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Night |  | Author: Elie Wiesel
Creators: Stella Rodway, Francois Mauriac
Publisher: Bantam Books
Category: Book
List Price: $5.99
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Seller: atlanta-book-company
Rating:  933 reviews
Sales Rank: 7038
Media: Paperback
Pages: 109
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.4
ISBN: 0553272535
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.53150392
EAN: 9780553272536
ASIN: 0553272535
Publication Date: April 1, 1982
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life's essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel's lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.
Product Description
Elie Wiesel's true story of his experiences in Nazi concentration camps during World War Two.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 933
 Honest and True -- Very, *Very* Powerful May 12, 2010
Fabert (New York City, USA)
The quote from the New York Times on the cover of this book has it exactly right: "a slim volume of terrifying power." Wiesel's retelling of his experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camp is concise and seemingly artless. But the absence of sentimental pathos only makes the story so much more moving, so much more powerful. I first listened to this novel as an audio book some five or six years ago, and the experience was overwhelming. Since then, I've listened to it again perhaps five times, I've read it in the French original twice, and I've read the English translation by Stella Rodway once. I now know it almost by heart. Certain passages from the book would haunt my imagination for weeks, leaving an indelible imprint on my soul. For instance, I feel I know with certainty that I will remember the fate of Moshe the Beadle -- a human being of flesh and blood who once lived and breathed, and whose story is told here in but a few pages -- until my dying day. 'Never shall I forget that night' -- this is a very, *very* powerful book.
For what it is worth, I would recommend this translation rather than the new one by Marion Wiesel, the author's wife. However, I say this without actually having read the newer translation, so I should probably admit that my judgment here doesn't carry much weight. I only read the first pages of both books side by side, and this gave me the impression that Rodway's rendition was somehow more poetic, and perfectly accurate when compared with the French version. For instance, Rodway's "I loved his great, dreaming eyes, their gaze lost in the distance." sounds better to me than Marion Wiesel's "As for me, I liked his wide, dreamy eyes, gazing off into the distance." (he's talking about Moshe the Beadle), and the French does have the verb 'love.' But perhaps I only prefer the earlier translation because this was the one I first encountered and grew attached to. Nevertheless, since it seems likely now that most new readers will first turn to the translation endorsed by Oprah's Book Club, I think there is at least a point in exhorting people not to forget about the earlier version.
Darkly Revelatory April 21, 2010
Bill R. Moore (Oklahoma, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When a teenager, Elie Wiesel was taken from his home, and he and his family were put in a series of concentration camps over several years. Night is the haunting record of that experience, as bleakly unflinching a memoir as has ever been written. Few can know the horrors of not only spending teenage years in such a place but also seeing family members and many others die and countless others suffer. Needless to say, Wiesel's own plight was also tragically great, and he unsurprisingly lost both innocence and faith. The experience touched him so deeply that he was unable to write of it for over a decade. When he finally did, he had great difficulty getting published; the events were still very close, and the world wanted to forget rather than being reminded. However, when published in 1960, Night was an international sensation, reawakening interest in the Holocaust and all it stands for. It was not only a literary triumph but the first step in Wiesel's core belief that we must always remember the Holocaust so nothing like it ever happens again.
The book remains undeniably compelling, a masterpiece on many levels. Perhaps most immediately, it is a stark depiction of evil's height, showing humanity at its worst. This is valuable in every sense from philosophical to sociological but above all in destroying hollow optimism epitomized in the belief that things will take care of themselves and all will work out for the best. Night leaves no doubt that, left unchecked, human evil grows exponentially; it is our duty to curb it, and the awareness raised by such works is a very important part of this. Second, it is an invaluable historical document, one of the best - most thorough and readable - primary sources of the Holocaust's unparalleled miseries. As such, it is one of the darkest works ever - all the more so in being true; even the blackest imagination could not conceive such atrocities, which says all that need be said about this aspect of Night and the events it records.
Yet there are several strong senses in which the book is not bleak. First, it is an artistic masterpiece; unwavering honesty and vivid description raise it above mere memoir, putting it with the most harrowing and unforgettable first-person accounts ever. Its biggest strength in this way is unadorned yet highly effective prose. Wiesel has no time for dizzying metaphors, lush descriptions, or other fancy writing; he has a bitter story to tell and tells it as plainly and - in the best way - as simply as possible. This makes it clearer and more memorable than it could ever have been otherwise, forcing us to focus on the events rather than the writing. The story speaks for itself as few can. Though barely one hundred pages, it has more of substance and significance than nearly any other book. The words are few but the implications endless.
Perhaps more fundamentally, though Night is a savage condemnation of human evil, it is also a tribute to human endurance. Like a surprising number of others, Wiesel survived the Holocaust despite everything, showing just how far human beings can be pushed and live. Such determination and perseverance is truly incredible, a testament to the indomitable human spirit that is at least as astonishing in its way as the evil that confronted it and far more awe-inspiring. Wiesel not only lived but, in a long career starting with Night, has admirably devoted his life to exposing the Holocaust's monstrosities to guard future ages against recurring evil.
Night is a profoundly important document in this and many other ways, a must for anyone even remotely interested in the Holocaust, World War II, Judaism, or the depths to which humanity can sink - as well as, in one sense at least, all that it can rise above. It is nothing less than one of the most important and valuable books of all-time. Though a very painful read, everyone should read it if only to see just how painful life can be - and hopefully to avoid passing the pain on to those lucky enough to have been born after the nightmares it faithfully records.
As for this edition, it has a short Preface and a somewhat longer and older Introduction by Francois Mauriac, who knew Wiesel. Both give some interesting background on Wiesel and the book but are not revelatory. Anyone who comes across this will get a quality version, but some of the later ones, which have Wiesel Prefaces, are probably better.
Powerful! March 8, 2010
R. Staggs (Fredericksburg, VA)
THis book was very powerful and moving while at the same time disturbing. I had my children read it. I want them to really understand what took place during the Holocaust and to see the resilence of people. This should be required reading in history class.
 pretty good book February 25, 2010
J. Thomson
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The beginning of this book bored me so it took me about 1 1/2 hours to read the first chapter. I was surprised that Elie described everything with lots of detail. It also surprised how brutal people were during the Holocaust. In the end I thought this was a pretty good book and would recommend it to anyone willing to learn a lot about the Holocaust.
Elie Wiesel February 15, 2010
Shirley W. Gritton (KY)
This book was very enlighting. More people should this and his other books so that what happened to these people would never happen again.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 933
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