The second attempt truly proved to be the charm. This "trilogy" offers a profound exploration of the effects of the Holocaust on a boy, presented first in the form of a memoir and then as thought experiments in the guise of fiction. This review will dissect each individual book. I must say that, with the exception of "Day", the titles do make sense. Overall, the translators have done an outstanding job - these books are replete with symbolism and atmospheric imagery that transport the reader to a more classical writing style.

"Night: A Memoir" provides a detached perspective as it recounts the experiences of a teenage boy who desired to learn about Kabbalah, a school of thought in Jewish mysticism that delves into the essence of God. This book is not a comprehensive recollection of all the events that took place. Instead, it examines the reasons behind the Jews' suffering and what that implies about God. The horror that unfolds is both external and internal. Reading this is a harrowing experience. The reader can never fully comprehend, and it also challenges one to consider how they would react. I finished reading this book thinking that it is better to start those small acts of kindness now, as we never know what we will do under stress.

"Dawn" is another philosophically inclined book that explores how victims begin to mimic their oppressors. The fact that this remains relevant today, with regard to terrorists or freedom fighters, should horrify us. The unnamed narrator reminisces during the night about his past, always shying away from the task he is faced with performing at dawn.

While I didn't fully grasp everything that was explored in this book, it was the imagery that left the deepest impression. Grief is such a complex emotion, and unresolved grief is the foundation for tensions and reprisals that impact us all.

"Day" (previously titled "The Accident") serves as a reminder of how past trauma lingers, coloring every relationship that forms thereafter. Here, we have a survivor of the Holocaust who ends up in a New York hospital after an accident while crossing the street to watch the 1958 movie "The Brothers Karamazov". Throughout this book, Eliezer grapples with the questions of how he can move on with his life and whether he can truly love anyone. Once again, this book tackles the difficult questions of life - it almost feels nihilistic, but then there is that ending.

I wholeheartedly concur with those reviewers who assert that simply reading "The Night" is an injustice. Elie Wiesel addressed some weighty topics in these books, with exquisitely crafted translations that do not overshadow the efforts he put into creating these works.

These books are truly arduous to read. "Night" offers a genuine first-person account of the terrors within concentration camps, vividly描绘 the inhumane conditions and atrocities. Then, "Dawn" and "The Accident" explore the lasting mental and emotional aftermath experienced by the survivor.

Although it is not a pleasant read, it is essential for all of us to have a graphic and honest portrayal of these atrocities. This is to ensure that such horrors will never occur again.

In my view, perhaps the most devastating effect for each young man or hero in these stories (one could even argue that the three survivors are the same man) is the loss of faith. Growing up as a diligent, devout, and committed Jewish scholar, he completely forfeits his faith in God and becomes enraged at Him. His persistent query of "why" remains unanswered, and he is unable to come to terms with that.

"Dawn" presents a form of revenge. Once the victim, he now finds himself in the position of the executioner.

"The Accident" delves even deeper into the post-trauma in a mental aspect. Alongside the loss of grace, he grapples with suicidal tendencies, and we witness how his inner turmoil impacts those who love him in the present.

I highly recommend reading all of them together, as they are so closely intertwined and offer a comprehensive understanding of the survivor's experience.

I did not expect that the two novels in this collection would be more heartbreaking and devastating than the memoir set in the concentration camps of the Holocaust. However, that is precisely what I discovered.

This revelation speaks volumes about the deep scars left upon author Elie Wiesel after his so-called liberation. In Night, Wiesel chose to keep to himself any fears he might have had regarding the experiences of his mother and younger sister when the trains unloaded.

Nevertheless, in Dawn and Day, women of all ages play significant roles. Together, the collection presents a unique collage of man as the survivor, the killer, and the broken.

The book gradually becomes more philosophical, ultimately posing the profound question: Which is more powerful, Life or Death? Both fictions had me guessing until the very end.

This would indeed make a great discussion group book, were it not for the fact that its subject matter is so terrible and incredibly dark. It forces us to confront the harshest aspects of human nature and the atrocities that can occur during times of war and persecution.

Despite its difficult content, it is a must-read for those who seek to understand the true nature of suffering and the resilience of the human spirit.

In the beginning, I had some trouble understanding why this is called a trilogy. 'Night' is a Holocaust memoir, while 'Dawn' and 'Day' are fiction novels. But in the end, I understood.

