On first read in 2017: 5 stars. I think what stood out the most to me while reading this was the raw honesty of Wiesel's experience. We don't just see the external brutality of concentration camps; we also get to see how it impacts who the victims became as people, how their inner dialogue changed.

He doesn't skate over his doubts in the mercy of God, his inner voice occasionally urging him to leave his father to be rid of the burden of anyone but himself.

This is not a romanticized perspective on the Holocaust. This is from the view of someone who lived it.

2023 reread: 4.25 stars

Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Perspective: 4 stars