If This Is a Man and The Truce [Paperback]

Primo Levi (Author), Stuart Woolf (Translator), Paul Bailey (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 4, 2003

With the moral stamina and intellectual pose of a twentieth-century Titan, this slightly built, duitful, unassuming chemist set out systematically to remember the German hell on earth, steadfastly to think it through, and then to render it comprehensible in lucid, unpretentious prose. He was profoundly in touch with the minutest workings of the most endearing human events and with the most contempible. What has survived in Levi's writing isn't just his memory of the unbearable, but also, in THE PERIODIC TABLE and THE WRENCH, his delight in what made the world exquisite to him. He was himself a "magically endearing man, the most delicately forceful enchanter I've ever known" - PHILIP ROTH

Editorial Reviews

Review

The death of Primo Levi robs Italy of one of its finest writers...One of the few survivors of the Holocaust to speak of his experiences with a gentle voice GUARDIAN A life-changing book. Daily Express THE TRUCE: 'One of the century's truly necessary books.' Philip Roth 'One of the greatest human testaments of the era.'

About the Author

Primo Levi was born in Turin in 1919 and trained as chemist. Arrested a member of the anti-fascist resistance during the war, he was deported to Auschwitz. His experiences there are described in his two classic autobiographical works, IF THIS IS A MAN and THE TRUCE.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (July 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0349100136
• ISBN-13: 978-0349100135
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 7.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart-breaking but informative and important, April 7, 2005

By 

John E. Davidson (Purley) - See all my reviews

This review is from: If This Is a Man and The Truce (Paperback)

A truly amazing book - I cannot promise that you will enjoy it, in fact I can almost guarantee that you will find most of it heart-breaking and painful.

It is a little like watching Kieslowski's A Short Film About Killing - on many levels you do not enjoy it but it enthrals you. The subject matter is so important and it is so beautifully made and eloquent that you feel compelled to watch (or read in the case of Levi).

Levi tells the story of his own internment in Auschwitz - he concentrates on the details of everyday life slowing building a vivid picture of how the Nazis were intent on not just killing them but breaking their spirit, humiliating them, degrading them. He captures many moments so well that they live on in the mind, for example when he describes how the terrible regime made Jew turn on Jew. He even manages to raise a guilty smile occasionally. For example, he describes the second worst thing that could happen at night was to take out the toilet bucket as it was always full to overflowing and would spill on your feet. The worst thing was when your bunkmate took it out as they shared bunks sleeping head to toe.

Levi is a fantastic writer (try the Periodic Table if you want to read something easier and more enjoyable) with a light touch. He describes his time in Auschwitz calmly, clearly, with great compassion but remarkably objectively; he gives the reader space to think and understand.

A work of heart-breaking genius

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If this is a man; and The Truce, February 2, 2005

By 

Victor Shayne (Colorado) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: If This Is a Man and The Truce (Paperback)

Primo Levi is the most insightful, pragmatic realist of all holocaust authors. I have read more than 50 books on the subject, and his insights into what happened, human nature, the (bad) luck of the draw, and the tragedy of his experience are brilliant and by far the most articulate. Somehow, perhaps with his scientific mind, Levi was able to maintain his awareness through an experience that is utterly beyond the scope of imagination. He somehow emerges from the ashes of this horrific epoch like a literary phoenix. He doesn't dwell on the inhuman acts and suffering, although he has a perfect right to do so, but instead offers his account almost from an omniscient perspective. This book contains the best of Primo Levi, but his other writings demand to be read as well. And, if you haven't seen The Truce, starring John Turturro, you should do so. It's not a hundred percent historically accurate, but it is a great presentation.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars illuminating, June 18, 2004

By 

Edmund Khoo - See all my reviews

This review is from: If This Is a Man and The Truce (Paperback)

Primo Levi's "If This is a Man" and "The Truce" remain one of the most horrifyingly realistic depictions of life in Auschwitz. Primo Levi recounts the daily ordeals of life in Auschwitz with a stirring and poignant narration, concentrating on not only the physical and emotional hardship but on another level questioning plainly what it is to be human. Both books present an illuminating view into life in a prison camp, and Primo Levi's narration ensure that no suffering remains untold. An illuminating read.