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A review by leahsbooks
Night by Elie Wiesel
5.0
For my full review, go to:
https://www.leahsbooksandcooks.com/post/night
Night by Elie Wiesel is not one of those books people read for enjoyment. It’s a book to be read because it’s about history, humanity, hate, religion, and evil. It’s particularly relevant to me because as a Jewish woman and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor it’s part of my own family history. As human beings, it is relevant to all of us.
I feel guilty as I read about how everything was taken from Elie and the others in the camp: their home, their family, their belongings, their clothing, their names, their hair, their gold teeth, their dignity, their hope, their humanity, their faith, and ultimately the goal was to take their lives in the slowest, most brutal and agonizing way possible.
There is no happy ending to this story. Elie doesn’t make it out unscathed. He doesn’t miraculously find love in the camp. He doesn’t perform a daring rescue and fight the guards off, saving his father’s life. He does what he can do to survive. He lives his entire life with guilt and trauma. He didn’t romanticize the story to make it appealing to readers. He told his story, to educate.
George Santayana said that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I can’t speak for Mr. Wiesel, but my father felt that he had a duty to bear witness and to educate people about what had happened. He had the opportunity to speak up, not just for himself, but for the people who didn’t have a voice. This is a powerful, moving, and important book, Consider reading it. Just have some tissues handy, and something light lined up for reading/watching afterwards. Trust me, you’ll need it.
https://www.leahsbooksandcooks.com/post/night
Night by Elie Wiesel is not one of those books people read for enjoyment. It’s a book to be read because it’s about history, humanity, hate, religion, and evil. It’s particularly relevant to me because as a Jewish woman and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor it’s part of my own family history. As human beings, it is relevant to all of us.
I feel guilty as I read about how everything was taken from Elie and the others in the camp: their home, their family, their belongings, their clothing, their names, their hair, their gold teeth, their dignity, their hope, their humanity, their faith, and ultimately the goal was to take their lives in the slowest, most brutal and agonizing way possible.
There is no happy ending to this story. Elie doesn’t make it out unscathed. He doesn’t miraculously find love in the camp. He doesn’t perform a daring rescue and fight the guards off, saving his father’s life. He does what he can do to survive. He lives his entire life with guilt and trauma. He didn’t romanticize the story to make it appealing to readers. He told his story, to educate.
George Santayana said that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” I can’t speak for Mr. Wiesel, but my father felt that he had a duty to bear witness and to educate people about what had happened. He had the opportunity to speak up, not just for himself, but for the people who didn’t have a voice. This is a powerful, moving, and important book, Consider reading it. Just have some tissues handy, and something light lined up for reading/watching afterwards. Trust me, you’ll need it.