Night

Rating:
Summary: Empty
Review: Death, the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the Holocaust. Night is a very descriptive autobiography about a fifteen-year-old boy and his father who are taken to a concentration camp in 1943, where they saw death and hatred produced from a single man who was convinced that wiping out a single race was the answer to the world's problems. In the book the author, Elie Weisel, creates a vivid description of the town that he grows up in. Describing sights, sounds, and develops the characters in the book gracefully. In describing himself Weisel gives a good description of his interests in Judaism and how he involves his religion in every day life. Here is a good description of how he describes his father and the town's outlook upon him: "My father was a cultured, rather unsentimental man. There was never any display of emotion, even at home. He was more concerned with others than his own family. The Jewish community in Sighet held him in the greatest esteem. They often used to consult him about public matters and private ones." Throughout the book he gives these types of descriptive explanations of important characters, places, and things. The Holocaust, easy to say, hard to consume. The topic of the book is a hard one and is at some parts vividly described. But because he was unaware of most of the horrors that went on behind the curtain he does not get into details. Many of the things that were done to the Jews the prisoners did not know about. The book is well paced and clearly explained. But because of their experiences and the pace at which they happened some things do move quickly. Vocabulary wise it's easy to read and you won't be reading over and over. The world's problems were thought to be fixed by wiping out a race. And forged by hatred concentration camps and human cattle cars were made and Elie Weisel and his family were taken to a place of pain and suffering, where men were not men but savages filled with hatred and anger.

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Summary: The Horrors of the Holocaust
Review: Elie Wiesel's Night is a recounting of the horrific effects of the Holocaust, not just on the Jewish community but on all mankind. The acts of atrocity committed in the death camps devastated people the world over and the suffering continues to this day.

One example of the heinous acts committed occurs at the end of the war, when Wiesel and the rest of the camp of Buna were being forced to transfer to Gleiwitz. The transfer was a long, arduous journey for all. The weather was bitterly cold and there was a heavy snowfall. The distance the prisoners were made to walk was much farther than most people would ever dream of walking today, yet these people, human beings who were already in a weakened condition, were often made to run, and, if one collapsed or was injured or simply could no longer bear the pain, he was shot or trampled without pity or a second thought.

One image of many that Wiesel will never forget is that of Rabbi Eliahou's son leaving the Rabbi for dead, pretending not to see how tired his father was growing and how far he was lagging behind the others. At that moment, Wiesel made the decision to never abandon his own father, even if staying with him meant certain death for them both.

So adept were the German forces at breaking the spirits of the Jews that even Wiesel's faith in God, above all other things, so strong at the outset of the book, grows weaker as time goes on. When his father is knocked to the floor for politely inquiring as to the location of the lavatories, Wiesel does not strike back; he knows the punishment would be too great.

The incident that had the most effect on the young Wiesel was the suffering prior to the death of a young boy. No one who could help cared to do so. Wiesel looked on, helpless and forlorn, questioning God about the reason for such atrocities. Then, as now, there appeared to be no reason, save for man's unbearable inhumanity to man. If the Jews ever saw even a ray of hope, they also saw that ray of hope destroyed. Fighting for everything they had, from their possessions to their dignity to their very lives, the result was always the same.

At the end of the war, Wiesel looked into a mirror and saw "a corpse." His body was, somehow, still alive, but he felt robbed of his very soul. It is feeling he shared with all Holocaust survivors, as well as with many Jews and non-Jews who felt, even indirectly, the effects of such naked brutality.

The world was forever changed by the atrocities of the Holocaust and no one recounts the atrocities of those days with more emotion than Wiesel. Night is a horrific book, but it is also a tribute to the unbreakable spirit of man.

Rating:
Summary: A must for Anyone who wants to learn of the Holocaust
Review: I would only want to say this in the fewest of words to make the point come across more clearly. This book is a masterpeice of reality. It doesn't hold back on anything, because it's 100% true. It's a moving Auto-biographical book that will change you forever. I am very pleased to have read it and known there was another's veiw on this horrific subject.

Rating:
Summary: Chilling true story
Review: Comming straight from the mouth of a survivor, this chilling tale of a Jewish family stripped from their home, brings both pain and happiness. Elie Wiesel tells the true story of his seperation from his community and later his wife and daughter. The beauty of this story is not that he survives, since he is the author of this book, but the manner in which he carries himself through hard times. You will be astonished at the disturbing things innocent humans are put through in the various internment camps. The remarkable description that Elie goes through from the human ovens to the disease saturated bunks, will grab your feelings more than any other book. Reading this book will be a good experience for any reader. I recommend this book for anyone interested in a sad tale of the Holocaust.

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Summary: Gut-wrenching, difficult and moving
Review: A long dissertation-like review of this book is not necessary. Buy this book and read it. Your outlook on life will never be the same. Your views toward human-kind will never be the same. You will never be the same.

Rating:
Summary: If You Have Time, You Won't Put It Down
Review: I had this book recommended to me by my pastor and I am glad that I read it. At only 109 pages it goes very quickly. But this book is so wonderful. Because the Holocaust was such a dastardly event in human history, any book will capture its brutish and disgusting nature, but this small book somehow goes one step further. I honestly felt as though I was observing the Holocaust take place because of the vivid details and vocabulary Wiesel uses. My soul ached (and still aches) for the suffering of the Jews, and more specifically, the Wiesel family. Wiesel takes us from his home in Transylvania to the Nazi death camps and explains in agonizing detail how he got there and what it was like once he arrived.

I consider this book to be in the "Must Have" section of anyone building a personal library. I was crushed and humbled while reading this book and it made me appreciate so much the freedom that we have today in this country.

If you are looking for a book that will really help you to understand what the Holocaust was about, read this. And if you want a book that will make you content with your life, again, read this. It seems like most anyone who reads this book is amazed by the personal strength of Wiesel, who really symbolizes all Jews who made it through that awful time in mankind's history. This book will make the Holocaust so real to anyone who would read it.

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Summary: Should not be required reading for high schoolers
Review: While this book may be an important book, and perhaps a good selection for a college religion or history course, it is entirely inappropriate as required reading for freshmen in high school. I have never been able to understand, nor have my adult children, why the powers-that-be think that teenagers should be reading nothing but dark, depressing literature full of graphic violence. Depression is common enough in teenagers without encouraging it. Most teenagers at the age of 14 are not emotionally mature enough to process graphic violence.

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Summary: Amazing!
Review: This book may be short but it is so touching. You really get to see what it was like for someone to go though a concentration camp. Some of the details are disturbing but it gives you a good sense of history coming from someone who acctually lived through it. It doesn't take long to read but it is well worth it.

Rating:
Summary: A slim terrifying novel
Review: THis book i was required to read for my summer reading when i heard it was about teh hollacost ( i know i did'nt spell that right) i was like great just another depressing tale bout all these people getting killed. When i actually sat down to read it i realized it was soo much more than all the other acounts i'd read about the nazi death camps. The author actually lived through this and dealed with soo many struggles and was able to write all these horriable memories down. i know that if i , and it makes me realize how lucky i am that this would never happen in this day and age, had gone through what he did i would of given up very early on in his struggles.

So if you are looking to read someones actual account of whats it was like to be in a concentraion camp read this heartbreaking story.

Rating:
Summary: An amazing book....
Review: This book was, for me, on the reading list of a misguided class in 'Western' relgions taught at Barnard College in NYC. Althought the professor was an awful teacher, her havingselected this book for that class almost redeems the entire experience....

What Weisel does in this book is amazing. In his autobiography, he presents a portrait of himself, his world, and the state of his religion. You can see that rites become meaningless (for him) when the suffering imposed by God becomes too much to bear. It is not that faith is gone necessarily, so much that faith has changed..... and this experience in this book will change you.....

Please read this book: especially if the name Celia Deutch means anything to you. You'll need something to quash the innanity of that course entire....