8th out of 283 books
—
91 voters
Dawn (The Night Trilogy #2)
Elisha is a young Jewish man, a Holocaust survivor, and an Israeli freedom fighter in British-controlled Palestine; John Dawson is the captured English officer he will murder at dawn in retribution for the British execution of a fellow freedom fighter. The night-long wait for morning and death provides Dawn, Elie Wiesel's ever more timely novel, with its harrowingly taut,...more
Paperback, 81 pages
Published
March 21st 2006
by Hill and Wang
(first published 1960)
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Dawn is a beautifully written but disturbing novel about an Israeli terrorist waiting to assassinate a British officer in retaliation for the hanging of an Israeli. This novel evokes a great deal of thought about stopping violence with violence and hate with hate. Reflecting on the persecution the Jews have suffered, the young assassin Elisha says: "Now our only chance lies in hating you, in learning the necessity of the art of hate." However, the novel seems ultimately to say that hatred must b...more
This book is very different from anything else I've read. It's the follow up to Elie Wiesel's memoir Night, but this time the story is fictional. Because it's fictional, right off the bat it's easier to digest than Night. It revolves around a Holocaust survivor's morals and way of thinking after he becomes part of the Jewish Resistance in Palestine and is ordered to execute a British soldier. Can the victim ever become the murderer? Do the crimes of others make it okay for you to commit the same...more
Oct 29, 2008
RØB
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
people who like coming-of-age stories
Shelves:
in-my-permanent-collection
DAWN is an interesting companion piece to NIGHT even if it wasn't necessarily intended to be (but given their titles, you have to think there is some correlation). Elie Wiesel again provides a stark and direct style and his incorporation of supernatural elements, imagined or real, while at times confusing, is especially powerful. It is indeed not a frequently-seen literary phenomenon to see Jews "on the other side of the gun," as it were. A coming-of-age story of a slightly different sort that m...more
An excellent second installment in the "Night Trilogy" by Elie Wiesel. The title of "Dawn" refers to Elisha's assignment as a freedom fighter (aka terrorist) to execute a British officer at dawn. This execution is meant as a reprisal for the hanging of a fellow Jewish freedom fighter by the British at the same hour of a new day. Yet, even though dawn is a metaphor as a new beginning or a new day, night is ever constant in the life of the main character, Elisha.
In the previous book it is clear t...more
In the previous book it is clear t...more
"Dawn" is considered the second book in the "Night" Trilogy by Elie Wiesel, but in actuality, the two have little to do with one another. Whereas "Night" is a true story about a young boy surviving the horrors of the Holocaust, "Dawn" is a fictional work that is more philosophical in nature. "Dawn" tells the story of Elisha, a Holocaust survivor who is now a member of a Jewish resistance group in Palestine during English occupation. Members of the resistance have been captured and sentenced to d...more
"Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming. At night everything is more intense, more true. The echo of words that have been spoken during the day takes on a new and deeper meaning." -- Elie Wiesel
"There are times, his father said, that when words and prayers are not enough. The God of grace is also the God of war. And war is not a matter of words." -- Elie Wiesel
"Being afraid, I ought to have told her, is nothing. Fear is only a color, a backdrop, a landscape. T...more
"There are times, his father said, that when words and prayers are not enough. The God of grace is also the God of war. And war is not a matter of words." -- Elie Wiesel
"Being afraid, I ought to have told her, is nothing. Fear is only a color, a backdrop, a landscape. T...more
The book Dawn by Elie Wiesel is a very good book to read, well for me anyways, because it’s about two men waiting through the night in British-controlled Palestine for dawn to come and possible their own death during World War II. One of the men is a captured English officer and the other is Elisha, a young Israeli Freedom Fighter. I would strongly recommend this book for others to read, because of the way Elie Wiesel had incorporated the action, the suspense, and the historical events in the bo...more
"A man hates his enemy because he hates his own hate. He says to himself: This fellow, my enemy, has made me capable of hate. I hate him not because he's my enemy, not because he hates me, but because he arouses me to hate." Elisha (Jewish partisan) justifying the killing of British soldier John Dawson.
Another short novel that is loaded with the philosophical gamut of humanity in times of war. To become a murderer in the name of cause, to avenge the oppression you were once victimized by, to bec...more
Another short novel that is loaded with the philosophical gamut of humanity in times of war. To become a murderer in the name of cause, to avenge the oppression you were once victimized by, to bec...more
This book came to me by accident. I was visiting the library at Anatolia High School in Thessaloniki one day and, as is occasionally the case, there was a pile of books on a table outside the door - books that had been purged from the collection, free for the taking. I am wary of such books, as they are often not worth the trouble, either because they are falling apart, or because they are lousy books. But this one caught my eye because I had heard of one of Elie Wiesel's other books, "Night", d...more
A Jewish Terrorist
Rachel Moore
Dawn, a World War Two story by Elie Wiesel, makes the reader feel what it’s like knowing that you are about to become a drastically different person. Wiesel creates the feeling that you are there with him, waiting to execute the man in the basement. In the story, 18-year-old Elie Wiesel is given orders to execute a British officer that had been taken hostage by the Jewish terrorist gang he is a part of. John Dawson, the officer, patiently awaits his death in a ce...more
Dawn is the second book in Elie Weisel's trilogy (after Night.) However, it is not really a sequel, as Night is a memoir and Dawn is fiction.
