What do you think?
Rate this book
Night of the Aurochs
Dalton Trumbo’s posthumously published work, this novel tells the story of an old unrepentant Nazi official named Grieben. Former chief of the Auschwitz concentration camp, the protagonist is motivated by a boundless desire for power & by what seems to be an inability to receive love. In autobiographical form, Grieben ensnares us in the sadism of his youth, the cruelty of his relationship with a woman who was half-Jewish & the indescribable horror of the Holocaust.
218 pages, Hardcover
First published November 26, 1979
About the author
Dalton Trumbo
32 books752 followersDalton Trumbo worked as a cub reporter for the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, covering courts, the high school, the mortuary and civic organizations. He attended the University of Colorado for two years working as a reporter for the Boulder Daily Camera and contributing to the campus humor magazine, the yearbook and the campus newspaper. He got his start working for Vogue magazine. His first published novel, Eclipse, was about a town and its people, written in the social realist style, and drew on his years in Grand Junction. He started writing for movies in 1937; by the 1940s, he was one of Hollywood's highest paid writers for work on such films as Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), and Our Vines Have Tender Grapes (1945), and Kitty Foyle (1940), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay.
Trumbo's 1939 anti-war novel, Johnny Got His Gun, won a National Book Award (then known as an American Book Sellers Award) that year. The novel was inspired by an article Trumbo read about a soldier who was horribly disfigured during World War I.
In 1947, Trumbo, along with nine other writers and directors, was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee as an unfriendly witness to testify on the presence of communist influence in Hollywood. Trumbo refused to give information. After conviction for contempt of Congress, he was blacklisted, and in 1950, spent 11 months in prison in the federal penitentiary in Ashland, KY. Once released, he moved to Mexico.
In 1993, Trumbo was awarded the Academy Award posthumously for writing Roman Holiday (1953). The screen credit and award were previously given to Ian McLellan Hunter, who had been acting as a "front" for Trumbo since he had been blacklisted by Hollywood.
Trumbo's 1939 anti-war novel, Johnny Got His Gun, won a National Book Award (then known as an American Book Sellers Award) that year. The novel was inspired by an article Trumbo read about a soldier who was horribly disfigured during World War I.
In 1947, Trumbo, along with nine other writers and directors, was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee as an unfriendly witness to testify on the presence of communist influence in Hollywood. Trumbo refused to give information. After conviction for contempt of Congress, he was blacklisted, and in 1950, spent 11 months in prison in the federal penitentiary in Ashland, KY. Once released, he moved to Mexico.
In 1993, Trumbo was awarded the Academy Award posthumously for writing Roman Holiday (1953). The screen credit and award were previously given to Ian McLellan Hunter, who had been acting as a "front" for Trumbo since he had been blacklisted by Hollywood.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 7, 2024
Night of the Aurochs is a hard book to rate, because (unfortunately) it was never finished. A screenwriter, Dalton Trumbo is best known for his antiwar novel Johnny Got His Gun, which is still widely-read today. Night of the Aurochs, his final novel, faded into obscurity. Trumbo claimed this book would be his magnum opus, but he spent his last 15 years writing it on and off and didn't get very far in before his death. It almost seems like he was afraid of committing to it, afraid his idea was too ambitious to put to paper.
Less than half the book was actually completed, but at least notes and outlines are included explaining how the rest of the story would have gone. Night of the Aurochs is the autobiography of Ludwig Grieben, a fictional nazi. Grieben rises through the ranks of the SS until he is eventually appointed commandant of Auschwitz. We witness his transition from a perverted young boy to a man completely eroded and destroyed by his desire for power. At least, that's what the author intended. The execution left a lot to be desired. But it is, after all, a first draft...
Grieben is extremely hypocritical, but given his status as a Nazi mass murderer; he’s obviously supposed to be. He constantly waxes poetic about what a good and virtuous man he is while murdering innocent women and children in cold blood, and exterminating hundreds of thousands at Auschwitz. It makes him all the easier to hate, not that he was a likable character to begin with. As Trumbo states, Grieben is incapable of love. Every time he tries to love someone or something- whether it is a human or a pet rabbit- he brutally murders it. It is abundantly clear that Grieben cannot even understand love.
