Shelf Life

One of the most capturing books that I have read has to be the novel Night by Elie Wiesel. First of all this novel is a narrative of the horrifying personal experience that Wiesel, the author of the novel, experienced during the Holocaust. One may think that because this novel makes reference to the World War two time period it might not be interesting. However, the descriptive passages of every event that the author encounters from the start of his entrance to the first concentration camp to his release to freedom. I found this book very informative since it gives you the opportunity to read about a true story of a holocaust survivor.

By Rebeka Garcia

The novel Go Ask Alice by an anonymous author, is based on the actual diary of a fifteen-year-old girl who is a drug user. The young girl wants to feel accepted, so she takes drugs like acid and LSD. She ends up loving how the drugs make her feel. Because of the drugs, she even loses her virginity. She wonders how she ever got along without drugs. She has to go to a mental institution. The young girl hates it there, but in order for her to get out; she needs to show the doctors that she is doing better. Finally, she improves her health and her behavior and she goes home. Everything is just the way it is supposed to be for the girl. Her family still loves her and she breaks away from the drug users.

However, the story does not end here. You will be surprised when you read about this young girl’s struggle with drug addiction and peer pressure. This novel will blow you away. Remember that this is an actual diary of a fifteen -year-old teenager.

By Rajvir Chohan

Night
By: Elie Wiesel
Is a novel about a young man who recalls his experience in the Holocaust. Elie is deported from the town of Sighet in Transylvania to the concentration camps. When Elie arrives at the concentration camps he is separated from his mother and sisters. Elie and his father stay together and suppport each other throughout the whole experience. When entering Auschwitz Elie becomes number A-7713. Elie witnesses a young boy kill his father for food and horrible treatment given to his father. At the end Elie survives, however, his father dies from weakness. On April 11, 1945 American tanks arrive at Buchenweld.

I enjoyed reading this novel because as a reader I felt as if I was a prisoner in a concentration camp. One thing I didn’t enjoy was the horrible treatment given to innocent people and it was a little hard to read some sections of the novel such as when Elie was getting hit. What I admired from Elie was his concern to save his gold crown and how he accomplished his goals.

By Hermila Moreno

Night by Elie Wiesel is an autobiography. It is about the author’s experience during the Holocaust. Although it can be painful to read, it is very important to understand the horrors of the Holocaust so that this does not occur again. This is a very powerful and moving book. Once you pick it up you will want to continue reading it until you discover how the book ends.

It is very essential to remember that this book is an autobiography and not a novel. I recommend this book to all the students who have currently finished learning about the Holocaust. However, any one who finds this books subject interesting or if you just want to understand what the Holocaust was like, then you should also read this book.

By Rajvir Chohan

Night by Elie Wiesel is a story about Wiesel’s life in the Nazi concentration camps. The setting of the book Night by Elie Wiesel is the Holocaust. The book’s themes include deportations, denial, optimism, false hope, and God. Night is enjoyable and has something for everyone. He is a 15 year old boy when he is sent to the concentration camp of Auschwitz with his father. His father and him are separated from his mother and sisters forever. It is a very powerful book because of all of the description that takes place in the novel. The first day Wiesel goes to the camp he sees babies being burned in pitches of fire. Wiesel changes a lot through out the novel his faith in God is gone in the middle of the novel but in the end Wiesel’s ability to believe in himself lets him believe in his God again. Wiesel’s experiences described in the novel show the causes and the degree to which the Jewish prisoners in the concentration camp were dehumanized and how many of those prisoners who survived were permanently scarred.

By Perveen Mann

Night by Elie Wiesel is a powerful novel. It is a terrifying recollection of the author’s experiences during the Holocaust. It is a very painful novel and will touch anyone who reads it. I recommend this book to all readers who are willing to know about a Jewish individual’s life during this horrific time.

Elie Wiesel is the author and the protagonist of the novel. He is living in Sighet, Romania and in 1944 he and his family are deported to Birkenau, a concentration camp. Here Elie is separated from his mother and sister and is left to fight this struggle with his father, Chlomo. Elie and his father move from camp to camp and pretty soon Elie is protecting his father instead of his father protecting him. Elie loses faith in God and is determined to fight this ordeal on his own. Elie questions God for he doesn’t understand why this is happening to them.

Throughout the novel many incidents affect Elie’s life. His father dies and now it is up to Wiesel to go to the end of the road and survive. Elie Wiesel changes greatly throughout the plot. However, you must read the novel to find out if Elie Wiesel is able to overcome the hardships and live on. This is a very powerful novel and I was glad that I read it. Moreover, I can honestly say that after reading this novel I have been affected greatly.

