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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1617.Night?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Night" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1158292300m/1617.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1617.Night?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Night</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1049.Elie_Wiesel">Elie Wiesel</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5023387?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars "Night" was sprawled across my lap as I waited for my flight at SLC airport. I was returning from an outdoor survival school when my girlfriend called. Through tearful gasps she told me of her grandmother's passing. From the juxtaposition of my survival and her grandmother’s dying questions arose. Elie Wiesel addresses similar questions in this lyrical testament to his experience in the camps. Who lives and who dies? Does one survive because of a miracle or by odd chance? The answer is not an answer. Instead it is the questions which are of consequence. 
 
 Early in the book Mr. Wiesel relates powerful experiences from his childhood. One of these is the advice he received from a Talmudic scholar. It is with rich profundity that a young Elie learns: “Every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer…” Therefore, this book is not filled with answers or, even, an attempt to find them. Rather it is a lyrical illustration of what Mr. Wiesel refers to as his “responsibility;” a responsibility to share his experience in the horrid Nazi Death Camps (what he called, during his Noble Peace Prize acceptance speech, “The Kingdom of the Night”).
 
 Mr. Wiesel bears this burden of responsibility by recounting poignant moments from the constant terror of his early history. The tragic countenance of an angelic boy slowly dying at the end of a hangman’s noose. The heart wrenching sound of a friend’s violin playing its final song to an audience of the dead and dying. And, the last utterances from his dying father lying in the bunk beneath Elie. 
 With questions so dire, Mr. Wiesel realizes a simple answer would be irresponsible. Instead his response is to command his memories of death to be etched into the minds’ of future generations; thereby raising life from the dead. This is the responsibility of the living to the deceased. As it is now the responsibility of my girlfriend and her family to remember “Mama’s” love of art, her appreciation of dance, and, of course, the way her face would light up anytime the words “Hershey’s chocolate bar” were mentioned. 
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/240761?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Adam's review
rating:

"Night" was sprawled across my lap as I waited for my flight at SLC airport. I was returning from an outdoor survival school when my girlfriend called. Through tearful gasps she told me of her grandmother's passing. From the juxtaposition of my survival and her grandmother’s dying questions arose. Elie Wiesel addresses similar questions in this lyrical testament to his experience in the camps. Who lives and who dies? Does one survive because of a miracle or by odd chance? The answer is not an answer. Instead it is the questions which are of consequence.

Early in the book Mr. Wiesel relates powerful experiences from his childhood. One of these is the advice he received from a Talmudic scholar. It is with rich profundity that a young Elie learns: “Every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer…” Therefore, this book is not filled with answers or, even, an attempt to find them. Rather it is a lyrical illustration of what Mr. Wiesel ...more "Night" was sprawled across my lap as I waited for my flight at SLC airport. I was returning from an outdoor survival school when my girlfriend called. Through tearful gasps she told me of her grandmother's passing. From the juxtaposition of my survival and her grandmother’s dying questions arose. Elie Wiesel addresses similar questions in this lyrical testament to his experience in the camps. Who lives and who dies? Does one survive because of a miracle or by odd chance? The answer is not an answer. Instead it is the questions which are of consequence.

Early in the book Mr. Wiesel relates powerful experiences from his childhood. One of these is the advice he received from a Talmudic scholar. It is with rich profundity that a young Elie learns: “Every question possessed a power that was lost in the answer…” Therefore, this book is not filled with answers or, even, an attempt to find them. Rather it is a lyrical illustration of what Mr. Wiesel refers to as his “responsibility;” a responsibility to share his experience in the horrid Nazi Death Camps (what he called, during his Noble Peace Prize acceptance speech, “The Kingdom of the Night”).

Mr. Wiesel bears this burden of responsibility by recounting poignant moments from the constant terror of his early history. The tragic countenance of an angelic boy slowly dying at the end of a hangman’s noose. The heart wrenching sound of a friend’s violin playing its final song to an audience of the dead and dying. And, the last utterances from his dying father lying in the bunk beneath Elie.
With questions so dire, Mr. Wiesel realizes a simple answer would be irresponsible. Instead his response is to command his memories of death to be etched into the minds’ of future generations; thereby raising life from the dead. This is the responsibility of the living to the deceased. As it is now the responsibility of my girlfriend and her family to remember “Mama’s” love of art, her appreciation of dance, and, of course, the way her face would light up anytime the words “Hershey’s chocolate bar” were mentioned.
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