Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Man's Inhumanity to his fellow man
This is a stark and harrowing tale of survival under the worst of unimaginable circumstances. Unfortunaltely a true account of a halocaust survivor who will be forever traumatized by these experiences of his youth. An important book for all to read since it is sometimes hard to comprehend the extent of man's inhumaity to his fellow man. The author who endured these experiences in his adolescence describes totally losing his faith in God for allowing this to happen. One can certainly understand the response when one reads his terrible eye witness account of his father's cruel death just before liberation. One is struck by the tragic lost chances for escape: the disregarded warnings from a fellow villager's eyewitness account of his own deportation and narrrow escape from death, the uncompleted warning knock on the window, and finally the lost chance for liberation for both father and son had they chosen the road not taken, and made a decision to remain in the camp hospital. I would strongly recommmend Viktor Frankel's book Man's Search for Meaning for readers of this book. The victim's sufferings are similar. The author is an adult and a psychiatrist whose contrasting focus is in overcoming his awful circumstances and maintaining his human integrity and faith.
Rating: - Terrific Power of Faith
Night written by Elie Wiesel is one of the most powerful novels I have ever read. The Nobel Peace Prize winner of 1986 tells a terrifying tale in graphic detail of Elie Wiesel's experience of the World War II and inparticular the way the Jewish society was treated by the Nazis.
This book shows that if you have faith there is hope. Elie Wiesel had faith. He survived through the ghettos, the torment of the Nazis, stuffy crowed trains, lack of food and water and two different death camps. The description of the two death camps is so real and horrible that you wish in some parts it was not, and wish this was only a fictitious novel. It was only faith that helped him through this.
He explores some very strong theological ideas, the strongest though being, why does God let such suffering happen. In one episode three people are 'strung up' and hung. Two of which are men and one a small child. The men die quite quickly but the boy is so light he gradually suffocates to death over more than half an hour. Elie describes the way they are all (the men and boys of that section of the death camp) forced to watch this boy die, and as they do one man says, 'Where is God now?' and Elie answers him in his thoughts, 'Where is He? Here He is ' He is hanging here on these gallows''
Just those powerful lines remind us of the death of Christ and the amount of suffering he went through and his identification through suffering with all who suffer. It might not strike Elie that way because he was of the Jewish faith but to Christian it certainly strikes us that way. This novel is a very intriguing one that should be read by everyone (when they are of an age suitable enough to read it) so that in the future this may never happen again. When people do read this they will be able to see what pure hatred can do to people and why it is important to keep the faith.
Rating:  - NIGHT
Have you ever been in a concentration camp? If you haven't been, reading this book is the closest you will come. The book Night, written by Ellie Wiesel is both informative and suspenseful. In this book I found the characters to be very strong and resilient people. They faced many problems with strength and courage.Some very suspenseful and unbelievable scenes are described in gruesome detail, which helped me understand the struggles of the characters much better. Elizer and his father, who are the main characters, tell of their story in various concentration camps. Although they were separated from their families and virtually alone, far worse things were to be endured. "I had felt death" (Wiesel, 82). This quote from Elizer shows that each and everyday the occupants in the concentration camp battled to stay alive. At this point in the story, I realized the fear and brutality that the Jewish people encountered. Some could take the hardships and some could not. Although, Elizers father loved Elizer dearly, there were several times when he wanted to rid himself of all of the pain and suffering he was forced to endure. As Elizers father muttered the words " I can't go on" (Wiesel, 100) I could not imagine what was going through Elizers head. Sadness, anger, pain, despair? As I read those words I felt nothing but compassion for each and every person who had to go through such an awful experience. I think the characters in this story really help enhance the story. This book was heartbreaking and at the same time made you smile through the course of the book. It's the best book of its kind that I have read so far. It made me feel like I was feeling the pain, sadness, fear, and hunger right along with Elizer and his father.
This story focuses on every aspect of the camps. However, some stuck in my mind more than others. "We were tormented with hunger" (Weisel, 39) the struggle of starvation contributed to a large portion of the plot in this story. When Elizer sacrificed his own food ration to give to his ill father, he became my favorite character. Because his ability to block out his own needs and be completely unselfish was inspiring to me. Being tormented by hunger is a hard concept to grasp for people of today. Night did a great job of weaving that into the plot. Starvation was a large portion of the story because of the number of people that perished because of lack of food. In fact, thousands, if not more, Jewish people died while being held in concentration camps. I had a very hard time relating to Night. I could not imagine being killed because of the color of my hair, or simply because of something I believe in. Although this is a sad and horrific reality that theses events happened in our past, I would recommend anyone above the age of 14 and up to read this book. It can, and will, prevent us from making these same mistakes in our future.
Night was a very real, true, and eye-opening book. It was suspenseful, action packed, and informative. I thought this book was well written and very detailed. It shows the true struggle of two people's journey through the concentration camps and their battles to stay alive. It's a great book!
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