Trumbo makes it painstakingly clear to us that Grieben is sexually abnormal from a very early age. He kills his pet rabbit while trying to have sex with it. He and his best friend Gunther molest a neighbor girl. You get the idea. While I see the point Trumbo is trying to make, these scenes are gratuitous and described in a pornographic manner when they don’t need to be. Sometimes the prose is genuinely beautiful (ironic given the context), but most of the time it is ponderous and rambling. Trumbo spends far too much time describing things we don’t care about and don’t need to know about. These details are pointless and detract from the main story. I often had to look up various words and terms to understand their meaning. Trumbo also has Grieben make numerous references to German history and classical mythology, which are extremely pretentious and add nothing to the story.
Perhaps the strangest element of the book are an older Grieben's fantasies about falling in love with the ghost of Anne Frank. This is simply bizarre and I can’t begin to make sense of it.
I’m ultimately not quite sure what Trumbo was trying to accomplish here. He claimed he was trying to write a study of the ultimate evil, and that much is certainly obvious. But I don’t think I understand what he tried to do with Grieben’s character arc. He feels no remorse for his atrocities and claims he was ‘just following orders’. And yet he is moved by Anne Frank’s diary and begins fantasizing about her. Why?
Grieben never goes through any major changes or character development. He’s a static character. He starts life as a sadist and sexual deviant and ends it as a sadist and sexual deviant. He certainly doesn’t learn to love because, again, it’s something he’s incapable of. In short; he’s an unrepentant nazi from start to finish. Static characters simply aren't interesting to read about, and in my view, a protagonist should NEVER be static.
This book could have been something either very brilliant or very terrible, but most likely the latter. The florid, purple writing style certainly didn't win any favors from me. Despite this, there's still something very sad about an unfinished book. It's a shame Trumbo never got to finish this as he intended.
Less than half the book was actually completed, but at least notes and outlines are included explaining how the rest of the story would have gone. Night of the Aurochs is the autobiography of Ludwig Grieben, a fictional nazi. Grieben rises through the ranks of the SS until he is eventually appointed commandant of Auschwitz. We witness his transition from a perverted young boy to a man completely eroded and destroyed by his desire for power. At least, that's what the author intended. The execution left a lot to be desired. But it is, after all, a first draft...
Grieben is extremely hypocritical, but given his status as a Nazi mass murderer; he’s obviously supposed to be. He constantly waxes poetic about what a good and virtuous man he is while murdering innocent women and children in cold blood, and exterminating hundreds of thousands at Auschwitz. It makes him all the easier to hate, not that he was a likable character to begin with. As Trumbo states, Grieben is incapable of love. Every time he tries to love someone or something- whether it is a human or a pet rabbit- he brutally murders it. It is abundantly clear that Grieben cannot even understand love.
Trumbo makes it painstakingly clear to us that Grieben is sexually abnormal from a very early age. He kills his pet rabbit while trying to have sex with it. He and his best friend Gunther molest a neighbor girl. You get the idea. While I see the point Trumbo is trying to make, these scenes are gratuitous and described in a pornographic manner when they don’t need to be. Sometimes the prose is genuinely beautiful (ironic given the context), but most of the time it is ponderous and rambling. Trumbo spends far too much time describing things we don’t care about and don’t need to know about. These details are pointless and detract from the main story. I often had to look up various words and terms to understand their meaning. Trumbo also has Grieben make numerous references to German history and classical mythology, which are extremely pretentious and add nothing to the story.
Perhaps the strangest element of the book are an older Grieben's fantasies about falling in love with the ghost of Anne Frank. This is simply bizarre and I can’t begin to make sense of it.
I’m ultimately not quite sure what Trumbo was trying to accomplish here. He claimed he was trying to write a study of the ultimate evil, and that much is certainly obvious. But I don’t think I understand what he tried to do with Grieben’s character arc. He feels no remorse for his atrocities and claims he was ‘just following orders’. And yet he is moved by Anne Frank’s diary and begins fantasizing about her. Why?
