Night is a short volume, only 112 pages of story, which, for the few of you who don’t know, describes Wiesel’s experience as a teenager in Transylvania in the Second World War, a Jew in a small, very devoutly religious Jewish community where he, the son of a well-educated storekeeper, was devoting his life to his religious studies.

The community is tightly knit and, you get the impression, quite insulated from the outside world; the war is a faraway thing, even when the foreign Jews are rounded up and deported from the town. One of them, Wiesel’s friend Moishe the Beadle, returns to warn the town of the danger of the Nazis, but nobody listens. By this time it is 1944, and the community is sure that the war will soon be over and they will be safe.

Inevitably, the German army arrives and the restrictions begin, then the displacement of the Jews from one ghetto to another. And yet still the community is optimistic. Looking at these scenes with historical hindsight made me want to scream alongside Moishe the Beadle – how could these people be so unaware? And yet it’s human nature to hope…

Of course they are transported to the camps. And of course what follows is a nightmare of separation, deprivation, starvation and brutality. Wiesel reports it all so simply; there’s an almost flat, unemotional quality to his writing that makes it quite possible to read unemotionally, even at the poignant moment when he watches his mother and younger sister walk away in the opposite direction, never to be seen again.

The aspect of this book that most deeply impressed me was the devotion of the Jews to God, even as they wondered where He was in all this horror. Even Wiesel, who professes to turn his back on a God who would let such things happen, constantly refers to Him even as he denies Him. There's much to be learned from the people in this book.

Wiesel sketches the brutalities he suffered and saw very sparely, without much detail. What he tells is enough. He moves the reader swiftly from day to day, week to week as the inmates are moved farther away from the liberating Allies. Then suddenly the narrative slows down to encompass the death of Wiesel’s father, and you can truly feel the numbness of the brutalized teenage boy who is barely able to feel compassion through his hunger. It’s powerful stuff. Then the story moves swiftly again, through the liberation of the camps, and ends with Wiesel looking at himself in a mirror – the face of a corpse. “The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me.” Was this the first time he envisaged writing a story that had himself as its main character?

What can you say to such memories? I feel as if I’m writing a summary rather than a review, because the only possible response to this story is respect. Yet the writing has much to commend it – this edition is a new translation by Wiesel’s wife, and the writing is clear, simple, direct and immediate. I give this book the “life-changing” tag simply because it is a familiar horror story seen from the inside. Survivors of such events are rarely able to speak of them, so it is a privilege to listen to a man who did not spare himself from the task of writing his story.

It was EXTREMELY well written but very sad. ( )

From the horror stories of Auschwitz to the portrayal of hardships, “Night” by Elie Wiesel tells words that many pictures cannot. His in depth writing can shatter you into tears and instantly have you contemplating on what life was like for a Jew. This book shows the importance of family. As he was brought to Auschwitz the imaged portrayed by him come to life as you can feel the fear of him losing his father. Religion is seen as he questions why the Jews are chosen yet can be massacred like this. The combination of all factors in this book is not only informative, yet it touches the heart as well. This is a must read to anyone especially whoever wants to learn about the holocaust not from a textbook. This book isn’t for the light hearted or light stomached. This is an action packed 109 pages of informative first person stories. ( )

Too much propaganda. This author has made a career of marketing and proselytizing the holocaust.

Well written, difficult to read due to details. This book should be mandatory reading. ( )

a haunting book of human degradation at its worst ( )

Remember reading this in 9th grade. A good introduction to the horrors of the Holocaust. ( )

A very informative book makes for excellent reading. This book should be used in History curriculum in schools. Must read.

Reviewed by Mrs. Foley
From Follett, "A chronicle of the holocaust through the eyes of a 14 year old Hungarian Jew who survived Birkenau, Auschwitz, Buna and Buchenwald."

I listened to this book on CD while driving to Illinois to visit my parents. Many of the students at my high school are required to read this book. It is very well-written, poignant, and a great work of historical fiction. Every secondary school library should have it.

