January - NIGHT by Elie Wiesel
Chosen by Lisa. Average Score 8.3
![Picture](/uploads/7/7/7/4/7774990/_1425088.jpg?113)
We met at the home of A. Lots of lovely food and the first book we had discussed that was not a novel.
"Night" is a Holocaust memoir and Elie Wiseil tells the story of how he and his family were uprooted by the Nazis from their Hungarian village in 1944 and taken to Auschwitz. There his mother and sisters were taken straight to the gas chambers but Elie and his Father are put to work. As the Russian army closed in on the camp they were forced to march the 420 miles to Buchenwald in Germany. There his Father finally succumbs to the dreadful conditions and dies, but Elie survives.
"Night" is a Holocaust memoir and Elie Wiseil tells the story of how he and his family were uprooted by the Nazis from their Hungarian village in 1944 and taken to Auschwitz. There his mother and sisters were taken straight to the gas chambers but Elie and his Father are put to work. As the Russian army closed in on the camp they were forced to march the 420 miles to Buchenwald in Germany. There his Father finally succumbs to the dreadful conditions and dies, but Elie survives.
In his life after the war he stayed silent about his experiences until he was persuaded that his story must be told:
” For the survivor who chooses to testify, it is clear: his duty is to bear witness for the dead and for the living. He has no right to deprive future generations of a past that belongs to our collective memory. To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.” |
Bookworms' Verdicts
Lisa
|
Read the book at school. Narrative is very blunt and matter of fact. No sentimentality and not a literary masterpiece but v. powerful. How do you carry on in such circumstances? How do you survive?
|
9
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Matt
(ab) |
V. compelling narrative. Brutal and honest account
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9
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Angela
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Was worried about reading it and did not really want to pick it up. Liked the man. Found the story to be almost unbelievable.
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8
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Marilyn
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Had a copy of "Night" which contained two other books and so was surprised that we were not referring to other parts. Simple, brutal and honest. Did not excuse his own race. How far are we like the Nazis? - an uncomfortable question
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8
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Jackie
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Found the story of the woman on the train to Auschwitz who had the vision of fire v. compelling. The connection between Father and son where the Fathers did what he could to save their sons but sometimes the sons wanted to free of the burden of the Fathers and abandoned them to die - found these scenes very emotional.
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8
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Nick
(1st bk) |
Found the book to be disappointing. Easily moved by books but not in this case. Did not seem to be any depth. Read other books such as "Five Chimneys" which was much better
|
6
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Ceri
(ab) |
Wow, what a book.It makes one feel shameful, lucky to be alive and shocked beyond words at the truth spoken in these pages. I read it on one day, before Christmas. It was one of those books that you find yourself HAVING to read at one sitting. It turned out to be the saddest book I have ever read. I really wanted to know what happened after this - how Eliezer began to have a normal life.
What struck me:
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9
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John
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Liked the no-nonsense narrative that pulled no punches. But had read other Holocaust memoirs and found them to be more compelling. eg. "If this is a man" by Primo Levy and "The Cap or The price of a Life", by Roman Frister. It is hard to grasp the magnitude of the brutality and suffering of the death camps.
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7
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