"Night" Response
Ever since I was a weird, small child of 10, I started reading Holocaust books--mostly historical fiction ones. I immediately gravitated to book about historical instances of oppression and denied human rights because I think these are parts of history that need to be read and remembered, especially with the increase in Holocaust deniers. Those who deny the occurrence of this act of genocide are trying to invalidate the horrific experiences of those who have suffered and died as well as those who have suffered and survived.
As far as my reaction to Night goes, I was at first excited (selfishly) to read the book because it was the shortest one of the assigned books for this quarter, but after actually picking it up and going through it, I realized that the fact that the book was shorter in length did not mean it was easy to read. Elie Wiesel has a way of making the reader feel (as much as is possible) the heart-wrenching struggles he experienced as a teenager in an Auschwitz concentration camp. I had to take breaks reading this book because some of the scenes were so graphic that they made me shudder (such as when the Kapo lashed Elie while Elie laid on a crate. Additionally, reading Elie's description of his father's health quickly decline before passing was also really difficult for me.
As much I wanted to convince myself that this book was fiction to make it easier to read, I forced myself to accept that Elie wrote this story from his own experiences and it would be a severe injustice to not recognize the very real suffering he and others experienced. I was much younger when I read The Diary of Anne Frank so it was definitely time for me to challenge myself with a different Holocaust book. Elie's story (just like Anne's) had a way of captivating me and challenging me at the same time.
As far as my reaction to Night goes, I was at first excited (selfishly) to read the book because it was the shortest one of the assigned books for this quarter, but after actually picking it up and going through it, I realized that the fact that the book was shorter in length did not mean it was easy to read. Elie Wiesel has a way of making the reader feel (as much as is possible) the heart-wrenching struggles he experienced as a teenager in an Auschwitz concentration camp. I had to take breaks reading this book because some of the scenes were so graphic that they made me shudder (such as when the Kapo lashed Elie while Elie laid on a crate. Additionally, reading Elie's description of his father's health quickly decline before passing was also really difficult for me.
As much I wanted to convince myself that this book was fiction to make it easier to read, I forced myself to accept that Elie wrote this story from his own experiences and it would be a severe injustice to not recognize the very real suffering he and others experienced. I was much younger when I read The Diary of Anne Frank so it was definitely time for me to challenge myself with a different Holocaust book. Elie's story (just like Anne's) had a way of captivating me and challenging me at the same time.
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