Dawn is about Elisha, a Holocaust survivor. After the war, he moves to the British Mandate of Palestine and joins a terrorist group determined to purge the British from the area. One night, Elisha is told he must execute British soldier. The novel is about Elisha dealing with his own turmoil.
I recall reading shortly after I completed Dawn that Wiesel wrote...more
Dawn is about Elisha, a Holocaust survivor. After the war, he moves to the British Mandate of Palestine and joins a terrorist group determined to purge the British from the area. One night, Elisha is told he must execute British soldier. The novel is about Elisha dealing with his own turmoil.
I recall reading shortly after I completed Dawn that Wiesel wrote...more
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I read Night 15 years ago (yow that was awhile ago) in high school and had high expectations for Dawn even though I recalled it got disparaging remarks from instructors now that I think about it. Now I know why. Solid writing but seriously the dead come out to talk to the main character??? It's not a fantasy so why this great talk with the dead? If only life were that simple, to talk to the dead. I'd have a few words to say to my dead that's for sure. Still some beautiful lines from the beginnin...more
A small but very well conceived, deep meditation on man's tendency toward violence, self justification, and lack of responsibility for its own actions through shifting the blame onto others. The self conflict is constantly absorbing and relatable as Elisha struggles with his present choices and recalls back to the things that haunt him, and have shaped him, while constantly squirming under conviction and scrutiny while he tries to find validation and reason in becoming a murderer. Soon after lib...more
Another great book by Elie Wiesel.This is a very nice book if you want to read about the aftermath of the Holocaust on some people. Elisha is a Jewish man that wants to kill a british officer named, John Dawson. He is planning to murder him because he executed a friend of Elisha's that was also in the movement of freedom. The need of revenge is spread throughout the book and is evident since the beginning of the book when Elisha explains that he wants revenge and is for freedom for Israel. Elish...more
A work of fiction by Elie Wiesel, author of Night, about a young man, formerly a resident of the Buchenwald concentration camp, who later became a terrorist / freedom fighter (depending on which side you are on) in British ruled Palestine.
This is an introspective look at what might go through the mind of soon-to-be killer. Assigned the mission of killing a British hostage, young Elisha has a harrowing night facing his inner demons, his former self, his fellow fighters, and ultimately his British...more
This is an introspective look at what might go through the mind of soon-to-be killer. Assigned the mission of killing a British hostage, young Elisha has a harrowing night facing his inner demons, his former self, his fellow fighters, and ultimately his British...more
I have taught Night for years, and the simple power of Wiesel's bleak words from his autobiography has resonated within me. Dawn is not, as I was expecting, part II of Wiesel's autobiography -- it is, instead a work of fiction set in Palestine immediately following the end of the war in Europe.
It's fictional, but not to say uninformed by Weisel's own life. There are many similarities - the narrator, Elisha, was 12 years old when the war interrupted his life. Like Wiesel, Elisha is a camp survivo...more
It's fictional, but not to say uninformed by Weisel's own life. There are many similarities - the narrator, Elisha, was 12 years old when the war interrupted his life. Like Wiesel, Elisha is a camp survivo...more
Just like 'Night', I read this book in one sitting. It's captivating and brilliantly written. Wiesel immediately sets the almost surreal and stifling tone that pervades throughout and draws the reader into the mind of a man pondering the execution he must carry out at dawn. Everything, all thoughts, emotions, images are so detailed and vividly describe the bleak landscape that forms the conscious and mind of a soon to-be murderer. Similar to 'Night', 'Dawn' is written without hesitation or elabo...more
A simple story of a young Jewish freedom fighter, before the state of Israel, who is required to execute a British soldier. At the time, Palestine was occupied by the British army. The Jewish soldier meditates about patriotism and honor and duty and truth when he is forced to murder a stranger. It would be good if todays Israelis could read this story and replace the British soldier with a Palestinian arab.
