Night by Elie Wiesel (SPOILERS)

[MissBertram]

A difficult, thought-provoking, and poetic book. If you've ever seen Elie speak, he is a fascinating character. The poetic nature of his writing is his natural speech.
The book is definitely a page turner, but the ending was puzzling to me. It felt like the book just fizzled out at the end. The last line is fitting, but I almost wish he didn't include the part about getting sick after the prisoners were freed. It ended the story on a weird note. I get that he wanted to end with the image of a corpse in the mirror as as metaphor, but I think it would have been more satisfying to end with the image of the freed prisoners throwing themselves on the bread. Does anyone else feel the book went too far?

[lauralee43]

I agree I liked Night by Elie Wiesel but it left this reader with many strange questions. Definitely I hard but great book to discuss

[jlauroesch]

I read the book a couple of years ago when my daughter was in 8th grade and it was one of the books that she chose to read for a unit in language arts. It's a compelling read due to his narrative flow, though definitely horrifying as well.
I guess I can see that it would have been more satisfying for the reader if the book had ended on a more upbeat note. However, I don't think his intention in writing the book was to satisfy the reader, but rather to stir us with the horror of what had happened. An upbeat ending would, in my opinion, have been disrespectful to what he and the others had suffered.

[Dando]

I loved Night when I read it in school. I can't remember it as well as I would like so maybe it is time for a reread!

[suzy1124]

Truly a MASTERPIECE!

[Meehan_Connor]

I very much enjoyed Night, it just always had a shock value to it. Sometimes when I read a book featuring horrors, I can take a deep breath and know it's fictional; however you can't do that whilst reading this one. Haunting.

[Jakethesnake_27]

I was quite taken aback more than once by the cruelty of man. Wiesel successfully captures the independent, yet overall, atmosphere of the events he and his fellow man endured. The strength and will of the human spirit can be felt with each passing page. Fantastic book. A must read no matter your genre preference. Recommend reading at least once. Night is guaranteed to leave a definite lasting impression.

[Book_Wyrm]

I read the book a couple of years ago when my daughter was in 8th grade and it was one of the books that she chose to read for a unit in language arts. It's a compelling read due to his narrative flow, though definitely horrifying as well.
I guess I can see that it would have been more satisfying for the reader if the book had ended on a more upbeat note. However, I don't think his intention in writing the book was to satisfy the reader, but rather to stir us with the horror of what had happened. An upbeat ending would, in my opinion, have been disrespectful to what he and the others had suffered.

I also read the book some time ago, so I don't have a photographic memory of it. But I absolutely agree with the above comment: it wasn't Wiesel's intent to "satisfy" the reader. That might have been a consideration had he been writing fiction, but he was writing cold and brutal facts: what he saw and what he lived through. For him to sugarcoat it in any way would indeed have been disrespectful of what they had all endured.

[Insightsintobooks]

I enjoyed Night, but I have to read the other books in the trilogy. I agree about the ending it felt weird to me as well.

[Christina O Phillips]

I read this book, but haven't read the others in the trilogy. Since there are more books, could that explain people's dissatisfaction with the ending?

[babcockar]

I read this book for the first time recently, and it really stuck with me. The horrors of the cruelty of man are no joke. I highly recommend this book, although it can stir up some really hard emotions.