Review from Amazon.com
"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." ( )

“Night” by Elie Wiesel, is a magnificent memoir. This memoir helped me expand on my knowledge of the Holocaust. I knew how horrifying the Holocaust was, but this memoir gives people real-life examples. For example, when the Nazi’s hanged the young child and made all prisoners watch the boy suffer. Parts like this emotionally moved me and gave me a real idea of the Holocaust. This memoir was also able to teach me many lessons. The main idea the book revolves around is hope. Wiesel is able to prove that without hope we are nothing. Wiesel’s style of writing is not like any other authors. He writes in such a poetic way, and also makes the reader feel as if he or she was in the moment. While I was reading the book I felt the pain he was feeling. I recommend this book to everyone in the entire world. I think that all people should know what the Holocaust was really. Everyone should also be exposed to Wiesel’s writing. ( )

The Holocaust was a horrible, inhumane and bloody occurence in history that was the result of the fallibleness of human nature. Such an event is almost impossible to describe in words because of its emotional, psychological and physical effects. However, Elie Wiesel, being a Holocaust survivor, knew what this pain really felt like and made a strong attempt in recreating the effects in his book Night. Only so much can be portrayed through words, but Wiesel does an excellent job in putting as much emotion into his writing as possible. Personally, i got a real sense of what it was like to be a victim of the Holocaust, but as mentioned above, words can only go so far. Wiesel maximizes this potential through his details of each event, giving his personal feelings toward it and a physical description. For example, when he sees the children being hanged in public at the camp, he tells us the emotional effects that that had on him and also gives us a detailed phyiscal description (which i will not repeat now). Wiesel does this for nearly every event, making the reader loathe the Nazis and their inhumane actions. By giving such a personal account, the reader can almost put himself/herself into his shoes and ask questions like, "What would that be like if it happened to me?" and get a good answer.

Ellie Wiesel does a great job of personally connecting to the reader and exposing the horrible nature of the Holocaust, which everyone in the world should know.

The genocide that was the Holocaust is impossible to explain in words; only experience can describe the pain and the horror of the death of a people. However, Elie Wiesel's first-hand experience of the Holocaust makes his novel so realistic, allowing the reader to feel the pain he is feeling, smell the grotesque stench of death that he smells, experience what it feels like to be a part of an event filled with such hate and loss. It baffles my mind when I hear that people actually believe that this atroscity never existed, because it did, in a major way.
Elie Wiesel portrays his story as if he was writing a diary, throughly expressing his emotions and the hardship of saying "goodbye" to his family, not knowing it would be the last one. The title "Night" greatly symbolizes the terror that occured at the concentration camps and the fear that grew to its capacity during the night. I have heard and read of several experiences during the Holocaust, this being the most touching on several levels. Elie Wiesel made me think about what one person's hate had the potential to become, and being aware of this hate is the only thing that can prevent it from happening again.
After 10 years of keeping his story hidden, Elie Wiesel touched the world with his heartening journey during the Holocaust. For the spread of knowledge and the deep thought provoked by this touching yet depressing journey, I highly recommend this novel. ( )

Oh, this book hurts. It's painful to read, but impossible to set down. Wiesel does an amazing job of recapturing scenes from his time in Auschwitz, to the point where I had recurring nightmares for several weeks after reading this (in 9th grade, when I'd've liked to have thought I was less impressionable). It's not for the weak-stomached, but I'd recommend it to anyone. ( )

The most dramatic part about Wiesel's novel is the point of view from which it is told. Young Elie recalls his Holocaust experiences with events that make the event come alive through the text. Some sections of the book are harder to read through than others, but Wiesel does an outstanding job of portraying the terrors of Hitler's reign and the horrors of the extermination. The emotional yet sometimes shaky relationship between Elie and his father adds a unique dimension to the book which not only evokes fear, but also confusion. Night deserves 5 stars because it portrays a time of death and murder in a way that teaches and informs readers of the atroscities committed by the infamous Nazi regime. Night is a life changing work of literature written by a man who tried to change his own life by telling his story while also influencing us, the readers, to reconsider our outlook on life. ( )

The title, Night, is both symbolic and metaphoric and describes the emotional, psychological and physical trauma experienced by a teenage boy during his imprisonment in Nazi concentration camps throughout Europe. The first novel in a trilogy is a horribly sad and terrifying account of the Holocaust as seen through the eyes of a survivor---young Elie Wiesel. The novel is dark and depressing. Yet it should be required reading for ALL high school students, so that history does not repeat itself---an important lesson in prejudice and genocide. ( )

I actually cried while I read this book. And I will read it again. ( )

A brutally honest first-hand telling of the author's terrifying experiences in the extermination camps during WWII. It was painful to read, but necessary, I think, for anyone trying to understand history and what happened during that time.