By Jyotti Pannu

If you like to read books based on real life experiences, about compassion, and emotions, this is the book for you. Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt is a story full of compassion and emotion that will wring your heart. It is an account of author’s tragic childhood in the slums Limerick in Ireland. McCourt as a kid narrates his story providing such details of his life in poverty that it makes you realize how helpless a child could be. Since the narrator is a kid, his thoughts about the world and myths about life and other people make story more interesting and less depressing. McCourt has to witness his brothers and sisters dying of malnutrition, steal food to feed his ailing mother and hungry brothers due to poverty. Due to negligence of his father towards his family, McCourt has to support the family. He works at dirty coal mines of Limerick and carries heavy coal bags to earn few shillings. He wants to leave for America, but he can not run away from his responsibility towards his family. Should he run away to America and get a better life for himself or should he serve his duty towards the family and live in the slums of Limerick forever?

By Suman Kang

Victor Villaseñor is one of the best authors to depict the Hispanic culture. Villaseñor is the author of such titles as, Rain of Gold, Wild Steps of Heaven, and Thirteen Senses which are all interconnected by the life of one love story. It is a narrative of Juan Salvador Villaseñor and Lupe Villaseñors’ path through life and then combining it into one, to live life together, as one. Rain of Gold is the first novel of this trilogy. It begins by introducing both of the characters life’s through difficulties and happiness. Then gradually it leads up to the moment where they both meet.

It is a great novel and it is not just a love story like any other, this one influences the pintoristic and beautiful Hispanic culture into the reader, it gives the feeling that one is actually in the story as if the one knows the characters. At the end of the novel one knows it is the end but has thirst for more; apparently it has happened to many since Victor Villaseñor did go on to write two more books of the history of his grandparents. These stories are very enchanting and inspiring there are also great wise words written within the pages of this inspiring novel.

By Angie Estrada

Angela’s Ashes is a true story about an unfortunate family struggling to make ends meet in the slums of Limrick Ireland during the time of the Great Depression. The McCourt family often has little to nothing to eat and uses rags as clothing. Frank McCourt is the oldest child and often viewed as the third parent, finding food for supper and scraps of coal for a fire. Frank’s mother, Angela, has no money to feed her five children since Frank’s father Malachy, rarely works, and when he does, spends all his wages at the local pub embarrassing himself. After the death of their six month old baby girl, Angela finds it impossible to go on. Frank understands that it is his duty to take care of his three needy little brothers. While under his care, one of the toddler twin boys passes away. frank is devistated and begins to wonder if he can handle all this responsiblity. If his father taught him anything at all, it was to fight for what he believed in and stay strong. But Frank is just a child himsel, will he be able to make his father proud and keep the McCourt family together in this difficult time?

By Jessica Rubalcava

I read the novel Night by Elie Wiesel. It is a story about Wiesel’s life in the Nazi concentration camps as a Jew. It is a very powerful book because of all the description that goes into it. The author writes about seeing babies being burned on his first night in Aushwitz and how his father and him struggle to survive the daily ordeals. The novel is extremely graphic, more so than most other Holocaust stories that I have read. Wiesel makes it seem as if you are actually there and the result is that you are horrified and appalled at the cruelty of the Germans. I finished the whole book in one day because it gripped me so much. The lengths that the people went just to get a bit of food is amazing. Wiesel’s father also hit home for me because whenever they mentioned anything about how hard it was for the elder man, I saw Bobert. My father was his father, they shared the same walk.

By Jacob ?

A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer was a biography of himself of how he was brutally beaten and was starved by his mother, who was an alcoholic. The mother played games and trick him by telling him that she loves him very much, but in reality she hated him with all her might. His mother no longer considered him his son, but a boy named “it.” The food that he ate was nothing, but his own vomit and other bad food. This book is about a persons own suffering. Do you think he will try to survive from his mothers evilness? Read this book and find out about it

By Esmeralda Ruiz

Victor Villaseñor’s novel, Rain of Gold, is the love story of Juan Salvador Villaseñor and Guadalupe Gomez. The story begins in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. The story tells of the hardships that the two families had to endure when immigrating to California. The families worked in the fields and followed the crop as the seasons changed. The novel is a page turner, the story is exciting and heart-warming.

Salvador lives a double life, to Lupe he is a honest hard-working man, but in reality he is a bootlegger. Lupe’s family is very religious and frowns upon the behavior and work that Salvador does. Once Lupe finds out the truth about Salvador, the two are already married and Lupe is pregnant; they must make this relationship work, all while keeping Salvador‘s work a secret from Lupe‘s parents. The novel shows the two different sides of the romance. One view is Lupe’s and the matter in which her family raised her. The other is the mystical and miraculous view in which Salvador was raised by his crazy mother; whom believes that she can speak directly to God and the Virgin Mary. Both characters struggle to keep their love alive through all of the lies.

I really love this book, I can honestly say that I can relate to the characters. Victor Villaseñor’s interpretation of the Mexican-American struggle and tradition is both humorous and touching. Rain of Gold is a must read!

By Karen Tafolla