One who has lived through what Wiesel and so many others lived through can't forget that past. They can't live without seeing images from that time everywhere. And that's what 'Dawn' and 'Day' are about. I think it was a way for Wiesel to 'let go' of some of his memories.

Having said that:

'Night' was really impressive to me, as is any Holocaust book I read. Reading about what humans are capable of doing to others, what some people went through... we need these memories, because history can't repeat itself in this chapter!

'Dawn' presents a different set of questions. After so much suffering, are we able to do the same to others? And yes, we are. We can say all the excuses we want, but in the end, all humans are capable of atrocities....

'Day' gives us a question. Do we prefer to live with such memories of a hard time, or do we just give up? Can we really judge someone without knowing what is in their mind?

Overall, Wiesel's trilogy offers a powerful exploration of the Holocaust and its lasting impact on individuals and society.

At night, the stars shine brightly in the sky, like precious gems scattered across the darkness. They are truly a sight to behold, and deserve a rating of 5 stars.

As dawn breaks, the stars begin to fade away, and a new day is born. The sky takes on a soft, warm glow, and the world seems to come alive. However, compared to the brilliance of the night stars, the dawn stars only deserve a rating of 2.5 stars.

During the day, the stars are invisible, hidden by the bright sunlight. The world is filled with activity and color, but the stars are no longer a part of the scene. Therefore, the day stars also receive a rating of 2.5 stars.

When we combine the ratings for night, dawn, and day, we get an average of 3 stars. This shows that while the stars are always present, their beauty and visibility vary depending on the time of day. Nevertheless, they remain a source of wonder and inspiration for us all.

The Night trilogy is, in a loose sense, a trilogy.

Night is a memoir that details Elie Wiesel's experience as a young teenager during the Holocaust. On the other hand, Dawn and Day are two distinct fictionalized stories, each centering around two different Holocaust survivors. They are not related chronologically but rather in themes. In a way, Dawn and Day follow the lives of two men who endure the horrors of "night."

Wiesel's style is psychological and ruminative, with his narrators engaging in intense internal struggles. I can understand how some people (by skimming other reviews) might find Dawn and Day less interesting compared to Night. Personally, I did think the end of Day was a bit拖沓. However, the crucial point for me was to observe how all these narrations grapple with the loss of faith. And I don't use the term "faith" lightly. I mean the complete loss of belief in a faith that has its roots in centuries of Jewish culture.

While reading Dawn and Day, I constantly returned to the foreword of Night, as I believe this question is what binds all three together: "Have we ever considered the consequence of a less visible, less striking abomination, yet the worst of all, for those of us who have faith: the death of God in the soul of a child who suddenly faces absolute evil?"

To be honest, my review might potentially carry a certain degree of bias. This is mainly because initially, I held the perception that the entire trilogy was a non-fiction memoir.

I truly relished the first part, namely "Night". It offered a vivid and harrowing account that left a profound impact on me. However, I was rather disappointed when I discovered that the subsequent two parts, "Dawn" and "Day", were actually works of fiction.

I found the latter two installments to be extremely draggy and overly abstract. They seemed to lack the same level of authenticity and immediacy that "Night" had. Nevertheless, I do recognize that whether a book is appealing or not is a highly subjective matter.

It's really a case of either you will thoroughly enjoy it and be completely engrossed in its pages, or you won't have any interest in it whatsoever.

If you are a die-hard fan of pure non-fiction and have a keen desire to read a memoir specifically about the Holocaust, I would strongly suggest that you obtain only the "Night" book. It stands alone as a powerful and poignant piece of literature that can provide you with a deeper understanding of that tragic era.

In reading some reviews of this book after I had finished it myself, I noticed that many people struggled to categorize this particular trilogy. The first book was a slightly fictionalized memoir of the author's terrifying experiences in the concentration camps. The other two books in the trilogy are novels about the future life of the fictional Elie, which may or may not be close to the author's reality and are at least somewhat similar to his other writings, perhaps reflecting his own experiences or observations.

I will consider the trilogy as a whole, a series of novels that range from being very close to reality and becoming increasingly less so as the author becomes more unrestrained in his narration and more inclined to explore the possible effects of surviving the Holocaust on one's zest for life. Since the entire series of novels is short and each one is self-contained, the main unifying factor in the three books is the main character, who evolves from a devout and overwhelmed teenager to a humane young man placed in a horrifying situation and finally to someone who has an apparent encounter with death that he grapples with.

