Night

Night 
By Elie Wiesel

I originally read this book in high school. I picked it up again on a whim when I was without something to read one night. I was unprepared for its weight. As a younger reader, I remember not being that taken with the book. I found it oddly distant. I felt like I never really found my way into the characters' heads. But on this second read, I'm thinking that the author did this on purpose. It strikes me that the book is something of a facsimile of a nightmare, a kind of waking dream in which inconceivable, surreal moments seem to drift in and out of one's consciousness without the small details that suggest reality. Perhaps this was obvious to everyone else on their first read. Regardless, this is not easy reading. But it is important reading. It is important to know what we humans can do to each other - so that we may more bravely make the choice to do the opposite.