The Gates of the Forest

In response to Sophia's review - and for the benefit of those who might be misled by it - Wiesel's "Gates of the Forest" is powerful not because it is a story of the Holocaust, but because it is a story of Everyman. It is, at its core, a story of grappling with existence, yet without trying to label it as "the Absurd" (Camus), "Nausea" (Sartre), or "Dread" (Heidegger). Sophia, this is so much more than "just another Holocaust story," and I can't help but wonder if your zealous attempt to pigeonhole this incredible opus into that singular genre reflects a deeper fear you have of the themes of this book. After all, if this is "just another Holocaust story," you could explain away any bearing it might have on you as a person. But if it is more than that - and it IS MORE THAN THAT - then the book demands a reaction from you. To all the Sophias out there, this book is a life-changing read, but only if you are willing to live like someone who is alive. Your review saddens me, Sophia, but I am hopeful for you and others like you that one day you will wake up and decide to live deliberately. To those willing to think, this book is worth reading once a year, every year, for the rest of your life.

This book was absolutley wonderful. It kept my attention the whole way through. This was the first book of his tha I have ever read, and I will continue to read his books. The book had so much emotion and meaning that I read it the whole way through without stopping.

This is incredible writing. So good, in fact, that I wonder why he has not won a second Nobel Prize for Literature to go with his Peace Prize. I too agree that although this is by nature Holocaust Lit, it belongs with the classics of all world literature by merit of its eloquence and lifetime themes. Such themes are borne out especially in the name/identity crises of Gavriel and Gregor and the mother as sexual person characterized by Ileana. I recommend this book to every lover of great literature, unequivocally.

The Gates of the Forest is a deeply profound philosophical work, yet it reads with eloquence and emotion of a beautiful poem. This book paints images for everything abstract, and renders intangible everything ordinary. Through the mind and spirit of a young survivor, Elie Wiesel reexamines our relationship to God and to one another. He finds meaning where there would seem to be only chaos, and compassion, where there is only insanity. Read this book a million times, and it will still open your eyes in some way.

I don't simply mean "really good" or "rather impressive". I mean this book is quite earth-shaking. This book does belong to that literary category known as Holocaust Lit. But it's also simply a book about a single boy-youth-man trying to cope with the absurdity and meaninglessness of existence - Gregor as the individual alienated from everything, desperately trying NOT to be alienated. The four seasons of the novel are the four attempts by Gregor/Gavriel to find some possible relationship with his God, with his universe. Don't let the similarities between each season fool you - Gavriel's solution in Spring is not Gregor's solution in Winter. Also, do not believe that the Gavriel of Spring is different from the Gavriel of Winter, or the Lieb of Autumn (though of course, they are all different and, yet, all the same). This novel is definitely Wiesel's finest (this from someone who worships the man). Absolutely incredible - a new look/experience/way of life.