Night by Elie Wiesel

In my quest to clear more books off my Classics Club list, I decided to read Night by Elie Wiesel next. I've been meaning to read this for quite a long time. I had the honor of actually listening to Wiesel speak many years ago at my college, and though the details of what he said have slipped away by now, the impression he made on me hasn't. He was an extremely engaging speaker, and there was such a gravity to him that I could feel his importance radiating throughout the auditorium. I was very interested in reading his work after that night. Being a stressed out English major, however, I didn't get around to it back then. So, I decided to remedy that and read it now.

Night is Wiesel's record of his experiences during the Holocaust. In 1944, he and his family were taken from their home in Transylvania to the Auschwitz concentration camp. In the camp, Wiesel had to endure horrors beyond what most of us can imagine as he tried to protect himself and his father against death at the hands of the Nazis. He describes with a disturbing frankness how he and countless others were starved, beaten, and abused during their time there. He also describes his struggle with his faith throughout the horrifying ordeal, and explains how he came to reject one of his most important childhood beliefs, that God was a kind and merciful being. He could no longer believe such an idea in the face of the death and torture he was seeing every day.

Eventually, as the WWII neared its end, Wiesel was liberated from Buchenwald, where he had been force-marched to with the rest of his camp as the Russian army closed in on Auschwitz. The narrative ends with him looking at himself in a mirror at a hospital after he was freed, and no longer recognizing the person staring back at him. His story is equal parts moving and horrific, and stands as an important record of the atrocities of the Holocaust.

This is a very slim volume, but it is not an easy read. Wiesel's prose is simple, but still beautiful and profoundly sad. His descriptions of the terror of his friends and family and the cruelty of the Nazis is difficult to make it through. At the same time, it is profoundly important that everyone reads it. It is imperative that no one ever forgets what happened during the Holocaust. To do so would be to forget the hundreds of thousands of people who suffered and died in the genocide. Every time I read something about this time period, it feels unbelievable that something this horrific could actually happen. It is difficult to comprehend that people could behave this way towards other human beings. However, it did happen and people did behave in those unimaginable ways, and it is our duty to remember it and to help ensure it doesn't happen again. This is why Wiesel wrote his narrative; he wanted to keep the memory of that time alive, and to make sure that people understand why remaining silent when they see such injustice is inexcusable.

Night is undeniably a masterpiece. It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 and is often incorporated into school curriculum as a teaching tool. While it is an emotionally challenging read, I would recommend it to everyone. It is an indispensable piece of our historical record and an important warning against the tragedies that come from racism and hatred. We must all be reminded of our past in order to protect our future. As Wiesel wisely stated in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, "Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere."


Challenge Tally
Classics Club (#99 on my list): 35/100 

Total Books Read in 2019: 5