This was the first book I was able to read through ever since the start of the full scale war in Ukraine, on the 24th of February 2022.

I was looking for something humane, something warm and touching, something that would be inspiring and Elie’s story about life after having survived Holocaust hit the right spot.

It was short (just about a 1 hour read) and precise, which is really convenient when your attention span has almost become non-existent for whichever reason. It helps out with creating a certain mindset when you feel like no good will ever happen in this world again. It’s a piece of writing that I would suggest to those who feel at their lowest in their lives but obviously, not only.

At the time of the liberation of the camps, I remember, we were convinced that after Auschwitz there would be no more wars, no more racism, no more hatred, no more anti-Semitism. We were wrong. This produced a feeling close to despair. For if Auschwitz could not cure mankind of racism, was there any chance of success ever?

p. 50-51

The only reduction in the star rating was due to the many references made to God and religion, which personally are a bit off-putting for me.

I belong to a generation that has often felt abandoned by God and betrayed by mankind. And yet, I believe that we must not give up on either.

p. 72

I cried and I laughed while reading the book but most importantly, it managed to provide me with a break from reality and a breath of fresh air during a devastating time. It made me really curious to discover more of the author’s writing and I hope to get to more of his books soon.

I believe in language even though it has been wounded, deformed and perverted by the enemies of mankind. And I continue to cling to words because it is up to us to transform them into instruments of comprehension rather than contempt. It is up to us to choose whether we wish to use them to curse or to heal, to wound or to console.

p. 73

★★★★☆ (4/5)

_{Edition: ISBN 978-0-8052-1258-7
Shocken Books, 2012 (Originally published in 2011)}