Grieben never goes through any major changes or character development. He’s a static character. He starts life as a sadist and sexual deviant and ends it as a sadist and sexual deviant. He certainly doesn’t learn to love because, again, it’s something he’s incapable of. In short; he’s an unrepentant nazi from start to finish. Static characters simply aren't interesting to read about, and in my view, a protagonist should NEVER be static.
This book could have been something either very brilliant or very terrible, but most likely the latter. The florid, purple writing style certainly didn't win any favors from me. Despite this, there's still something very sad about an unfinished book. It's a shame Trumbo never got to finish this as he intended.
March 30, 2014
This book was a chilling story about a Nazi officer in WWII told from his point of view. I read this book after learning about it in the forward of "Carrion Comfort" by Dan Simmons. He had stated that Night of the Aurochs provided much of the inspiration for his book and you can definitely see a lot of similarities between some of the characters. It was incredible the callous disregard that the main character had for the lives of the Jews and his off hand remarks about mass slaughter are terrifying. This book had a lot of underlying messages, the author had stated that it was an essay on evil and absolute power and justification. Very powerful read.
(Interesting to note that the author Dalton Trumbo also wrote the book "Johnny Got His Gun" as well as the screenplay for "Papillon" among many more.)
(Interesting to note that the author Dalton Trumbo also wrote the book "Johnny Got His Gun" as well as the screenplay for "Papillon" among many more.)
December 16, 2022
This was the project Trumbo had been working on for years up to the time of his death. Incomplete, it's a fictional biography of an S.S. officer, parts being objective, others being autobiographical. While his account of his younger years appear coherent, the rest consists of bits and pieces, including letters to friends and colleagues by Trumbo outlining his sense of the evolving whole. Still, as a meditation on the origins of evil and as a representation of the novelist's craft, this book is worth a look.
February 23, 2018
This was a difficult psychological read, as it was written from the point of view of a high ranking Nazi who administered concentration camps. As bad as that sounds, it was a very thought- provoking and insightful read. It covers the whole life of the protagonist, from his German youth to his life after the war. Dalton Trumbo was famous for his book "Johnny Got His Gun," which won the National Book Award. An anecdote on that book states that Trumbo "never takes the easy way out." That is surely true of this book also. Trumbo was blacklisted during the Red Scare, because he refused to testify before the House In-American Activities Committee. Trumbo died before actually finishing "Night of the Aurochs," but the book deserves to live.
April 22, 2020
Creo realmente que Trumbo no hubiera querido publicar una novela así, “hecha a medias”. Demostró ser un escritor sublime con su libro “Johnny cogió su fusil”, así que si no publicó “Las noches del Uro” en vida y estuvo taaaanto tiempo modificando sus páginas, reescribiéndolas y cuestionándoselas, a lo mejor era porque no le convencía del todo su resultado final.
Vaya, que no sé si al maestro le hubiera hecho gracia que se pusieran en el libro todas esas notas y esas cartas previas hablando de la novela. A mí me da, por lo perfeccionista que era y demostró ser, que no. Peeeero: no lo sabremos nunca.
Lo maravilloso es que de los diez capítulos que narra, sin que nadie le interrumpa (aquí me refiero a editores y notas a pie de página que explican por qué el autor blablabla) se puede entrever su verdadera esencia. Vuelves a leer a Trumbo. Vuelves a sentir ese cosquilleo y esa garra, esa voz dura y fría que te está contando la vida de un niño perturbado; de un niño que, en un futuro, va a convertirse en oficial nazi y en comandante de un campo de concentración.
Esos diez capítulos, cerrados por el autor, son lo que merece la pena de este libro.
En resumen. Es otra obra maestra, pero sin pulir. Es como si pidieras en un restaurante una copa de chocolate con nata y en el momento de servírtela el camarero te dijera que te la trae sin nata, que se ha fijado en que no queda. Una decepción. Y no por el cocinero, sino por el servicio.
