Night

By: Elie Wiesel

Narrated by: George Guidall

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?

©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)

This book consumed me

This book totally affected me. I don't remember ever being so physically and emotionally caught up in any book like I was with this one. I cried, I thought about it throughout the day, I dreamt about it in the night. Elie Wiesel wrote the most haunting account of his young life. From being ripped from his home to being separated from his mother and sister to caring and feeling responsible for his father in his journey from concentration camp to concentration camp. It shows the depths of human despair and the height of out of control power.
Narrator George Guidall brings life to the book. He was perfect. Listening to this book instead of reading it literally brought Elie Wiesel right into your heart. Mr. Guidall had the inflection, pain and weariness in his voice that really brought it home. He is obviously familiar with some of the important Jewish prayers like Kaddish (the prayer said for the dead). He ripped out my heart when he began to recite it.
I can't say enough about the importance of this book. Please listen to it. It is essential to use the lessons you will learn in the book to make you a better person. You won't be the same after this one.

Intro. to Holocaust for Young Adults

Highly acclaimed author Elie Weisel recounts his personal account of the Holocaust from his youth in Siget to the bowels of Hell in the concentration camps. His first hand account is an excellent personalization of horrors experienced by 6 million Jews - a number that is impossible to grasp - and allows the reader to intimately share the experience and thoughts of a Holocaust survivor.
Night is also finely written - yet not too overwelming in language or length.
Should be required reading for all High School students - of all races.

Powerful and Emotional

I came across this book rather by accident in watching a show on the History Channel called the Boys of Buchenwald. It mentions some excerpts from this and I went in search of it here.

This is truly a powerful, emotional book. It moves you as you hear it in first person, told through the eyes of a teenage boy witnessing the worst murders committed in recent history.

All I could think of was my own 12 year old son, picturing him walking the path that Elie walked. My heart broke repeatedly, but some how in all of it, his strength and resolve was there, deep inside, even when he didn't see it in himself.

I recommend this to everyone I know now. It will change you.

Audible hopes you have enjoyed this book

When I got to that part (Audible hopes you have enjoyed this book), I nearly threw my headphones and shouted, NO! NO! I didn't!

Not that I didn't receive information and insight, or have empathy. But this is not a book to be enjoyed. It is a tortured retelling of events in the life of Elie Wiesel.

I understand that this is a book written to educate younger readers about what happened to the Jews in WWII, but I found it to be lacking in detail. There were obvious parts missing. I did a little more research on Elie Wiesel after listening to the book and found out more about his life. It would have been nice if those things had not been removed or withheld from the book.

Even though I didn't enjoy this book, I'm not sorry I listened to it. But it broke my heart.

Read This Book

Would you consider the audio edition of Night to be better than the print version?

No idea

Any additional comments?

This book is personal. and not just because it is autobiographical. I am not Jewish, but I sometimes say that I'm half Jewish. My best friend growing up (like since birth) was Jewish. One of her grandparents, or maybe a great grandparent had their Holocaust tattoo and didn't really talk about it. Maybe because we were so young? We were pretty much inseparable then. My best friend died two years ago of ALS, leaving a son and grieving family. I take stones to her grave in the Jewish tradition. What a beautiful thing to do.

So, this story, this history, ripped into my heart. Told in first person from a 16-year-old boy's perspective, Elie Wisel tells the story of being a Jew from the beginning of the Holocaust to the end. I decided to read it because my son had read it last year for school, and it was already in my audio library. He said it was good, but brutal. He was so right. All I can say is, read it. You need to know. I plan to read the next two books in the trilogy as well. I need to know.