Night
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 3 months for £0.99/mo
Night
Buy Now for £7.99
-
Narrated by:
-
George Guidall
-
By:
-
Elie Wiesel
About this listen
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.
Though technically a novel, Night is also 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?
Click here to see all the titles in our Radio & TV Book Clubs collection.©1972, 1985 Elie WieselOriginally 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
Listeners also enjoyed...
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)
Beautifully written, autobiographical, this personal narrative reflects the views of a 14 year-old boy torn from his home and community in Transylvania in the Second World War. He is traumatised by his separation from his mother and little sister, witnessing their subsequent consumption by Nazi fires and vengeance. Through one traumatising experience to the next, he manages, by a sinew at times, to retain his link with his father, surviving Auschwitz and Buchenwald... separated in the end by death and shame.
We follow the story of a Jewish community which could not contemplate the atrocities they would experience. They could not imagine the way in which the communities in which they were integrated would allow them to be expelled to concentration camps and annihilation. They could not foresee what it would be like to be marched out of their homes. "The town seemed deserted, but behind the shutters, our friends of yesterday were probably waiting for the moment when they could loot our homes".
They could not foresee the railway trucks full of Jews, the impact of scarcity and hunger and uncertainty on people's relationships. They could not have planned for the few hours they were given before they were expelled from their homes, burying valuable possessions under the floor-boards hoping one day, but never able, to reclaim their possessions. They could not imagine the cruelty, the violence, the humilation, the selection processes, the death factories, the fires, the trains, the labour camps, the public hangings, the beatings and the torture.
Elie wanders why and whether this is allowed to happen in the 20th century. He imagines the scenes of expulsions in the Inquisition, but not now when the whole world knew what was happening. And yet, the silence, the denials, and the lack of response prevailed.
"The ghetto was ruled by neither German nor Jew" he writes. "It was ruled ... by delusion".
Elie loses his trust in God and refuses to accept the existence of an all-knowing and all-good god who allows such barbarity to persist. We see stories of trust and reliability, love and warmth, tenderness and sacrifice. Wiesel writes beautifully and at times sparsely: "The synagogue resembled a railway station ... baggage and tears".
The recording contains additional material - Elie Wiesel's impressive Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech; his revised preface and discussion of why he wrote this book; and a valuable review of the book and its importance by Francois Mauriac, the French author who first encouraged Elie Wiesel to publish and assisted him after many failures, in getting into press.
The book is beautifully written, translated by his wife, and movingly read by George Guidall. Around three hours long it is a compelling and unforgettable audience with Elie Wiesel: haunting, disturbing, moving, human, insightful and lingering in the memory.
"Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp that turned my life into one long night, seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my god and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things even were I condemned to live as long as god himself"
Haunting, deeply moving and disturbing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
such an important book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Stunningly good
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Beautifully narrated amd memorable
Not what I was expecting
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Powerful and life changing
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.