Mr. Wiesel was never shy in depicting his fear or his shame in going through the things that he did. He describes all with perfect candor in simple language.

Night is a slim volume that can be read in a day/evening. I highly recommend this powerful piece. ( )

I find I cannot review this book. After all, how do you "review" someone's experiences in concentration camps? "Horrifying", "tragic", I guess. "Powerful" also. I read this right after I visited the "museum" of Auschwitz and Birkenau so its impact was tenfold increased: I had seen both the deathcamps he was describing. The rating is purely for literary merit. Although I'm not sure this is of any consequence, in this case. ( )

A short book of the authors life through the Holocaust. Instead of listening in school what happened, the reader actually has a view of one's life through the experience. It is hard to imagine a life where you have to be separated from your family and work all the time. Realistic, all true, and a book for readers who likes to learn about history. ( )

The author and narrator tells the story of himself as a 12-year-old boy during the Holocaust. Elie and his family are taking by the Germans to Auschwitz, where they are separated. The book discusses the young boy's hard journey during one of history's most devastating times for Jews. ( )

This is a powerful piece... it is a story that certainly impacted me, but... there's something... unfinished about it, unfortunately. I can't nail down what that is, but it leaves a feeling of meaninglessness to the characters experiences. ( )

i read the book night and i liked it alot, i thought that the way the author wrote the book help to understand, and picture whats going on and how the character is feeling and what exactlly hes feeling.I thought that he expressed the characters emotion very well since this is an auto biography this book can get a little scary in a sad way cause you know that it is real and all these things actualy happened.nothing is made up and since it has to deal with the holocauset it was actualy scary and infomative and this book also had alot of detail i didnt like this book that much because it was sad and i dont like sad book but there was a suspense that kept me reading at some part this book was a little hard to understand because of the things happening and everything going on and you have to pay attention to the book or elde you will get lost but overalll this was a very good book andi enjoyed it was very entertaining and i would read this book over and over again cause i realy liked it even though it was kind of sad. ( )

After having been exposed to Holocaust documentaries and movies over the years, I didn't think I would get as much out of reading "Night" as I did. It's a great book. The writing is brutally honest about not only the atrocities of the Nazis but also the crises of faith and moments of personal weakness in their victims. It's done with a terse, conversational style that reads almost as if you were engaged in dialog with Wiesel, but on the other hand it is at times quite profound ("I was the accuser, God the accused...") and poetic ("Never shall I forget that night....").

Wiesel does not shy away from his own feelings of shame, shame forever, at how he felt towards his father, and for not answering his last words, which were calls to his son. He relays other horrifying stories of a son killing his father for bread, a Rabbi's son distancing himself from his father intentionally during a forced run during an evacuation, and Jews trampling and suffocating one another. There are poignant moments throughout, such as the last time he saw his mother and little sister, and how quickly they slipped out of his life forever.

Wiesel also does not shy away from his feelings towards God at the time, e.g. "Where is God? .... This is where - hanging from this gallows." Or, the Jews as having transcended everything "death, fatigue, our natural needs....we were the only men on earth." One of the dying states "I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people." These types of thoughts are things that I did not anticipate and were fascinating to me.

The introductory chapter in this edition included passages from the original Yiddish that I think should have survived editing, as well as an appendix that includes Wiesel's Nobel Prize acceptance speech.

There is no way anyone can truly understand what it was like to have been in a Concentration camp but this book provides insight into it in a very honest, humble way. It more than accomplishes its goal of "bearing witness"; it is a moving, stirring book. ( )

A sad story of man's unbounded capacity for inhumanity towards his fellow man. Elie Wiesel lost his family in the concentration camps during the Holocaust and witnessed events that most of us can only imagine in our worst nightmares. This story describes how he survived those terrible times, but lost his faith in the process. Hopefully this book will forever remain a cautionary deterrent from us ever allowing that scale of atrocity to ever happen again. Not that it doesn't happen on an individual level countless times daily. Some day we might rise above this behavior, and while we're still on the planet even.