Customer Reviews

Night

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2 star:		(26)
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Elie Wiesel's account of Nazi Germany left me stunned. Once I finished, I just sat there thinking about the book and realizing that it wasn't a work of fiction, but a true story. I had to read this book in my high school English class and it blew me away. The way he and his father try and beat the odds to stay together, the horrors of a concentration camp, what its like to go for days without food, etc. The sheer simplicity of it makes it seem so real, yet so fake. The metaphors and personification that he uses to describe events are beautiful. There are so many underlying meanings in the book, so many great lines (That night the soup tasted of corpses) that make you sit back and wonder how this sort of thing could have happened. I recommend this book to anyone (probably 9th grade and up, its pretty gruesome) and have nothing but good things to say about it, definitely one of the best books I have ever read. If you forget everything about this book, NEVER, EVER forget that it was a true story, and the last line.........

"Night", by Ellie Wiesel, explains his real life in the Concentration Camps during World War II. His family and friends who were originally from Hungary were Jewish and were forced into starving, suffering, and mistreatment by the German leader, Adolph Hitler. The Nazi death camp's horror turns this young boy into the agonized witness to his family's murder, and the destroys his faith in God. This book awakens the shocking memory of evil at its absolute worst and carries with it the unforgettable message that this horror must never be allowed to happen again. The autobiographical nature of this book helps the readers identify with all the suffering and mistreatment that many innocent people had to witness and go through. Ellie Wiesel makes the scenes so real that any reader can feel like they were living in the horrible and terrifying events. The scenes are so vivid that the words can picture the Jews during the mistreatment of the Holocaust. Wiesel has described a painful journey through the darkness, through the false dawns and false days, until there are hints that tiny shafts of light can pierce the seemingly unending nights.

"Night" may be one of the hardest books you will ever read.

Nobody can top reality. The dreadfulness, terror and shock that originate in the imagination of horror novelists can never begin to compare to the real events that happened during World War II, in a time that is widely referred to as the Holocaust.
"Night" is about the true and terrifying events that Eli Wiesel has gone through during those days.

Inside, you are going to meet the young Elie Wiesel, born in the town of Sighet, Romania, presumably into a good life. Then you'll meet the phenomenon of denial among the Jewish people; so many had never believed the reports about the horrible activities of the Germans and of the other European nations during the War - until it became their fate as well.

This pitiful and destructive denial continues even while being transferred like cattle to concentration camps, through the first revelations of brutal and barbaric behavior amid the Jews themselves in the face of inhumane conditions. Their eyes are finally opened only in front of the gates of hell - the crematoriums of Auschwitz.

Having survived the selections there, Wiesel continues to live on and witnesses atrocities, loss, immense pain and sadness in different concentration and death camps, and comes to questioning everything he has ever learned in his short life to that point.

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Why would you want to spend your time reading something that horrible?

You probably have general information about the atrocities that took place in those cursed days; having seen films like "The Schindler's List" you have an idea about how it was like. Having seen documentaries with interviews of survivors might add some more knowledge to your overall concept about what it was like.

Reading books about it is the next step.

There is always something new that a person hasn't heard of, probably would never have imagined and that cannot be conveyed via the visual media. Furthermore, reading a book is quite different from seeing a film in the sense that one gets the chance to crawl into the mind of a person that has been through this unprecedented ordeal. What one may discover about human nature - both of the murderers and their victims - may be extremely upsetting and difficult to grasp.

Why is it important to read this book and others like it?

To remember that it happened and to do as much as anyone can do to never let it happen again.

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In the end of the last paragraph I almost added, "to pray to God it would never happen again", but then again I remembered how God was awfully quite as it was all taking place. I don't know where God was during those times, but Wiesel gives his answer that comes from within, while witnessing the hanging of a young boy: "Where is He? Here He is - He is hanging here on the gallows..."

Yes, in the aftermath of the Holocaust there was a sweeping faith crisis; the concept of God and the belief in mighty powers became a problem among the Jewish people, and as I've learned during my latest trip, among many Europeans as well. How could He let it happen? Why? Where was He? And ultimately, should the people that suffered to an unparalleled extent forgive Him? Can they? Who should they blame?

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In this shocking account you will not find the answers for these questions.

The conclusion you may draw in the end of the day is that it's up to us to protect ourselves. We can trust ourselves - and ourselves only - in the fight against the forces that wish to destroy us.

"Night," by Elie Wiesel, has been translated from French by Stella Rodway. The copyright page notes that the book was originally published in French in 1958. The author bio at the end of the book informs us that the Hungarian-born Wiesel was deported to Auschwitz and Buchenwald and eventually received the Nobel Peace Prize.

"Night" is a first-person account of surviving the Nazi Holocaust. The narrative spans the years 1941-45 and recounts the atrocities committed against the European Jews by Hitler's regime. At 109 pages, the narrative is slim, but it is powerful.

Wiesel vividly depicts the dehumanization of concentration camp inmates. He effectively recounts the details of life in the shadow of Hitler; the Holocaust experience is depicted as a nightmarish mix of absurdity and horror. Some key questions raised by the narrative are theological; for example, how can anyone continue to have faith in a deity in light of these horrors?

Wiesel's prose, as translated by Rodway, is stark and grim--very effective for his subject matter. The well-written text leads up to a truly haunting final image. I recommend this book not only to those interested in the Holocaust, but to anyone interested in human cruelty and the human will to survive.

This is the most complete account of Nazi Germany ever written. Unlike so many of the books on this subject, Elie Wiesel brings forth a very personal story.

