Book Review by Kathryn Wooldridge

Night

by Elie Wiesel

(Penguin)

History is something that has fascinated me ever since I was a child. I have always been so intrigued with how life was before I knew it. Ever since middle school, we started learning about the Holocaust, and from then on the topic became something that I could never forget. I just could not fathom how one person could brainwash so many people into thinking that targeting another people is right.

In the novel Night, author Elie Wiesel does an impeccable job at letting his readers know on first hand how terrifying and heartbreaking the Holocaust was. We can sit in a history classroom for hours and read about events that took place during that time, but Wiesel has a way of teaching us along the way without allowing us to become bored. His goal is to get his story out there so generations after him can learn from these events. Wiesel wants readers to realise that no matter who we are or what religion we believe in we are all the same even our beliefs and feelings vary.

Wiesel exposes genocide for the audience to understand that he and other Jews were treated differently simply because of who they were. This discrimination wasn’t a new phenomenon; for as long as civilisation has existed, people have been divided because of their skin tone, or choice of religion, or many other reasons.

The Holocaust only happened 72 years ago. Its root cause, racism, is very much a prevalent issue today in my home country of the United States, where events on 11 September 2001 turned many against minority groups. Since the 9/11 hijackers were Muslim, many Americans reasoned, that meant every Muslim was bad and out to get America. My own mother would be the first to say she fell into this category for the longest time, separating and judging the entire race for actions that were done by a few.

Night really puts that in perspective, which makes it a book that should be read by all generations. We all need to know our history and its effect on us in order to stop it from repeating.