Lowest Price Night (Oprah's Book Club)

The quote from the New York Times on the cover of this book has it exactly right: "a slim volume of terrifying power." Wiesel's retelling of his experiences in the Auschwitz concentration camp is concise and seemingly artless. But the absence of sentimental pathos only makes the story so much more moving, so much more powerful. I first listened to this novel as an audio book some five or six years ago, and the experience was overwhelming. Since then, I've listened to it again perhaps five times, I've read it in the French original twice, and I've read the English translation by Stella Rodway once. I now know it almost by heart. Certain passages from the book would haunt my imagination for weeks, leaving an indelible imprint on my soul. For instance, I feel I know with certainty that I will remember the fate of Moshe the Beadle -- a human being of flesh and blood who once lived and breathed, and whose story is told here in but a few pages -- until my dying day. 'Never shall I forget that night' -- this is a very, *very* powerful book.

For what it is worth, I would recommend this translation rather than the new one by Marion Wiesel, the author's wife. However, I say this without actually having read the newer translation, so I should probably admit that my judgment here doesn't carry much weight. I only read the first pages of both books side by side, and this gave me the impression that Rodway's rendition was somehow more poetic, and perfectly accurate when compared with the French version. For instance, Rodway's "I loved his great, dreaming eyes, their gaze lost in the distance." sounds better to me than Marion Wiesel's "As for me, I liked his wide, dreamy eyes, gazing off into the distance." (he's talking about Moshe the Beadle), and the French does have the verb 'love.' But perhaps I only prefer the earlier translation because this was the one I first encountered and grew attached to. Nevertheless, since it seems likely now that most new readers will first turn to the translation endorsed by Oprah's Book Club, I think there is at least a point in exhorting people not to forget about the earlier version.Get more detail about Night (Oprah's Book Club).