A Closer Look at Primo Levi's Experience of Surviving Auschwitz

kajal patel: Poor Qaulity of the book printing although is good

India on Oct 16, 2023

Yvonne Becker: Excellent product and service-praise the Lord!

United States on Jul 22, 2023

I have already purchased this book from Amazon a few years back that's the reason I want to retirn it.: The media could not be loaded.  I liked this book very much. The author has written it in a beautiful way which is very engrossing.

India on Jul 21, 2023

CN: Levi was one of 2000 Jewish Italians captured in Rome and sent to concentration camps. He was one of only 14 who survived and this book is his attempt to describe the horrors and deal with his guilt at having survived. why him?
Levi is a clear writer who wrote "Christ stopped at Eboli" when he was banished in the 30s to a very very poor village in the south.
He wasn't a religious Jew, more a thoughtful philosopher and interested in politics and Italy's identity.

United Kingdom on Aug 26, 2018

PatriciaMarguerite: One of the most outstanding books I have read. The author writes his experiences leading up to and including his time at Auschwitz. Yes, he stated the facts, but he also created fine character sketches of those who were around him. The book showed his insightful awareness and beautifully narrated analysis of the reactions of others and of himself. He used many words which I was not aware of but now are part of my repertoire (handy to have the smart phone nearby and look up those words). This was not burdensome for me because he didn't use the words to impress but rather to express his thoughts precisely.

Canada on Feb 04, 2016

Claudia Moscovici: Primo Levi’s reflection on humanity in crisis: Survival in Auschwitz (If This is a man)
Primo Levi’s memoir, Survival in Auschwitz (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996, translated by Giulio Einaudi), is not just about the author’s survival in the notorious Nazi concentration camp, but above all about the survival of his humanity after enduring such a grueling process of dehumanization. Published in 1947 under the Italian title If This is a Man (Se questo e un uomo), the author doesn’t claim to offer new information in this autobiographical book. Nor does he wish to level fresh accusations against the Nazis. Written in a calm, observational tone, Survival in Auschwitz sets out “to furnish documentation for a quiet study of certain aspects of the human mind” (9).
Thoughtful and thought provoking, the narrative constitutes a reflection on the power—and limits—of forgiveness. In an interview published by the New Republic on February 16, 1986, Levi announces that he did not harbor feelings of hatred towards the Germans. He explains: “I regard hatred as bestial and crude, and prefer that my actions and thoughts be the product, as far as possible, of reason. Much...

United States on Oct 28, 2015

WryGuy2: I'm a history buff, and my favorite time period is the World War II era ... both because it occurred recently enough that I can still talk to survivors of the conflict and because of all the changes in the world that happened in just a six year period. But as I've read or own many, if not most, of the worthwhile books about the fighting, I've recently begun reading and learning about what was happening away from the fighting. After reading "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin" by Timothy Snyder, an outstanding book about the intentional mass murder of over 14 million people between 1930 and 1947, I decided to learn more about the Holocast and related topics. (Many of the books I've read did touch on the Holocast and the murders of other nationalities and ethnicities, but I've only read a bare handful of books dealing specifically about these sad events.) My buying this book is a result of my desire to learn more.

"Survival in Auschwitz", by Primo Levi, is an excellent account of Mr Levi's year in Auschwitz. It begins with his train transport to Auschwitz and the separation of the train's passengers into categories of what turned out to be "workers" and "those to be...

United States on Aug 12, 2011

Ian Johnson: I know it's a cliche but I really could not put this book down. Primo Levi gives you the details of Auschwitz life as a Jewish prisoner and often these details can mean the difference between life and death. For instance, if prisoners want to change shoes they have to choose one pair from a big pile and guess that they are the right size. If the shoes don't fit and they start to get "swollen foot" it inevitably doesn't get better and their fate is sealed in the gas chamber. He shows how they all have their different survival techniques ranging from theft to bullying and how those who don't engage in any don't last very long.Even where you stand in the soup queue matters - too near the front and you get the thin soup from the top of the container. Of course, survival or death can sometimes be a matter of chance when one of the SS inspection parties accidentally puts someone in the wrong elimination group - so you wonder what will happen to Primo or his friends next. Throughout the book Levi gives incredible philosophical insights into how a man in his position feels and as he quite rightly points out he would never have had these thoughts had he not been in Auschwitz. Apart from...

United Kingdom on Jun 09, 2010