Night

By: Elie Wiesel

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the Congressional Gold Medal, Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel offers an unforgettable account of Hitler's horrific reign of terror in Night. This definitive edition features a new translation from the original French by Wiesel's wife and frequent translator, Marion Wiesel.

Night is an unmistakably autobiographical account of the author's own gruesome experiences in Nazi Germany's death camps. Told through the eyes of 14-year-old Eliezer, the tragic fate of the Jews from the little town of Sighet unfolds with a heart-wrenching inevitability. Even as they are stuffed into cattle cars bound for Auschwitz, the townspeople refuse to believe rumors of anti-Semitic atrocities. Not until they are marched toward the blazing crematory at the camp's "reception center" does the terrible truth sink in.

Recounting the evils at Auschwitz and Buchenwald, Wiesel's enduring classic of Holocaust literature raises questions of continuing significance for all future generations: How could man commit these horrors, and could such an evil ever be repeated?

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©1972, 1985 Elie Wiesel
Originally published in 1958 by Les Editions de Minuit
Translation 2006 by Marion Wiesel
Preface to the New Translation 2006 Elie Wiesel
(P)2006 Recorded Books LLC

Critic reviews

"Elie Wiesel’s memoir of life in the Nazi death camps has been reissued with a new translation by Wiesel’s wife, Marion. Read by George Guidall, this new edition is a brilliant and haunting reminder of these horrific crimes, as well as a testament to Wiesel’s faith and resilience. Guidall is the ideal reader, and gives yet another masterful performance. Every word Guidall utters reminds the listener of the fear, the suffering, and the hatred Wiesel witnessed and experienced as he drew upon his every instinct to fight for survival. The audio edition also contains a new preface by Wiesel, as well as Guidall’s performance of Wiesel’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. NIGHT is already a classic, and this audio edition is a superb complement to the text. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award." (AudioFile magazine)

"[A] slim volume of terrifying power." (The New York Times)

An Story Too Many Have Forgotten

This book is very well written and told. The author is able to give you just a glimpse of the pain he and others suffered at the hands of evil rulers, evil followers and even persecuted Jews in Nazi Germany. You realize how easy it can be for men to be broken and for animal nature to kick in and take over. You learn how one's soul can be broken to a point that you wonder how they can ever come back, yet even as broken down as they were, they continued to fight to live each day in a horrible hell. It brings across the point of how easy people choose to bury their heads in the sand and pretend that life is just fine, that human beings could never be so cruel to other human beings and how pathetic we can be when we choose to ignore another's plight because we just don't want to get involved. It makes you think twice about who you are and what you stand for and it breaks your heart to know that the persecuted people hoped over and over that someone would come to help them and yet we failed them for so long. This book is so applicable in today's times and should help to awaken anyone questioning human suffering in other countries and brings across the point that we cannot stand idly by while others in the world are suffering persecution at the hands of evil rulers and terrorists.

Mind Boggling Experiences

I was naturally very moved by this well-crafted and devastating book It’s commendable for handling such an unwieldy topic with great economy. It uses relatively few though well-chosen words to convey mind boggling ideas and experiences. The whole tale is told in just about four hours. By the end of those four hours however you’ll feel as if you’d been taken to Auschwitz and Buchenwald and experienced them yourself.

It’s hard to believe how profoundly significant events like this can be forgotten. But over time even the most unbelievable outrages fade and grow quiet as they recede into the past. I agree with other reviewers that it’s important that young people hear these stories and understand that the horrible extents to which men and women will go to be inhuman to their fellow men and women.

George Guidall is one of my favourite narrators and a fabulous choice for this book (or any with an Eastern European angle, for that matter).

I really enjoyed the author’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech and the forward to the revised English edition of the book, which are included at the end of the book. These were moving and relevant, too. I’m glad there were added.

PS: I won’t comment on events involving the author later in his life except to say that they sadly seem to be at odds with the core sentiments of this book. Age does funny things to us all, I guess.

PPS: A family friend, who would have been about the same age as the author, was in the same camps (except the first one, Buna?) and while listening a shiver went up my spine when I thought of him there experiencing what the author experienced.

haunting and worthwhile

This was a great book. I'm so glad I took the time to purchase it. The narrator added so much, I will remember this story of tragic loss foever.

Never, never, never forget!

Night was first released in 1960. It should be read at least once every 10 years. Elie Wiesel died at age 87 on July 2, 2016 a mere 8 weeks ago. George Guidall narration is ideal for this book. Never forget.

Sad, but important and well written.

