This wasn't the greatest book ever written by someone who is admittedly nonetheless one of the most profound writers of the twentieth century, but I couldn't imagine one that's more timely, considering the events which have occurred over the last six months, in the very land which is the focus of this at least capable novel. I would recommend reading it for that reason alone.
I assume Elie Wiesel needs no introduction, but a brief biography: Eliezer Wiesel was a Romanian-born (Transylvanian) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor who authored 57 books over the course of his remarkable life. His life's work has earned him just about every prestigious prize in the world, including a Congressional Gold Medal (1984), the French Legion of Honor â Commander, Grand Officer, and Grand Cross (1984, 1990, 2000), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1992), the Order of the Star of Romania â Grand Officer (2002) an Honorary knighthood (2006), and the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1986. He was a founding board member of the New York Human Rights Foundation and a professor of the humanities at Boston University. The Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies was subsequently created in his honor.
Few of Wiesel's family survived the Holocaust. He had three siblings: elder sisters Beatrice and Hilda survived the war and were eventually reunited with Wiesel at a French orphanage, but his parents and younger sister Tzipora did not. His remaining family eventually emigrated to North America, with Beatrice moving to Montreal, Canada. At age fifteen, Wiesel and his family, along with the entirety of his hometown's town's Jewish population had been interred in one of two confinement ghettos in Máramarossziget (Sighet), but in May 1944, Hungarian authorities began to deport the Jewish population to Auschwitz. An estimated ninety percent of deportees were murdered immediately upon arrival - that included Wiesel's mother and younger sister.
Wiesel's most famous novel, "Night," is one of the most celebrated works of Holocaust literature ever written. It documents in excruciating detail his experiences in several Nazi concentration camps, most notably Auschwitz and Buchenwald. One of the most heart-wrenching descriptions in the book is when Wiesel recounts the death of his father in Auschwitz. Wiesel essentially credits his father for his own survival, however, stating later in life that his primary motivation for trying to survive Auschwitz was knowing that his father was still alive, specifically that "I knew that if I died, he would die."
In the wake of that indescribable trauma, for nearly a decade years after the war, Wiesel refused to write about or discuss his experiences during the war, but that changed after meeting French author François Mauriac, the 1952 Nobel Laureate in Literature who eventually became a close friend. Wiesel first wrote a 900-page memoir in Yiddish, entitled "Un di velt hot geshvign" (And the World Remained Silent), an abridged version of which was later published in Buenos Aires. That initial book became the foundation of the work we know today as "Night," or "La Nuit," in French, which was first published in 1955. It was subsequently translated into English in 1960, and then, eventually, dozens of other languages. In 1955, Wiesel also moved to New York as foreign correspondent for the Israel daily, "Yediot Ahronot." He continued to write books, amassing a large body of work. In 1969, he married Marion Erster Rose, who translated many of his books. They had one son, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel, named after Wiesel's father who perished at Buchenwald shortly before the camp was liberated.
Many of Wiesel's books are works of non-fiction, but some, as this novel, are fictional accounts based on timely events of the day, which served as springboards to a discussion of more broad-reaching themes. The premise of this novel, as above, is a timely one indeed. It's a fictional account (keeping in mind the fact that at the time of writing this review, more than a hundred hostages are still being held hostage in Gaza in the wake of an unprecedented attack) which tells the story of Holocaust survivor Shaltiel Feignberg, a rather obscure writer, storyteller and philosopher, who is himself abducted and held hostage in a dark basement by two captors, whom he describes as an "Arab" and an "Italian."
As Shaltiel eventually discovers, the "Italian," Luigi, is a hapless "useful idiot" bent on revolution of any stripe, who identifies as a political revolutionary, whatever that means - indeed, it doesn't really have any meaning, and Luigi doesn't seemingly have any purpose other than to rebel against the Establishment. He apparently sides with just about any group he views as "oppressed," which, in this instance, is the Palestinian people. He has no particular animosity toward the Jewish people, but believes that their presence in the region, as well as their insistence on having an actual state, is oppressing the Palestinians.
