Customer Reviews

Nightfather

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A must for all who shared the guilt of their parents but did not understand the impact of the mind-games played on our youthful minds. A must for teachers of every confirmation class, A must for Rabbi's to relate the how our generation shared the Holocaust through our parents guilt.

I've read many books about the Holocaust, and this book is like no other I've come across. It mainly deals with what happened afterwards, and how three siblings struggle to understand what their father went through while imprisoned in a concentration camp. The youngest sibling, a girl, who remains unnamed for the duration of the story, listens along with her two older brothers as their father tells them stories of torture, murder, and survival. Each chapter is short, but tells of one experience, some big, some small, of how the children were effected their father's stories, or, struggle to understand the man behind them. For the amount of time it took me to read, I sure got a lot out of it.

Told from the point of view of a child dealing with a father's memories of surviving a concentration camp, the novel presents vignettes that are rich with meaning. While written with a simplistic prose, the novel needs to be mined to give up its treasure. It is both sad and funny and a wonderful addition to Holocaust literature. The sins of the maniacal continue to haunt the survivors, but the family as well.

"Nightfather" has all the elements to what makes a good Holocaust novel. It is funny, presents Holocaust facts through what appears to be fiction, and is just a good read. This is the story of Ephraim and his many stories at his concentration camps. Since the Holocaust stiil exists in his mind, he suffers from some insomnia. He's always talking, "The camp this, the camp that." While the story mainly involves around Ephraim, it also involves much around his daughter and two sons, Max and Simon. While not as good as some other Holocaust novels, "Nightfather" is a novel you do not want to miss out on. The most amazing thing about this novel is that it's true. Enjoy.

Happy Reading!

I have just finished the book, it's still in my mind and I presume it will continue to be there for a long time. It's one of the best books I have ever read. From the first page, you are allowed to look into the souls of all characters, and you immediately start to understand them, to recognize part of your own feelings and movements in them. Whether it is father, mother or one of the three children...

Nightfather is a novel that lingered in my mind, days after I finished the book. It doesn't read like a translation.

I was amazed at how much emotion and substance was present in such a short book. Whereas most contemporary depictions of the Holocaust focus on what is lost in death, Friedman shows the nature of staying alive in a concentration camp. A man loses many things, but what is gained from "having camp" will be with him for the rest of his life.

I read this book for the first time 9 years ago and I have read it each and every summer thereafter. In reading about the Holocaust, it is rare to read about what happened after. What happened to the generations of people whose lives were affected. This story tells about how children deal with the grief of such an tragedy. I will continue to read this beautiful yet haunting story over and over again.

I have read a huge selection of Holocaust-related books and I think to date this is probably at the top of my list of must reads for anyone who is interested in the Holocaust. The Loom is also good but doesn't quite compare with Nightfather.

I've read hundreds of books and this little novella under the guise of a "novel" is one of the best. Whenever I see critics speak of "economical prose" it usually means lackluster and depthless writing. Such is not the case with Carl Friedman's "Nightfather". This magical story is written in the most simplistic of ways but packs enough insight and emotion to fill a volume 10 times as big. I'm not Jewish and this is really the first book I've ever read that dealt specifically with the Holocaust's aftermath. I'm blown away--enough so that this is the first time I've ever felt compelled to actually take the time to write a review. There are millions of books to choose from. You would be doing yourself a great disservice if you were not to choose this one. Cheers.