*unless you're okay with ugly-crying in public.
As some of you may know, I recently returned home from Israel. (Best trip ever, by the way. If you haven't been, I strongly recommend that you go, and if you have been, I'd love to hear about your experience in the comment section!) When I got back, I decided to finally read the book that had been intimidating me from my bookshelf for far too long.
I made the mistake of starting it in the waiting room whilst my dad was in an appointment.
I haven't picked it back up yet.
This book was Night by Elie Wiesel.
For those of you who don't know, Goodreads describes Night as"Born into a Jewish ghetto in Hungary, as a child, Elie Wiesel was sent to the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. This is his account of that atrocity: the ever-increasing horrors he endured, the loss of his family and his struggle to survive in a world that stripped him of humanity, dignity and faith. Describing in simple terms the tragic murder of a people from a survivor's perspective, Night is among the most personal, intimate and poignant of all accounts of the Holocaust. A compelling consideration of the darkest side of human nature and the enduring power of hope, it remains one of the most important works of the twentieth century" (Wiesel, 2016).
The Holocaust isn't an unfamiliar topic to me. In fact, I've often been told that I know more than most. I've read plenty of books, listened to presentations by survivors, and visited Yad Vachem during my time in Israel.
But the description of something in this book hit me harder than anything I had experienced. I won't repeat it here because of the spoilers, as well as the fact that it pains me too much to even consider typing it out, but I can still feel the words stinging my heart and burning my eyes with tears as I'm writing this now.
Atrocity is unfathomable until it is done.
Even though I have yet to finish this book, I feel and have felt for a very long time that everyone should read it. I'm going to try to pick it up again very soon because I know how important this book is, as well as books like it. I need to read it. If we do not learn about what happened, it can be said that it is all too easy to forget. That it is all too easy to deny. That it is all too easy to let happen again.
Never forget. Never again.
Stay tuned for part 2 of this review, which will be when I actually finish the book!
Bibliography
Wiesel, E. (2016, January 16). Night by Elie Wiesel. Retrieved July 1, 2018, from https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1617.Night
Comentarios