The second, "Ahmed," is a far more malevolent character, who harbors a deep hatred for Jews and what he describes as the "Zionist cause," that is, the presence of Jewish people in the Levant. As such, he heaps both physical and psychological abuse on his prisoner, whom he believes to be a Jewish figure of some renown whose plight will capture the attention of the world. He becomes even more violent and abusive when he learns that this isn't the case. However, the actions of the two men catapult Shaltiel to front-page news, making him more of a celebrity than he ever was before.
In addition to some rather nondescript revolutionary aims, the two men state that Shaltiel is being held to negotiate the release of three of their brethren, Palestinians who are currently incarcerated on terrorist charges. Believing that Shaltiel is famous, they also demand that he write a letter denouncing Zionism and criticizing the actions of Jewish leaders in Israel, but Shaltiel refuses to be a pawn in their game, despite their abuse and threats of execution. Unknown to all of them, both Jewish forces, in the form of Mossad agents, as well as NYPD and FBI personnel are looking for him. They are given three days to acquiesce to the demands of the hostage takers before Shaltiel is summarily executed.
Especially traumatic for Shaltiel, in addition to the physical abuse at the hands of Ahmed, is his confinement in a dark basement. He survived the war years by being sequestered and hidden in the castle basement of a high-ranking German officer who concealed him seemingly for the sole purpose of having a capable chess partner, as Shaltiel was a prodigy in his youth.
Over the course of the 80 hours of his captivity, Shaltiel recalls the events of his life, including the death of his grandmother at Auschwitz, his complex relationship with his absentee father, how he met Blanca, his wife, and the misadventures of his Communist elder brother. He draws strength from his studies, the spiritual mentors he has had throughout his life, and a deep desire to see his family again, lamenting the fact that he chose to never have children, all while contemplating his own mortality in the face of what will almost certainly result in his murder at the hands of the terrorists who have taken him captive.
The most timely part of the novel, unintentionally at the time, obviously, is reflective of the longstanding hostilities and seemingly irreconcilable conflicts which are as pervasive today as they were a half-century ago. The passage below could have been written today. Luigi asks him:
"'Even if the Jewish people deserved a homeland, why did it have to be Palestine?'
'Because no other people in the world have been as haunted as mine for thousands of years by the nostalgia of returning to the land of their ancestors.'
'Nostalgia is a feeling that leaves me cold,' Luigi said. 'What I'm interested in is justice. I'm fighting so that justice is rendered to the oppressed Palestinians. You Jews have forgotten that your hope is founded on their despair.'
I reminded Luigi of a few historical truths: There had never been a Palestinian state since the origins of Islam. It was only in 1947 that, for the first time, the concept of a legal and independent Arab state in Palestine appeared on a resolution adopted by the United Nations. This resolution, known as partition - between a Jewish state and an Arab state (NOT a Palestinian state) - had been accepted by Israel. The Arabs rejected it and chose violence instead. Had they accepted that proposed plan, today Lydda and Jaffa would be part of a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside a smaller, if not weaker, Jewish state. And Ahmed could have grown up and led a peaceful, productive existence instead of devoting his days and nights to murder."
Agree or disagree, the debate which rages on virtually identical to that which was going on when this was written, and when the account takes place, which was in 1975.
It also offers the best and most succinct description of the Cult of Communism I've ever read, which was spoken by the secretary of the Communist cell which Shaltiel's elder brother joins: "From now on, your family is us. We have complete priority over all the people who are not party [read cult] members. Forget your individual conscience and your personal passions: You've now written them off once and for all. The party is the equivalent of God for your father - the beginning and end of all things. Betray the party and you'll be damned."
If you ever encounter ANY group which says this to you - religious, ideological or political: RUN. Of course, the problem is, they are almost never so overt. This is indeed the message, but it's presented in a way that people don't actually recognize what is being demanded of them until it's too late.
