Today Marshmallow reviews Night by Elie Wiesel, first published in Yiddish in 1956 and in English in 1960. Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 “for being a messenger to mankind: his message is one of peace, atonement and dignity”.
A small caveat: The book as well as the review below involve historical events that depict harsh realities. They may not be appropriate for younger readers.
Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you are a person of reasonable maturity and ability to process and handle important historical events, then this is the book for you.
Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Elie Wiesel was a young Jewish boy in Romania during the Second World War. The book is more or less a memoir of his youth.
Elie is a young boy, extraordinarily devout at a remarkably young age, seeking out a religious mentor in Moishe the Beadle. It is from him that the town of Sighet—located in Transylvania—first hears of the Nazis’ proximity. Since Moishe is a foreign Jew, he is forced to leave first. But he luckily escapes the Nazis who leave him for dead due to his bleeding, shot leg. Moishe walks on foot an unbelievably long journey back to Sighet to warn the very people who look down on him of how dangerous the Nazis are. None of the residents believe him. Elie worries for his mentor, as many adults around him say the Beadle is mad.
Many of the Jews of Sighet do not believe that the Germans could reach them. Others believe that the war would end before Germany’s reach expanded far enough to affect them. It is heartbreaking to say that they are wrong. The Nazis show up on Sighet’s streets within a matter of days.
The Jews are first forced into ghettos, condemned to smaller slums as though they are not deserving of being able to choose where to live. Soon they are forced out of their homes, able to take only what they could carry. They are made to wait on scorching sidewalks and soon after chased towards cattle carts that take them to the concentration camps. Elie and his family, which includes his father Shloma, his mother Sarah, his two older sisters, and his seven-year-old younger sister Tzipora, are taken to Auschwitz. He loses his mother Sarah and Tzipora to the gas chambers and the Nazis on the first day, though he does not know it for certain until later. He and his father are forced into labor camps and the horror continues.
Wiesel’s suffering is conveyed through his own testimony in Night. He and so many others, millions of Jews, Gypsies, and other undesirables in the Nazis’ eyes, suffered so much as the hands of humans who were in all aspects but one the same. This story is one that everyone must read.
Marshmallow’s Review: This book is simply vital. I think everyone must read it once they are old enough to understand why we must remember. Elie Wiesel is one of the strongest humans to walk this Earth and he is also one of the wisest. Through this book, he passes on the story of the Nazi camps and their horrors designed to exterminate the Jews. He describes things that provoke a deep silence after reading, a deep silence that necessitates thought and great gratitude that one is not in such a situation. Wiesel is a hero by the virtue that he survived. But there are so many who did not and, for their sake and Wiesel’s, this story cannot be forgotten.
Night was assigned as reading in my English class and that is one of the best decisions a teacher can make. This story has impacted so many and Wiesel is truly one of the few people who can be described as a master of prose and a witness of humanity. In words, Wiesel has described the indescribable.
Thanks to Wiesel’s wife Marion who translated it into English for a larger audience, Night is written in simple and clear language, with few ornate embellishments. The horrific events make it seem so already, so Wiesel says things in a way that never makes the story seem unreal.
It is really remarkable and heartbreaking that Wiesel never viewed himself as exceptional. He wonders several times why he survived. He says he was never special or had any sort of skills or attributes that made him deserving of life. But everyone is deserving of life and yet so many were robbed of it. It is truly heartbreaking. Yet, his thoughts and perseverance, his selflessness and his determination (though these words have lost much of their weight and meaning through superfluous use) make him one of the most admirable human beings. He cared unwaveringly for his father though they were both suffering. He never stopped looking after him, even though Wiesel himself thought he failed in this. Wiesel was truly, indescribably a remarkable person with a profound impact. His book Night must be read.
Marshmallow’s Rating: 200%.
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