Night | Teen Ink

Night

July 30, 2012
By Anonymous

When I first learned about the assignment I thought to myself pick a book and get it over with. I chose the non-fiction book, Night, by Elie Wiesel. I only got a few pages into it and put it down. It was boring! My mom would ask me “How’s it going?” I would reply, “Yeah it’s fine.” But it was the opposite.

The narrator was my age at the time that was pretty cool; he had a mom and a dad, nothing out of the ordinary. They got sent to the ghetto and other homes but I didn’t think anything of it. It wasn’t until they arrived to their first concentration camp the narrator got separated from his mother and sister, he wasn’t going to see them again and I knew this book wasn’t going to be about rainbows and smiling flowers.

He still had his dad if they stick together nothing could go wrong I thought. Some guy told them to lie about their age, I didn’t know if they could trust the mysterious person. Luckily they took their chance, lied and got to stick together. I was very happy. I could tell the dad were strong. I believe they made a great team. I thought about being separated from the girls in your family constantly missing them and wondering if they are ok, always hoping for the best but the worst outcome is lurking in the back of your mind. Its not like you could just text them and make sure everything is doing fine.

They went from concentration camp to concentration camp, making new friends, getting beatings, starving at times, getting sick, and sometimes death. This couldn’t go on forever I thought, it had to end at sometime, hopefully soon.

Towards the end I knew everything had to get better right? I was wrong. One part really stuck in my head, the hanging of a small child, he wasn’t heavy enough so he continued to wiggle around in front of everyone. It was terrible; he was only a child it made me worry for the narrator and his dad’s fate.

The end was near, they were walking to their doom in the snow people were dying left and right I was having doubts the narrator and his dad would make it, I was right, the dad was basically the walking dead, his last words were calling his son. The narrator was too afraid to answer and that just left me in shock.

I’m glad I read this book. It made me appreciate having a family and being able to be with them every day. I’m very thankful I didn’t have to make a choice between my life or saying goodbye to my dying father. I would not read another book like this, it made me very upset and I didn’t like letting a book having such an affect on my emotions.



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This article has 3 comments.


on Aug. 27 2012 at 12:07 am
Coleslaw BRONZE, Reno, Nevada
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The way that you describe the book lets me know that you were able to really get into it. Great job, I probably couldn't read something like that!

on Aug. 23 2012 at 10:39 pm
KaylieCha97 BRONZE, Reno, Nevada
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Favorite Quote:
"Go jump off a cliff"

This novel seemed to make a good realization of what the Holocaust was like. We don't seem to realize it because it's not something we think about constantly. But we are very lucky people to be where we are and we need to realize that more.

on Aug. 23 2012 at 10:38 pm
Parker Lloyd BRONZE, Reno, Nevada
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It feels that you really got into the book emotionally. Which made for a great review. Great job!