Night Review ⭐
‘Night’ is a novel that transcends the average book review.
Article written by Emma Baldwin
B.A. in English, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A. in Art Histories from East Carolina University.
The novel is an important historical memoir published in 1960. It was not until the trial and execution of Adolf Eichman in 1961, a year after the novel was finally published, that it came fully into the public spotlight.
Key Facts about Night
- Title: Night
- When/where written: 1955-1958, South America and France
- Published: 1960
- Genre: Memoir/Semi-fictional autobiography
- Point-of-View: First-person
- Setting: Europe during WWII
- Climax: the death of Eliezer’s father, Shlomo
- Antagonist: The SS soldiers and broader anti-Jewish laws and sentiment.
Elie Wiesel and Night
Unlike some novels that are written at a distance, Night is tied up with the author’s life in an intimate, unignorable way. Wiesel has spoken about Night as his account of what happened in the concentration camps, one that is set back only slightly from reality through the creation of Eliezer and a few changes of events and circumstances. The novel is brutally honest, and clear. Wiesel spends its brief 100 pages depicting the lead up to the ghettos, trains, and camps, the loss of his family members, including his mother and sister, and then later his father as well, his suffering (and the suffering he observed) and finally his liberation. Night is incredibly personal, so much so that its language only gives the reader so much access to a time in Wiesel’s life that anyone would want to forget, but which he knew was too important to keep in his past. The novel was written several years after WWII, from the perspective of a thirty-year-old man, looking back on himself as a young adult. The climax of the novel connects intimately to one of the most important but often overlooked themes in Night, that of father/son relationships. Or, more specifically, sons and their treatment of their fathers. When Eliezer’s father, Shlomo, dies, and Eliezer experiences freedom from the burden of his father’s care, Wiesel represents the true breadth of the changes he’d undergone in the camps and the desperate state to which he and others were existing in.
Books Related to Night
Elie Wiesel wrote Night after observing a ten-year-long period of silence after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps in Europe at the end of the Second World War. Wiesel, when speaking about the novel, described it as picking up where The Diary of Anne Frank left off. The latter spends its pages describing the coming horrors of the concentration camps while Night takes place almost entirely within them. It is due to the discrepancy that Night was considered too much for the public, and The Diary of Anne Frank was published in 1952.
Some other novels that should also be considered when thinking about Night are the two others in the trilogy, Dawn and Day. These two novels follow new characters who deal with their own experiences after WWII. Some other award-winning novels include The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, about a German girl whose foster family hides a Jewish boy, and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne, which depicts Auschwitz from the perspective of a young boy whose father is the Commandant of the camp.
The Lasting Impact of Night
Today, Night is commonly considered to be one of the best personal accounts of the Holocaust ever written. It is read in middle schools, high schools, and universities around the world, providing students with an insight into the horrors of the Second World War as they were experienced by someone close to their own age. It is one of the first ways that young people learn about the Holocaust. Night is also credited with helping to preserve the story of the Holocaust, something that Wiesel was incredibly passionate about. When speaking about the story of his life and the lives of millions of others who died, lost their families, homes, and identities during the war, he said that it would be “not only dangerous but offensive” to forget them.
Night Themes and Analysis
‘Night’ is a short and incredibly impactful novel that uses direct language and avoids metaphors and other figures of speech to tell its story.
Night Quotes 💬
‘Night’ is filled with powerful and memorable quotes. There are a few of the most important. They depict Eliezer’s experience when newly imprisoned and after suffering for months at the hands of the SS.
Night Historical Context 📖
‘Night’ is Elie Wiesel’s best-known novel, one that encapsulates, in a semi-fictional way, his experiences in the Holocaust.
Night Character List 📖
The characters in ‘Night’ are described deeply and thoughtfully from the perspective of the novel’s narrator, Eliezer Wiesel.
Night Summary 📖
‘Night’ was published in 1960 and details the author’s experiences in the Holocaust along with his father, Shlomo. It follows the period from 1944 to 1945 when the camps were liberated.