Night

I read Night in high school but it was nice to go back and re-read it. I would describe this story as cold and hard. Wiesel gives the reader the facts about what happened to the Jews in the concentration camps, but he does not ask the readers for pity. Eliezer experiences situations we could never imagine, such as running for 42 miles, removing dead bodies from trains, and watching his father die, and yet he never says "poor me." It is not lost that he does lose his faith, as I am sure many Jews did during this persecution, but he never pities himself. He is upset about the situation and that is how he explains it. He is angry with humanity and with his faith for allowing people to be treated this way.
I would definitely choose this book as a class novel. Many novels are difficult to use for the entire class but this is both educational historically but also for literature purposes. The writing is descriptive and true. There is no need to embellish his stories which gives them such a real feeling, and I always say that students appreciate the truth. I would be interested to see the student reactions to Eliezer's loss of faith and his "selfish" thoughts when his father contracts dysentery. These are two ways we see how the camps have changed Eliezer. I would like to see how students think people would change in the camps physically and mentally.