Night by Elie Wiesel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm not sure how one "critiques" or even "reviews" this work. Words I normally try to avoid as a writer come screaming to the fore: "devastating," "heart-wrenching," and the like. I think it defies being written about because, in its brevity, it says all that needs to be said. The only "review" I can give is to read it yourself. Read the truth, and know that it can happen again, because it HAS happened again -- in Cambodia, in Rwanda, and elsewhere.

My personal connection to Wiesel is obvious. My father was born the same year, in 1928. Had his life been only slightly different, he could have been there at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, alongside Wiesel. I can't read this without picturing that.

I thank Wiesel for telling the story that needs to continue to be told, and I'll try to heed his words: "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."


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