Vaya, que no sé si al maestro le hubiera hecho gracia que se pusieran en el libro todas esas notas y esas cartas previas hablando de la novela. A mí me da, por lo perfeccionista que era y demostró ser, que no. Peeeero: no lo sabremos nunca.
Lo maravilloso es que de los diez capítulos que narra, sin que nadie le interrumpa (aquí me refiero a editores y notas a pie de página que explican por qué el autor blablabla) se puede entrever su verdadera esencia. Vuelves a leer a Trumbo. Vuelves a sentir ese cosquilleo y esa garra, esa voz dura y fría que te está contando la vida de un niño perturbado; de un niño que, en un futuro, va a convertirse en oficial nazi y en comandante de un campo de concentración.
Esos diez capítulos, cerrados por el autor, son lo que merece la pena de este libro.
En resumen. Es otra obra maestra, pero sin pulir. Es como si pidieras en un restaurante una copa de chocolate con nata y en el momento de servírtela el camarero te dijera que te la trae sin nata, que se ha fijado en que no queda. Una decepción. Y no por el cocinero, sino por el servicio.
October 20, 2016
A master writer and world-class humanist explores one individual's progression from ordinary citizen to Nazi mass murderer. Though Trumbo died before he could finish the book, its incompleteness is offset by the inclusion in this edition of the author's notes, correspondence, various drafts, and commentary he set down during the writing of it.
In addition to this giving it somewhat of a completed feel, it offers intriguing insights into not only the creative process but the emotional highs and lows every writer encounters in the course of that process. One might claim as a result that reading Aurochs allows one to pick its author's brain as much as its anti-hero's-- wondering all the while, rather disconcertingly, how much of the former is revealed in the latter.
The ten finished chapters and their addenda comprise a shocking indictment of the human animal, and in many ways the apotheosis of Trumbo's lifelong disenchantment with his kind.
In addition to this giving it somewhat of a completed feel, it offers intriguing insights into not only the creative process but the emotional highs and lows every writer encounters in the course of that process. One might claim as a result that reading Aurochs allows one to pick its author's brain as much as its anti-hero's-- wondering all the while, rather disconcertingly, how much of the former is revealed in the latter.
The ten finished chapters and their addenda comprise a shocking indictment of the human animal, and in many ways the apotheosis of Trumbo's lifelong disenchantment with his kind.
June 4, 2019
It's hard to read a book when there is no real ending. The letters at the end only confused me. However, the actual part about Grieben was beautifully written although horrifying. I found this book in the Holocaust library where I work a few hours a week and decided to read it before I weed it. The author, Dalton Trumbo, wrote "Johnny Got His Gun" so I knew it would be good but also stay with me for a long, long time! It was successful all around. This book is not for the young or the faint of heart.
April 4, 2026
El uro —el bisonte primitivo europeo— da título a este breve y perturbador relato ambientado en el tránsito histórico que conduce desde la Alemania de Guillermo II hasta el Holocausto.
La novela adopta un método narrativo sencillo y eficaz: seguir la vida de un alemán ordinario desde su juventud, su paso por los ambientes de prostitución homosexual tras la Primera Guerra Mundial y su posterior integración en las SS, hasta terminar convertido en comandante del campo de concentración de Auschwitz.
A través de esta biografía ficticia, el libro traza el oscuro itinerario moral de una época. Está escrito sin florituras, con un lenguaje seco y directo, y con una mezcla de registros narrativos que refuerzan el carácter áspero de la historia.
La conclusión que deja el relato es tan simple como inquietante: la redención del ser humano a través del mal no es posible. Frente a ello, la única libertad última es la de poder decir “no”, incluso si el precio de esa negativa es la propia vida.
Una lectura incómoda, dura por momentos, pero muy recomendable.