I originally picked this up because my son was assigned to read it in high school and liked it so much he insisted I read it too. He was really interested in it since his grandpa is from Germany and escaped to America by sheer luck on one of the last ships that allowed jews to leave. This is a heartbreaking story, but one that has to be told. Everyone should read this story at least once. This book was so great that I read his other books which were just as good. I can't say enough good things about this book.

Night Terrors

Eliezer, the main character of Night who is mostly but (possibly) not completely the alter-ego of Elie Wiesel, has a moment, early during his Holocaust experience, where he believes, hopes, that it is all a nightmare from which he will imminently awake. He soon realizes that it is all too real, worse than a living nightmare, a relentless series of night terrors for him and his father and the people around him.

Wiesel's pared-down memoir of the Holocaust is mostly straightforward description of what he experienced, how he went from one place to the next, how he was treated, how he found food, how he survived illness, what was happening to those around him, most notably his father, with him most of the time. Only on occasion does Wiesel delve into his feelings, but when he does, that's where his account really hits home.

Worst of all are his feelings about his father. As much he strives to keep together and stay alive, he agonizes over the sense that his own chance of survival would improve if his father was not there. He feels terrible guilt about being rendered powerless to intervene when his father is mistreated. Sadly, Wiesel does not attempt to explore how his father felt about having to play the same role for his teenaged son.

There is also Wiesel's famous abandonment of God during the course of his experience, quite understandable but not nearly universal among survivors.

For me, this book was more personal. My father's experience was nearly identical -- dread of impending war overlaid by unfounded optimism among those who chose to stay (one of my father's brother emigrated to Palestine before the war), years in the ghetto (Lodz for my father), deportation by cattle car to the camps (most of my father's family died in those cars), arrival at Auschwitz and the selection process under the evil glare of Mengele, death march in mid-winter to a far-off camp, loss of a family member (sister) just before liberation.

My father rarely spoke about those things. Later in life, when he did, it was mostly about the broader events. Wiesel gets into detail, how the camps were organized, how they were supervised, how the selection process worked, how they were fed, how they dealt with each other. And how people died. I found incredible and indelible power in his spare but detailed account, punctuated by the profound of emotions about his father, his God, his guilt, about humanity and inhumanity, the survival instinct, and having to live with terrors that cannot and should not be forgotten.

Those who don't know history are ...

destined to repeat it. As a young boy, Wiesel survives the holocaust and lives to write a short, breathtakingly beautiful gem of a book about his experience. Wiesel devoted his life on behalf of memory and against forgetting. If there are "essential" books this is certainly one. Collective denial in face of looming catastrophe has nowhere been more vividly captured and with such gorgeous precision! In Night, Wiesel gifts us the means to remember in the sublime hope that history will not repeat itself. I almost gave Guidall four stars simply because I'm tired of giving him five stars all the time. But he's the best.

A moving account of a very personal story.

What made the experience of listening to Night the most enjoyable?

The narration was well done and the tone was in keeping with the story.

What did you like best about this story?

I found it amazing that the Author remembered fifty years ago in such detail. Obviously every part of that time is forever written in his memory. It is such an important and moving story that must be told and re told. Certainly the Darkest time in modern history and the most difficult recounting of Mans inhumanity to Man..

Have you listened to any of George Guidall’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to a George Guidall performance previously.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were so many parts of this book that were profoundly sad. In the end, it is a testament to the strength of character of this man who lived through this extreme adversity. From this beginning he went on to do amazing and inspiring acts with his own life.

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend this listen to all people. This is a story that deserves to be heard and remembered.

Wonderful Autobiography

If you could sum up Night in three words, what would they be?

Incredible

What was one of the most memorable moments of Night?

You are transported into the Jewish town in Hungary and you follow Elie and his family as the Jews are forced into the Ghetto and then taken to the concentration camp. The story continues through the years of the world war II. You need to read the book to find out what happens.
The narrator does a wonderful job.

Which scene was your favorite?

The whole book

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes

Heart Rendering

Would you listen to Night again? Why?

Yes. The plight of the Jewish people under Nazi Germany is a story that should never be forgotten. It is unthinkable how a whole nation could, actively or passively, subscribe to the idea of the elimination of so many human beings.

What did you like best about this story?

What I liked best was the relationship of Wiesel and his father. Even under the most horrific conditions, the two of them took care of each other as much as they were able to, given the circumstances.

Have you listened to any of George Guidall???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

It was the time after his father died where Wiesel accepted it without emotion. It was as if he had no more emotion left; that he had become subhuman.

Any additional comments?

I wish I had the power to make this required reading in every high school across the country.