An extraordinary witness to events and sharing of observations of humankind without judgement or condemnation. An important narrative that reminds us to continue and perhaps forever pay close attention to whom we support, for it is not true that we learn from the mistakes of others, we must be wary of in whom we place our trust and bestow leadership.

My complete review here at Word by Word.

This book is beyond any possible rating. It is, I believe, the book that says the definitive word about holocaust and about human cruelty. After this, nothing else can be said and no explanation can be given to what men can do to other men.

Sorrowful turmoil ......

This review might contain spoilers! (whatever they can mean to you in this context)

Before reading this, I had read "Night" by Elie Wiesel. I love both of these novels, as they are somehow one but from totally different perspectives.



The great thing was that, near the end of the novel when Wiesel was in the hospital and there was an order of camp evacuation, Wiesel had gone along with the other camp prisoners and somehow regretted having done so.This is because the hospital would have been found by the Russians. On the other hand, Levi here is exactly the person who has remained in the hospital and yet writes of the people who had gone with the march and does not know what happened to them later and even writes that somebody might write about it later on!!

After having read the book a couple of times, it is still difficult for me to translate into words my experience. I tried in English, in Spanish, in Catalan. I just couldn't do it, no matter how much effort I put on the fact of writing. Words didn't come to me. The only thing I was only able to do was to jot down a couple of phrases:

Raw. Terrifying. Harrowing. Heart-breaking. Inspirational. Full of resilience. A chant to the beauty of life. A must-read for anybody over 18.

To even consider giving this some kind of star rating just feels a bit weird to me. If you want an in depth look at what day to day life was like in a Nazi labour camp, then this is ideal. I've studied WWII numerous times, yet nothing has ever provided such a detailed account as this.

It is horrific what was endured and it baffles me that any human survived. I read the first half for my university course and plan on finishing the second half later this year when I have completed my degree. No one ever talks about what happened to those poor people once the camps fell, illustrating why the second half of this book seems as though it will be just as important as the first.

A difficult read, but a necessary one, especially in light of the recent coup at the White House where one abhorrent man wore a 'camp auschwitz' hoodie - absolutely terrifying.

Not nearly as well written or as interesting as Elie Wiesel's Night.

And in fact, as the dream proceeds, slowly or brutally, each time in a different way, everything collapses and disintegrates around me, the scenery, the walls, the people, while the anguish becomes more intense and more precise. Now everything has changed to chaos; I am alone in the centre of a grey and turbid nothing and know, I know what this thing means, and I also know that I have always known it; I am in Lager once more, and nothing is true outside the Lager.

"se questo è un uomo" è il libro di un grande uomo sulla più grande tragedia del XX secolo; ma a 15 anni, non amavo sentirmi istigato moralmente... mi chiedevo cosa avesse a che fare con la letteratura "se questo è un uomo". poco o niente, mi dicevo. A distanza di anni, la penso ancora un po' così. sarà perché il primo levi che amo è quello delle storie naturali, di vizio di forma... una letteratura che ha la sua radice e il suo cuore nel fantastico.
considerato questo assunto: 3 stelle.

Two books in one, and a heavy read from start to finish. But a truly important one.This is a deep dive into psychology. It left me both devastated and in awe of people's will to survive. I actually feel quite emotional just writing that down.
Man...

Waanzinnig verhaal, zo brutaal en onthutsend dat je bijna zou denken dat het fictie is. Prachtig neergeschreven getuigenis van een pikzwarte, totaal onmenselijke bladzijde uit onze geschiedenis, die we nooit, maar dan ook nooit mogen vergeten. Verplichte lectuur voor iedereen. “We cannot understand [Fascism], but we can and must understand from where it springs, and we must be on our guard...because what happened can happen again...For this reason, it is everyone's duty to reflect on what happened.”

I have always avoided films and literature about the death camps. War literature ... no problem, but Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Sobibor activated my defense mechanisms, something like "I believe so, it will go away a little bit, I don't have to go through the mud with my nose". But in a few weeks time I heard the name Primo Levi for the first time a number of times and I was made aware of “The Truce” by a newspaper article. Especially the first part of the trilogy hit me like a bomb. Many times I have put the book aside to process the contents, to imagine it as if I were in a sealed freight wagon between 45 people .... “There was the train and the armed surveillance waiting for us. There we also received our first blows ... a feeling of bewilderment ... how can you hit another person without anger? " ..... or had to stand naked for hours in a drafty room to be disinfected ... or got a number tattooed, or standing daily for hours in wafer-thin clothing in the freezing cold on an appeal. Many examples of ultimate humiliation follow, far too many to be remembered here. What can a person tolerate physically and mentally, but especially what can one person do to another as if it is less than a stinky beast.
A painful as well as an educational report that a person is capable of. We have to allow this reality to penetrate deeply into us, in fact a person turns out to be less than an animal. I just bought the third part of this trilogy “The Drowned and the Saved”.