Night by Elie Wiessel

Night by Elie Wiesel

5 stars

Night is about Elie Wiesel’s time during Nazi death camps and the horror that he faced as a teenager during World War II as he watched the death of family, his innocence, perception of life, and belief in his God. There are certain books out there that are just meant to be written. I understand completely why Elie kept his story a secret until he found the right way to account his tragic story. Words are powerful and Elie Wiesel’s memoir about his time during World War II is one of the hardest books I’ve ever read. There are books out there, like Between Shades of Gray, which are great books, but they aren’t based on complete fact. They are fiction that’s based on real events and while those books impact me and make me cry this book ripped my soul in half and tore my heart in shreds. I loved Night. It’s one of the best books I’ve read about a historical event and it’s my first memoir/ biography that is an actual novel and not an excerpt. This is one of those books that made me sit down and really think about humanity and the choices that people make. I still have so many questions about so many things surrounding the Holocaust and the things that took place. This is my favorite required school read that I’ve ever read.


Since it’s a required read, I had to take notes in a dialectical journal and I’ve written down so much about what transpired in just 115 pages. This book flew by for me and Elie Wiesel’s story is just beautifully written and every word evokes images or thoughts and it made me think. School reads hardly ever do that for me, but for once I fell in love with a book that I was forced to read. I’m reviewing this book differently because it’s based on someone’s life and so there are no characters, but actual human beings. Every person in this book was real and they weren’t a figment of Elie’s imagination, but someone he knew and talked to. I hadn’t really realized that the people around him were just as real until that final march at the end of the book.


This book is incredibly impactful and I can’t recommend it enough. There are books out there that must be read before you die and Night is one of them. Elie’s account is heartbreaking and it will make you look at things in a new light. This book is just so good and I can’t stress that enough. I’m sorry if I sound like a broken record, but I just… no words can express how beautiful this book. Is that how Elie felt before he told his story of Night and the horrors he faced? As if no words are good enough and no words will ever be able to express the feelings or thoughts during his time? That’s how I feel about this book. Words just don’t even come close to expressing the beauty in words and horror of life being taken away at the hands of human beings that I’ve experienced reading. This book has changed me in ways. It’s made me look at everything in a different way. People need to be cherished and not extinguished.


(Me reading my copy of Night.)

Cover Thoughts: I can see what my teacher meant now when she said that the cover didn't do this book justice. It totally doesn't.