This and other moral and practical lessons make this short but powerful novel a worthwhile read, if for no other reason than the current state of war going on as this is written in the state of Israel.
I assume Elie Wiesel needs no introduction, but a brief biography: Eliezer Wiesel was a Romanian-born (Transylvanian) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor who authored 57 books over the course of his remarkable life. His life's work has earned him just about every prestigious prize in the world, including a Congressional Gold Medal (1984), the French Legion of Honor â Commander, Grand Officer, and Grand Cross (1984, 1990, 2000), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1992), the Order of the Star of Romania â Grand Officer (2002) an Honorary knighthood (2006), and the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1986. He was a founding board member of the New York Human Rights Foundation and a professor of the humanities at Boston University. The Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies was subsequently created in his honor.
Few of Wiesel's family survived the Holocaust. He had three siblings: elder sisters Beatrice and Hilda survived the war and were eventually reunited with Wiesel at a French orphanage, but his parents and younger sister Tzipora did not. His remaining family eventually emigrated to North America, with Beatrice moving to Montreal, Canada. At age fifteen, Wiesel and his family, along with the entirety of his hometown's town's Jewish population had been interred in one of two confinement ghettos in Máramarossziget (Sighet), but in May 1944, Hungarian authorities began to deport the Jewish population to Auschwitz. An estimated ninety percent of deportees were murdered immediately upon arrival - that included Wiesel's mother and younger sister.
Wiesel's most famous novel, "Night," is one of the most celebrated works of Holocaust literature ever written. It documents in excruciating detail his experiences in several Nazi concentration camps, most notably Auschwitz and Buchenwald. One of the most heart-wrenching descriptions in the book is when Wiesel recounts the death of his father in Auschwitz. Wiesel essentially credits his father for his own survival, however, stating later in life that his primary motivation for trying to survive Auschwitz was knowing that his father was still alive, specifically that "I knew that if I died, he would die."
In the wake of that indescribable trauma, for nearly a decade years after the war, Wiesel refused to write about or discuss his experiences during the war, but that changed after meeting French author François Mauriac, the 1952 Nobel Laureate in Literature who eventually became a close friend. Wiesel first wrote a 900-page memoir in Yiddish, entitled "Un di velt hot geshvign" (And the World Remained Silent), an abridged version of which was later published in Buenos Aires. That initial book became the foundation of the work we know today as "Night," or "La Nuit," in French, which was first published in 1955. It was subsequently translated into English in 1960, and then, eventually, dozens of other languages. In 1955, Wiesel also moved to New York as foreign correspondent for the Israel daily, "Yediot Ahronot." He continued to write books, amassing a large body of work. In 1969, he married Marion Erster Rose, who translated many of his books. They had one son, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel, named after Wiesel's father who perished at Buchenwald shortly before the camp was liberated.
Many of Wiesel's books are works of non-fiction, but some, as this novel, are fictional accounts based on timely events of the day, which served as springboards to a discussion of more broad-reaching themes. The premise of this novel, as above, is a timely one indeed. It's a fictional account (keeping in mind the fact that at the time of writing this review, more than a hundred hostages are still being held hostage in Gaza in the wake of an unprecedented attack) which tells the story of Holocaust survivor Shaltiel Feignberg, a rather obscure writer, storyteller and philosopher, who is himself abducted and held hostage in a dark basement by two captors, whom he describes as an "Arab" and an "Italian."
As Shaltiel eventually discovers, the "Italian," Luigi, is a hapless "useful idiot" bent on revolution of any stripe, who identifies as a political revolutionary, whatever that means - indeed, it doesn't really have any meaning, and Luigi doesn't seemingly have any purpose other than to rebel against the Establishment. He apparently sides with just about any group he views as "oppressed," which, in this instance, is the Palestinian people. He has no particular animosity toward the Jewish people, but believes that their presence in the region, as well as their insistence on having an actual state, is oppressing the Palestinians.
