Almost everyone has learned about the Holocaust in a history class at some point in time, but nothing compares to what we learn in Elie Wiesel’s novel Night. Night is Wiesel’s memoir of his account in both Auschwitz and Buna, which are two Nazi concentration camps. Night …more deals a lot with religion, death, appreciation for life, and memory.

Eliezer, who is 12 years old in the beginning of the book, grew up in a very religious small town: Sighet, Transylvania. He was a typical young boy, other than the fact that he was obsessed with learning about the cabbala. He had a normal life and a normal family, and he lived in a normal town. I liked that because I could easily relate to the young boy; he reminded me of myself when I was his age, other than studying the cabbala.

Religion plays a very big role in Night, because it seems like every Jewish person of this Jewish town is religious. They all believe in God, but after they are taken to the concentration camp, many of them start to question their religion, including Eliezer. When a young man is hanged on the gallows, one man asks “Where is your God now?” and Eliezer responds, “Where is He? Here He is-He is hanging here on this gallows….”

Some fall to hysteria because they know their chance of survival is very slim, but some, like Eliezer, stay strong and united to others, especially his father. Both Eliezer and his father lied about their ages so that they could stick together.

Wiesel’s tone is a very serious one, appropriately, to tell his horrifying story of survival, death, life, compassion and human instincts. The compassion comes into play when Eliezer’s father becomes ill, and everyone advises young Eleizer (Who is about 15 by this point) to just leave him and fend for himself, but Eleizer takes care of his father. Young Eleizer had to deal with so much that it’s almost impossible to imagine actually living through that.

There are no surprises or plot twists in this story, and you already know that he lives through it, because he wrote the book, but does his family live through it? If you want to learn more about the Holocaust, then this is the book for you. Regardless of what genre they normally read, most people can appreciate this book for its structure, and overall story. They may even come to like it much like I did, and by the end, you’ll feel as though you personally know Eliezer, and like you’ve actually lived through the Holocaust. I feel that one reason Wiesel wrote Night was so he could remind everybody that this actually happened and to help prevent it from happening again. What’s the point of reading this book if you can’t learn from it? (less)