Born in Hungary, Wiesel is deported with his family to the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz. His story is terrifying, shocking, and extremely graphic. He is very candid, and his incredible descriptions truly paint the vivid picture of the Nazi death camp.

It is hard to get through this book without feeling for Wiesel and his family, especially his father. Reading about the horrors that the two of them went through was an eye-opening experience. There are a lot of painful memories brought out in his excellent writing, and as a reader, I became part of the scene. I truly felt myself running and working with the prisoners, starving on bread and soup, and feeling their anguish and utmost terror. This book is by far, the most graphic account of Nazi Germany that I have ever read. I was mesmorized by the story, and glued to the book.

There are so many hidden messages in the book, as well as some blatant ones right there on the pages in front of you. Wiesel's descriptive language makes you want to keep turning the pages, as you struggle with him and his father for survival. This book is one that needs to be read more, by people from all races, creeds, and religions, so that this horror can never ever happen again.

I wish that my seventh grade English teacher had skipped Anne Frank and gone straight for this one. Wiesel's account reflects the horror and reality of the Holocaust, and if it is to never happen again, every child in every seventh grade in every country of the world should be required to read it. I read this book over six months ago and the images created by the author's words are still burned permanently into my brain. The description of the forced march of concentration camp inmates as the Russians and Americans only began to arrive and liberate the oppressed will break your heart. I hope Elie Wiesel has found more in this life than the endless night that he describes...wow, words fail me. How do you describe the feelings that something so horrible stirs in your mind, body, and soul?

The book that I have currently finished reading is NIGHT. It is by Elie Wiesel. This book explains the hardships of the Jews and how people of then and today can get through anything. Night was very insightful. This is also why I liked this book.
The main character of this book is a young boy, about15, named Maimonides who meets a friendly neighbor called Moshe the Beadle. He always came up with little theories and poems about life. Every day they would pray and have complex conversations, just about everything. Until one day the Nazis took Moshe the Beadle away because he was a foreign Jew. Maimonides get really depressed and started praying less.
Then one evening Moshe the Beadle comes back, and tries to wear all of the other Jews about the Nazis, but no one believes him. They were all really confidence with themselves. All of the Jews refuse to move. Everyone claimed to have to go of a life to just throw it always on some liar. Until one day each Jew was called out side. Now all of them wish that they had listened to Moshe the Beadle.

Reading Night by Elie Wiesel began as a simple two-day assignment for my freshman English class. At first glance, I expected this quick read to be simply one more trite account to the terrible atrocities committed during wwii Germany. But after getting only 15 pages into the storyline, I found myself immersed in the detail, precision, and striking ability with which Wiesel describes his own adolescent struggle. At the age of only 15, he was faced with the daunting task of realizing that not everyone is good deep down inside. As his family is herded from its town of Sighet into trains, and then unkonwingly into concentration camps, the universal good in man which young Eliezer had once believed was stripped from his soul. This emotional weekend read is capable of being devoured all in one sitting. However, while reading this book in our living rooms or at the beach, we must remember what our fellow men and women around the world have been through. As readers, we should take time to celebrate the courage and hope that men like Elie Wiesel have possessed. Without this strong passion for life our world would be so much different than it is today. The few hours we spend reading this book are special. But they are nothing compared to the days, months, and years that thousands of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and slavs spent in concentration camps. If you have ever felt low or alone, read Night, and you will see just how lucky you are to be able to breathe, to eat, to love, to feel, to even be alive.

Night, by Elie Weisel, is a book different than any other I have read. Many opinions about history, and even life in some cases changed while reading Night. For a very long time I believed that Josef Stalin was the most evil man to live in the twentieth century. After reading Night I believe that Hitler and his relentless "fight" to exterminate Hebrews from the face of the planet is the most evil act of hate ever. Elie Weisel is a 12 year old boy living in the town of Sighet. Untouched by Nazis until about 1942, Elie begins his long tour of numerous concentration camps throughout Europe. This book is about the lengths a human will go through to survive. Night is about love, hope, determination, and the spirit of humanity to survive, forgive, and to inform us, the readers, that we must never forget the lives lost during the years of Nazi occupied Germany. We must never forget how 12 million people just like you and I were executed because of differences. Night is a book that should eventually be read by all high school students. I am still humbled by Night.

While I'm glad to see so many high schools are making this required reading (or maybe its just Harbor City, CA's requirement - a book review on Amazon.com for extra credits?), I'm appalled to see there are Cliff Notes to Night. (Are there Cliff Notes to life somewhere that would help me?)

In my humble opinion, this book should be on adult reader's bookshelves for periodic refresher readings through-out life, as we encounter more of the ups and downs of life.

For highschoolers OR adults, I'd put this book as required reading AFTER the Diary of Anne Frank, as a reading companion for Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning," and as a viewer's aide for the wonderful movie, "Life is Beautiful." The book raises questions about the meaning of life, and This is a book to be read and re-read periodically.

This book is short, but incredibly deep. Wiesel did not expect to win any kind of reward, he was trying to alleviate some of the horrors he'd experienced while in the camps.

When reading this book, a youthful reader could ask themselves (I do this everytime I read this), what kind of a person would I have been, stripped to the core emotionally and physically.

Would I have given up, turned others in, hoarded my bread crumbs? If I survived, what would I have done with my life after? Wiesel has dedicated his life to reminding us what happened -

I'd also encourage high school students to read "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis - if the object of reading this book is to learn about discrimination and intolerance, that book is an excellent book for the young.