I will be frank, this was not one of the most incredible books I've ever read. I was not drawn into its pages like I have been with other novels, nor did I find its conclusion quite as revealing of Wiesel's ability to write as Night had shown. However, one simple page of this book, page four if I remember correctly, has forever etched itself into my memory. "Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming. At night everything is more intense, more true. The echo of wor...more
"Dawn" is a simple, honest story unveiled over a 24 hour period by a young Zionist (and terrorist), who is charged to execute a British officer. His new ordeal follows closely after his survival of the WWII horrors as Israel struggles during its rebirth as a nation. Terrorism always seems to precede the celebrated "Independence Day" of a nation, making it a matter of perspective. Review the U.S. history post 1776-1783. There were a lot of acts of retribution in our great countryside, and there w...more
Incredibly relevant. While a historical novel, in our post-9/11 world that's cluttered with arrogance and self-righteous politics, this should be required reading. Dawn is unnerving; it shakes you to the core. The lines between "us" and "them" are blurred and the reader cannot possibly walk away viewing the world through the same narrow lens they came in with. Read it.
So much anguish in this book..... Wiesel makes us look at what happens to the person who becomes as his torturers. The author says in the preface, "This tale about despair becomes a story against despair." In that light, it seems to fall short of actually giving hope, which is an opposite of despair, or of offering redemption; the life of Elisha, the main character, does not offer us an example of hope. The book does force the reader to personalize war/killing and grapple with the ethics of doin...more
Dawn was about a Holocaust survivor named Elisha who after the war, he moves to the Palestine, then under British control and joins a terrorist group determined and committed to drive the British out from Palestine. One night, Elisha was told that he had to execute a British officer at dawn, and the story talks about Elisha struggles with himself as to if he should kill the officer or not.
I happened to like this book a lot, because it talked about the main character's past experiences in the Hol...more
I happened to like this book a lot, because it talked about the main character's past experiences in the Hol...more
The beautiful writing in this book I give 5 stars. That being said the story, though I did not love it as much as Night, was a very good one as well. I was drawn to Elisha's plight & hoping the entire time that he would do the right thing. But the thing is, Elisha didn't know what the right thing to do was & he was torn by loyalties & his own haunting memories of the concentration camps & the great losses he suffered. The book follows Elisha's thought process as he finds out he h...more
I am very sorry, this is not a literary production worth my time. I took this book full of hope, after reading "Night" (which was a four stars in my books, I think) .... Unlike Night, though, this new novel an invention, a clever mind building a situation and offering an ending.
This writing(?) does not contribute to the historical account of WWII, the way Night does, nor does it provide any literary achievement (i.e. the literary means employed in this book are mediocre at best).
So no hisorica...more
This writing(?) does not contribute to the historical account of WWII, the way Night does, nor does it provide any literary achievement (i.e. the literary means employed in this book are mediocre at best).
So no hisorica...more
After tremendous suffering from his journey from three different concentration camps, Elie is left broken and crushed inside. He continues his journey from Night and into Dawn; Elie is drafted into a terrorist group called "The Movement", a group of people fighting for liberty and against the evils of Hitler, of Nazi Germany. Elie will soon find himself stuck in a difficult position, he will have to make a decision that can change forever the person he is and break even further who he once was b...more
3 and 1/2 stars
Though this is a novella, it's sometimes marketed as part of a trilogy with the nonfictional Night. I can see the relevance, as Wiesel himself says in this book's introduction that he imagined what might've happened if he'd been recruited after his Holocaust experiences to become a terrorist in Palestine. And while I didn't find this as affecting as the memoir Night, it is still relevant, imagining the kind of young person that might become a murderer for a cause and the toll that...more
Though this is a novella, it's sometimes marketed as part of a trilogy with the nonfictional Night. I can see the relevance, as Wiesel himself says in this book's introduction that he imagined what might've happened if he'd been recruited after his Holocaust experiences to become a terrorist in Palestine. And while I didn't find this as affecting as the memoir Night, it is still relevant, imagining the kind of young person that might become a murderer for a cause and the toll that...more
I decided to read Dawn as soon as I finished Night because I was interested to see what Wiesel was like as a fiction writer – and it was less than a hundred pages long. While I didn’t think the writing was particularly spectacular in Night, I appreciated it for its historical significance. Mr. Wiesel continues to do a great service to us all by doing his best to educate people about the Holocaust.
Dawn was worth the read. The writing was much more enjoyable and the characters were richly develope...more
Dawn was worth the read. The writing was much more enjoyable and the characters were richly develope...more
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Eliezer Wiesel is a Romania-born American novelist, political activist, and Holocaust survivor of Hungarian Jewish descent. He is the author of over 40 books, the best known of which is Night, a memoir that describes his experiences during the Holocaust and his imprisonment in several concentration camps.
Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. The Norwegian Nobel Committee called him a "...more
More about Elie Wiesel...
Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. The Norwegian Nobel Committee called him a "...more
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“Night is purer than day; it is better for thinking and loving and dreaming. At night everything is more intense, more true. The echo of words that have been spoken during the day takes on a new and deeper meaning. The tragedy of man is that he doesn't know how to distinguish between day and night. He says things at night that should only be said by day.”
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80 people liked it
“It was the beginning of the war. I was twelve years old, my parents were alive, and God still dwelt in our town.”
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7 people liked it
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