like the second half (focused on logotherapy with personal stories from Auschwitz). However the first half is about the psychology of what an Auschwitz prisoner goes through and is focused on his personal experiences. Incredibly important content, but just a warning if you were expecting more focus on logotherapy as a discipline throughout. 

Overall an incredibly impactful read that serves as both a reminder of how humans are capable of dehumanizing others and how to view the unexpected hardships of life to still find meaning

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emerentina's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad

3.5


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picturetalk321's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

4.0


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madshald's review against another edition

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dark informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25


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veryill's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0


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