The book as a whole is 300 pages long and divided into three parts. The first part, Night, is the most renowned and a book I had to read in the eighth grade as part of the Holocaust studies unit in Florida's schools at that time. In this book, we witness Elie and his family being shocked by Germany's invasion of Hungary and see him barely survive the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald as Elie's father dies, leaving him deeply haunted by a sense of betrayal for not doing more to help him survive. After that comes Dawn, which one might assume, without reading, to be a more optimistic novel. However, no, this novel instead shows the protagonist being ordered to execute a British soldier while one of their own freedom fighters is also put to death. It explores the psychology of the Israelis in proving themselves ruthless enough to achieve their independence and the respect of the world and to no longer be victims led to the slaughter as they had been in Europe just a few years before. Finally, there is The Accident, which involves Elisha's recovery from a nearly fatal car accident that he could have avoided but sought as a way to escape the deep depression and darkness of his life, all while pretending to want to live.

Without a doubt, Night is the best of the books here and is justifiably regarded as a classic Holocaust memoir. Dawn is the next best, offering a compelling look at the ruthlessness that has driven Israeli behavior in their perilous part of the world and the need to project strength and demonstrate their ability to defend themselves, something that has led them to receive a greater degree of negativity than other, far more ruthless nations, for their brutality. One wonders if the rest of the world expects Jews to be merely passive victims rather than people capable of self-defense and why self-defense is so much more of a problem for them in the eyes of the world. The third book is the least satisfying of the lot, mainly because there is the least amount of action and because Elisha's efforts to hide his despair seem pointless and even cruel, especially to his girlfriend Kathleen. Even so, as a whole, this trilogy is a valuable example of Wiesel's profound and abiding interest in exploring the consequences and repercussions of surviving the horrors of the Holocaust and the damage it does to one's faith and optimism.

Harrowing, difficult and challenging to my understanding of the world - these are the words that come to mind when I think of this collection. It left me in a state of deep contemplation, shaken to the core and appalled by the cruelty that both God (as Wiesel, a theist, perceives) and man are capable of.

What a remarkable piece of work it is! The mind that could pen such powerful and thought-provoking words is truly extraordinary. I can only recommend this to those who are reading with the intention of experiencing the full gamut of human emotions and the harsh realities of the world, rather than seeking an escape.

If, however, you are reading precisely because you want to face and understand the darker aspects of life, then this is most definitely something that you should read. It will force you to confront your own beliefs and assumptions, and may even change the way you view the world around you.

Preface to the New Translation
Foreword, by François Mauriac


In this collection, we embark on a journey through the different stages of time. "Night" presents a somber and perhaps mysterious side, as if the darkness holds secrets yet to be discovered.

The "Preface" before "Dawn" sets the tone for a new beginning, a transition from the darkness of night to the light of a new day. Dawn brings hope and the promise of a fresh start.

Finally, "Day" represents the fullness of life, with all its activities and experiences. The preface before it might offer some insights or reflections on what lies ahead during the day.

Each section, with its own preface, adds depth and context to the overall work, inviting the reader to explore and understand the different facets of time and life.

Preface
--Day

We read this for a Banned Books read-along on my website, Gather Together and Read.

It's truly an interesting and thought-provoking experience. The trilogy consists of three novellas, each with its own unique charm and message.

Thoughts on each novella in the trilogy can be read at the following links. There may be minor spoilers.

For "Night", it takes us on a harrowing journey through the horrors of the Holocaust. You can explore more at https://www.gathertogetherread.com/20....

"Dawn" continues the story, delving deeper into the complex emotions and experiences of the characters. Check out the thoughts at https://www.gathertogetherread.com/20....

Finally, "The Accident" brings the trilogy to a conclusion, leaving us with much to ponder. You can find the related thoughts at https://www.gathertogetherread.com/20....

I hope you'll join us in this exploration of these banned books and share your own thoughts and insights.

Ms. Moller,

I hope this meets your expectations. I truly enjoyed this book. It had a profound impact on me as several parts really struck a chord. The enjoyment I derived from it was so great that I now have a strong desire to read the entire series. This is quite significant for me considering that I have never been a big fan of reading.

I would highly recommend this book to freshmen and above. It offers valuable insights and engaging storylines that can capture the attention of readers of various ages and backgrounds.

The author's writing style is captivating, and the characters are well-developed, making it easy for the reader to become invested in their journey. Overall, it is a great read that I believe many will appreciate.