Book Review – Thumbs Down

“Amelia’s Story: A Childhood Lost” by D. G. Torrens

This book is a true story about a child brought up in the welfare system in Great Britain. It covers the little girl’s life for sixteen years in and out of foster homes and abusive situations. While the story is heartbreaking and is told fairly well by the author it was hard for me to stay connected to this character because of the many problems with writing. Frankly, I am amazed the book went to print with so many grammatical and punctuation errors. I thought there were editors for that! These shortcomings ruined what could have been an interesting read. 

Surprisingly for me, this is the first in a book series by this writer. That makes me think the problem was me, but I’m not convinced and I’m still trying to understand how average writing, multiple repetitions, and terrible editing resulted in selling books! This is not a book I can recommend for those reasons.   

Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring… ‘How to Build a Boat.’ Steven Wright

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Book Review – The Night Trilogy

Elie Wiesel

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel (1928-2016) authored 57 books. He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner and recipient of numerous other awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

After his time in concentration camps, he received asylum in France where he completed his education. His career included being a journalist and later a professor of Humanities at Boston University. His most important work, however, was as an activist and defender of human rights.  

The Night Trilogy Contains:

• “Night” – a memoir of Wiesel’s year as a prisoner in Auschwitz and Buchenwald 
• “Dawn” – a novel about the Jewish resistance in Palestine during English rule
• “Day” – a novel about a Holocaust survivor’s obsession with death

The novels, “Dawn” and “Day” were captivating. They each reflected the permanent pain and disability from being a prisoner during the Holocaust. There are fragments which one knows are true to Wiesel’s personal anguish. 

“Night” was heartbreaking as the young Elie tells of the horrors of daily life in the concentration camps. His mother and younger sister were killed. His father died of starvation while in captivity during a brutal winter.

Originally a 900-page book entitled “And The World Remained Silent,” it was written in Yiddish then translated in this abridged version to English and thirty other languages. 

The inhumanities suffered by Wiesel and other prisoners are difficult to accept but should be read by everyone lucky enough to live free. 

“We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” Elie Wiesel