He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the 'human holocaust' of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. All in all, an unpalatable, distasteful picture of army life.Publisher backing ($10,000 initial advertising) the impact of the book on the first readers the certain storm of controversy, all make certain a terrific send-off for an impressive first novel.Įlie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children. Some of the minor characters are vigorously drawn there are unforgettable episodes, glimpses of behind the scenes in the barracks, the horrors of medieval methods of punishment, the savage reprisals, and a succession of close-ups of brothels and even one memorable scene in a de luxe establishment for homosexuals. Even in death, when the impact of war makes him face the punishment involved in being AWOL, and he dies at the hands of a trigger-happy MP, his overwhelming impulse to seek the Army again is not wholly convincing. One feels, however, that the author's intent is to convey to the reader the central character, Prew's, love for the army instead what emerges is his turbulent resistance, his recurrent rebellion. Here are men worn down by boredom and tensions of army discipline in the hands of bullies, in the months leading up to Pearl Harbor.

The raw crudity and obsession with sex will offend many its excuse the same as that made for The Naked and the Dead - this is how men are, without civilizing externals. There's some powerful writing here -and some that is overdone, lush it would benefit by some drastic cutting. This book differs sharply from the Mailer book in the construction, the interweaving of plots, the brief glimpses of the glamor of the Hawaiian background, make for easier, less jarring reading. The two books offer many analogies: -fearless realism in depicting men in the armed forces, their thoughts, their conversation, their emotions, their brute natures occasional tenderness in reflecting the softer sides of their natures- appreciation of beauty-yearnings the reflection of the comradeship of the army, along with its jealousies, internal politics, unity in hating authority. A controversial reception is a safe prediction for this already heralded first novel - that and a wide market along the lines of The Naked and The Dead.

Novel from here to eternity