Review of The Gospel According to Elie Wiesel

[Sam Ibeh]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Gospel According to Elie Wiesel" by Brian Josepher.]

---

3 out of 4 stars

---

Share This Review

---

The Gospel According to Elie Wiesel by Brian Josepher is completely non-fictional and a biography of Elie Wiesel, a Romanian writer who survived the Holocaust.

Moving from Elie's childhood to the deportation saga and the concentration camps, Brian Josepher uncovers great mysteries in Elie's book, Night. The world has undoubtedly believed every word of Elie Wiesel's story about his experience during the Holocaust and in the Auschwitz camp. But are they all true? Are some tiny neglected details mere literary devices used to create an image? Who is Elie Wiesel?

The book contains a rich knowledge of Jewish culture and history, which is very informative and educational. There's a plethora of information to take in. It ranges from the narration of the Jew's attitude towards the destitute class to the level of education each Jew gives to their kids, depending on their economic and financial strata, and to a lot of other information.

Brian Josepher, while telling the tale of Elie's life, included the use of many Jewish terms. These terms were completely okay as they showed the roots of Elie and explained some phenomena in Elie's life. However, these terms might be very confusing for non-Jewish people, or even Jews with little or no knowledge of their history and roots, as not all of them were explicitly explained for the reader's comprehension. I looked up some of these terms to understand their contextual usage or general meaning.

In The Gospel According to Elie Wiesel, there's a lot of characterization. This is understandable as it is not the writer's life. Therefore, individuals linked to each point must be mentioned to drive home his point effortlessly. However, the many names mentioned get confusing. Readers might have to go back to previous pages to remember a particular name's first mention and its correlation to the story. Due to the extensive characterization, names previously mentioned in the early chapters or pages might not be fresh in the reader's memory when they appear again.

Regardless of the endless mention of names, the writer did a beautiful job with the narration. He brought up separate and individual phases of Elie's book. He also investigated other books in that same phase that either corroborated Elie's account or left questions. This was purely beautiful.

The Gospel According to Elie Wiesel was a long read and would not be described as a regular biography. I'd strongly recommend it to lovers of historical accounts and biographies. However, it would not be a good read for persons who would not have the patience to read slowly and follow the narrative to its end. It was exceptionally edited, with no errors. However, due to the confusing Jewish terms and characterization, I'd rate it four out of five stars.

******
The Gospel According to Elie Wiesel
View: on Bookshelves

[Alex Reeves]

Now I'm clarified. I thought the book was the Gospel of Christ according to Elie Wiesel. Great review. You seem to learn some new terms, especially Jewish terms, from reading this book. Would love some of that info for myself.