The second, "Ahmed," is a far more malevolent character, who harbors a deep hatred for Jews and what he describes as the "Zionist cause," that is, the presence of Jewish people in the Levant. As such, he heaps both physical and psychological abuse on his prisoner, whom he believes to be a Jewish figure of some renown whose plight will capture the attention of the world. He becomes even more violent and abusive when he learns that this isn't the case. However, the actions of the two men catapult Shaltiel to front-page news, making him more of a celebrity than he ever was before.
In addition to some rather nondescript revolutionary aims, the two men state that Shaltiel is being held to negotiate the release of three of their brethren, Palestinians who are currently incarcerated on terrorist charges. Believing that Shaltiel is famous, they also demand that he write a letter denouncing Zionism and criticizing the actions of Jewish leaders in Israel, but Shaltiel refuses to be a pawn in their game, despite their abuse and threats of execution. Unknown to all of them, both Jewish forces, in the form of Mossad agents, as well as NYPD and FBI personnel are looking for him. They are given three days to acquiesce to the demands of the hostage takers before Shaltiel is summarily executed.
Especially traumatic for Shaltiel, in addition to the physical abuse at the hands of Ahmed, is his confinement in a dark basement. He survived the war years by being sequestered and hidden in the castle basement of a high-ranking German officer who concealed him seemingly for the sole purpose of having a capable chess partner, as Shaltiel was a prodigy in his youth.
Over the course of the 80 hours of his captivity, Shaltiel recalls the events of his life, including the death of his grandmother at Auschwitz, his complex relationship with his absentee father, how he met Blanca, his wife, and the misadventures of his Communist elder brother. He draws strength from his studies, the spiritual mentors he has had throughout his life, and a deep desire to see his family again, lamenting the fact that he chose to never have children, all while contemplating his own mortality in the face of what will almost certainly result in his murder at the hands of the terrorists who have taken him captive.
The most timely part of the novel, unintentionally at the time, obviously, is reflective of the longstanding hostilities and seemingly irreconcilable conflicts which are as pervasive today as they were a half-century ago. The passage below could have been written today. Luigi asks him:
"'Even if the Jewish people deserved a homeland, why did it have to be Palestine?'
'Because no other people in the world have been as haunted as mine for thousands of years by the nostalgia of returning to the land of their ancestors.'
'Nostalgia is a feeling that leaves me cold,' Luigi said. 'What I'm interested in is justice. I'm fighting so that justice is rendered to the oppressed Palestinians. You Jews have forgotten that your hope is founded on their despair.'
I reminded Luigi of a few historical truths: There had never been a Palestinian state since the origins of Islam. It was only in 1947 that, for the first time, the concept of a legal and independent Arab state in Palestine appeared on a resolution adopted by the United Nations. This resolution, known as partition - between a Jewish state and an Arab state (NOT a Palestinian state) - had been accepted by Israel. The Arabs rejected it and chose violence instead. Had they accepted that proposed plan, today Lydda and Jaffa would be part of a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside a smaller, if not weaker, Jewish state. And Ahmed could have grown up and led a peaceful, productive existence instead of devoting his days and nights to murder."
Agree or disagree, the debate which rages on virtually identical to that which was going on when this was written, and when the account takes place, which was in 1975.
It also offers the best and most succinct description of the Cult of Communism I've ever read, which was spoken by the secretary of the Communist cell which Shaltiel's elder brother joins: "From now on, your family is us. We have complete priority over all the people who are not party [read cult] members. Forget your individual conscience and your personal passions: You've now written them off once and for all. The party is the equivalent of God for your father - the beginning and end of all things. Betray the party and you'll be damned."
If you ever encounter ANY group which says this to you - religious, ideological or political: RUN. Of course, the problem is, they are almost never so overt. This is indeed the message, but it's presented in a way that people don't actually recognize what is being demanded of them until it's too late.
This and other moral and practical lessons make this short but powerful novel a worthwhile read, if for no other reason than the current state of war going on as this is written in the state of Israel.