March 14, 2025
It's a very interesting voyage into the psychological depths of an evil person, especially because Trumbo does not believe him to be uniquely bad
So I do appreciate Trumbo's position that the evils of the nazis was not due to insanity, but was instead carried about by ordinary people
I disagree with his view that this evil lurks inside all of us equally, and that all it takes is a taste of power to bring this cruelty and desire to control to the surface. I think this ignores the very strong role that class plays in this all. As somebody who was, at least briefly, a member of the Communist Party, I would've hoped for a better analysis by Trumbo
So I do appreciate Trumbo's position that the evils of the nazis was not due to insanity, but was instead carried about by ordinary people
I disagree with his view that this evil lurks inside all of us equally, and that all it takes is a taste of power to bring this cruelty and desire to control to the surface. I think this ignores the very strong role that class plays in this all. As somebody who was, at least briefly, a member of the Communist Party, I would've hoped for a better analysis by Trumbo
January 1, 2026
One of the few works I haven't read from Trumbo, so when I found a copy at a used book store I had to pick it up.
(our family was close friends with Trumbo during the late 50s and through the 60s as my Mom was best friends with Trumbo's daughter and my Mom's first job in high school was being Trumbo's typist. Just some random facts I wanted to mention).
(our family was close friends with Trumbo during the late 50s and through the 60s as my Mom was best friends with Trumbo's daughter and my Mom's first job in high school was being Trumbo's typist. Just some random facts I wanted to mention).
June 23, 2019
Every sentence.
February 19, 2017
An unfinished novel. I thought it was very good.
December 29, 2008
Trumbo is a marvelous writer, anti-war and political and all that jazz during World War I when people didn't take too kindly to that kind of thing. Trumbo set about writing about the exact opposite of himself, a man who through childhood experiences etc, becomes a violent man, a nazi in fact. Trumbo is such an excellent writer that you are both appalled and yet you can almost sympathize with him or justify all his cruelty.
This book is mindblowing and loses a star merely because the poor bloke died 10 chapters in and it's unfinished, very unfinished. The version I read offered up Trumbo's notes as to how the book would end, but still it builds up and just as you are about to get into the real meat of the novel, the man's adulthood, the book abruptly ends. Not Trumbo's fault, of course, but still the most frustrating thing I've ever come across, even knowing it would happen.
This book is mindblowing and loses a star merely because the poor bloke died 10 chapters in and it's unfinished, very unfinished. The version I read offered up Trumbo's notes as to how the book would end, but still it builds up and just as you are about to get into the real meat of the novel, the man's adulthood, the book abruptly ends. Not Trumbo's fault, of course, but still the most frustrating thing I've ever come across, even knowing it would happen.
December 14, 2008
Who would have guessed that a book told from the point of view of a Nazi concentration camp commander would be a wee bit disturbing?
The blurb from Ring Lardner, Jr. on the back cover nails it nicely:
"Completed, Night of the Aurochs would have been a major event in American fiction. In its present form, it combines a look into the darkest recesses of the human spirit with superlative prose and one of the most fascinating revelations of a writer's mind ever published."
Added bonus: the book includes several letters from Trumbo to friends about the work. As usual, Trumbo's correspondence is amazing stuff.
The blurb from Ring Lardner, Jr. on the back cover nails it nicely:
"Completed, Night of the Aurochs would have been a major event in American fiction. In its present form, it combines a look into the darkest recesses of the human spirit with superlative prose and one of the most fascinating revelations of a writer's mind ever published."
Added bonus: the book includes several letters from Trumbo to friends about the work. As usual, Trumbo's correspondence is amazing stuff.
January 8, 2016
Classic World War II novel which was shocking when it was published, probably one of the first novels dealing with the a character whose psychopathy was delineated. Much referred to in WWII writings by authors who were trying to figure out how civilized man could commit the horrors this war embodied.
It would be written better today in a more open society that has more information on how ordinary men can be turned into monsters.
It would be written better today in a more open society that has more information on how ordinary men can be turned into monsters.
December 16, 2011
Step into the mind of a Nazi in the making. The justification and understanding and pride in the nightmare that is to come. It is a true loss to the literary community that Dalton Trumbo is no longer with us and that he never had a chance to finish this masterpiece.
February 20, 2017
Whoa, Grieben is a weird and sick mofo.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews