Primo Levi (1919–1987)

This complete works is a real gem, published in a very nice three volume box set which I will no doubt return to in the years to come. For now, I've started with "If This Is a Man" (published in the US as [b:Survival in Auschwitz|6174|Survival in Auschwitz|Primo Levi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1414374949l/6174._SX50_.jpg|851110], much to the annoyance of its original English translator, Stuart J. Woolf). This book gives a vivid account of the year Levi spent as prisoner 174517 in Auschwitz. It is extremely well written, and gives the reader a real sense (to the extent of what is possible without having experienced it) of what it was like to try to survive is this death camp. This edition has some additional updates from Woolf and includes an Appendix by Levi, originally written in 1976 for the school edition, in which he answers questions he received continually from both student and adult readers.… (mais)

I’ve meant to read this book by Holocaust survivor [[Primo Levi]] for years. Jews, no matter their personal beliefs, have been and seem to periodically continue to be victims of such devastating experiences as described by the author of his own time as a laborer while imprisoned in Auschwitz.

I read this book to express my solidarity with the pyschological pain and physical suffering of my people throughout history, past and present. It is a chilling, mind-blowing account of hatred and cruelty, of man’s inhumanity to man, told as one Italian Jewish man’s personal experience. Levi tells his story outright, by simply stating what he felt, thought, and saw without expressing emotion about it. If an individual wants to know what happened to those prisoners who remained alive in Auschwitz, this book is a compulsory read. I hope whoever does read it does so with compassion for the needless suffering of fellow men.… (mais)