Night by Elie Wiesel; narrated by George Guidall | 2006; originally published 1956 | Recorded Books | Audiobook $ 19.99
Born in the town of Sighet, Transylvania, Elie Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home in 1944 to Auschwitz concentration camp, and then to Buchenwald. Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel’s memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man.
If one is compelled to compile a list of must-read history nonfiction, it would probably be incomplete without at least one work on the horrors of the Holocaust. Given its reputation as an unforgettable gut-punch of a memoir, I thought this title would be a good fit for my own to-read list.
I do find it rather difficult to write any kind of review for a book like this, though. It is so, so, so beautifully written; in fact, I’d call it poetic. It isn’t the kind of lyrical poetry that makes you think of the warmth of the sun’s rays on your skin or the depth of feeling of a fresh heartache, though. No, this is the blunt kind of poetry that first knocks the breath out of you and then with repetition numbs you to anything in the world other than a sort of overwhelmingly mundane despair, or dull horror at your fellow humans’ capacity for banal yet deep cruelty.
This isn’t the kind of book you like. But it is the kind of book that you can’t forget.
I don’t quite know how to recommend this book. Part of me wants to say that it ought to be required for anyone who wants to consider themselves well-read. But another part of me wants to warn the potential reader to beware, and be ready to witness the absolute worst of humanity.
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Publication information: Wiesel, Elie. Night. Landover, Maryland: Recorded Books, 2006. Audiobook.
Source: Public library, via Hoopla.
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