Night is a harrowing look at humanity’s endless cruelty, serving as a crucial reminder of what we are capable of. 

Genre: Memoir, Non-fiction

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Rating: 5/5

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“Human suffering anywhere concerns men and women everywhere.”

Night, simply put, is a revolutionary creation; in its role as a documentation of the worst genocide in human history, its existance alone undoubtedly reminds us of the power and reach of literature, and its innate ability to embolden us into action. When I first began to read Elie Wiesel’s personal introduction to this book, I couldn’t help but feel thankful that the Holocaust has not been forgotten in our history books, and that thanks to its publication, the reality–death, cruelty, torture–of the Nazis would serve as a harrowing and endless reminder of our worst times for centuries to come. This, truly, is a special book. 

“To forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”

If someone had told me, before picking up Night, that the experience of this young, little boy was nothing but a fictional book of a genocide, there would be endless complaints about its quality in this review. Rightfully, I would criticise its uneven pacing, the ambiguous descriptions, and the uneven characterizations. I would perhaps say that it is not very realistic, as the amount of cruelty and pain Germany inflicts on the Jews is not something that no sane man should even consider enacting on another human being. However, the fact that the events of this book actually happened, not in a made-up play, but in the actual past, is almost impossible to fully grasp in my mind. In that regard, all of these book’s “flaws” brings a certain rawness to the narrative; how Wiesel depicts the fire chambers, the prison camps, and forceful labor is not aiming to employ fancy and flowery language. Instead, every single page is accompanied by a matter-a-fact voice, telling the readers the truth. It is so simple, yet so powerful.  

“For in the end, it is all about memory, its sources and its magnitude, and, of course, its consequences.”

This is why I believe this book should not be rated in the traditional sense. This work should be considered not by its literary quality, but by its truthful retelling of the Holocaust itself. And regarding that criteria, there is nothing more deserving of praise than Night. How can you read a family’s fracture, the death of a mother and sister, years of torture and starvation, and not feel the weight of history?; the maturity and understanding of the human form Wiesel brings in this novel is astounding, and should be commended. 

In conclusion, I believe Night has secured a seat in the grand halls of literature, serving as one of the most important slivers of historical memory, and our responsibility to ensure that something like the Holocaust never happens again. 5/5.

“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed….Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.”