Night

NIGHT
Written by Elie Wiesel
Read by Jeffrey Rosenblatt
Audio Bookshelf, 2000

Category: Memoir for Young Adults and Adults

I listened to NIGHT while driving from Massachusetts to Delaware this past Sunday. I’ve been meaning to read it for ages, especially since I noticed, recently, that I have been reading a lot of Holocost-themed books. And now that I have heard it read out loud, I have to agree with this jacket quote: “undoubtably the single most powerful literary relic of the holocaust.”

There isn’t much that truly scares me. Oh, I have my fears, of course. The thought of harm visiting my children leaves me choking on my own breath; I worry about the health and well-being of my sister, my friends, and my extended family; I am anxious about global warming and the state of our planet; I do not dig traveling alone. Most days I calm these fears by focusing on the awesome complexity of life on Earth, the diversity of form and function, the incredible breadth of experience we humans are privy to, all that I know which is good and right in the world. As I was driving, though, and listening to NIGHT, my one true fear came into sharp focus: a world without Humanity.

That is a world I couldn’t bear.

That is the world Elie Wiesel survived.

I highly recommend you read his story.