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Hostage
From Elie Wiesel, Nobel laureate and author of Night, a charged, deeply moving novel about the legacy of the Holocaust in today’s troubled world and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It’s 1975, and Shaltiel Feigenberg—professional storyteller, writer and beloved husband—has been taken hostage: abducted from his home in Brooklyn, blindfolded and tied to a chair in a dark basement. His captors, an Arab and an Italian, don’t explain why the innocent Shaltiel has been chosen, just that his life will be bartered for the freedom of three Palestinian prisoners. As his days of waiting commence, Shaltiel resorts to what he does best, telling stories—to himself and to the men who hold his fate in their hands.
With beauty and sensitivity, Wiesel builds the world of Shaltiel’s memories, haunted by the Holocaust and a Europe in the midst of radical change. A Communist brother, a childhood spent hiding from the Nazis in a cellar, the kindness of liberating Russian soldiers, the unrest of the 1960s—these are the stories that unfold in Shaltiel’s captivity, as the outside world breathlessly follows his disappearance and the police move toward a final confrontation with his captors.
Impassioned, provocative and insistently humane, Hostage is both a masterly thriller and a profoundly wise meditation on the power of memory to connect us to the past and our shared need for resolution.
It’s 1975, and Shaltiel Feigenberg—professional storyteller, writer and beloved husband—has been taken hostage: abducted from his home in Brooklyn, blindfolded and tied to a chair in a dark basement. His captors, an Arab and an Italian, don’t explain why the innocent Shaltiel has been chosen, just that his life will be bartered for the freedom of three Palestinian prisoners. As his days of waiting commence, Shaltiel resorts to what he does best, telling stories—to himself and to the men who hold his fate in their hands.
With beauty and sensitivity, Wiesel builds the world of Shaltiel’s memories, haunted by the Holocaust and a Europe in the midst of radical change. A Communist brother, a childhood spent hiding from the Nazis in a cellar, the kindness of liberating Russian soldiers, the unrest of the 1960s—these are the stories that unfold in Shaltiel’s captivity, as the outside world breathlessly follows his disappearance and the police move toward a final confrontation with his captors.
Impassioned, provocative and insistently humane, Hostage is both a masterly thriller and a profoundly wise meditation on the power of memory to connect us to the past and our shared need for resolution.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published August 10, 2010
69 people are currently reading
2067 people want to read
About the author
Elie Wiesel
271 books4,491 followersEliezer "Elie" Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
In his political activities Wiesel became a regular speaker on the subject of the Holocaust and remained a strong defender of human rights during his lifetime. He also advocated for many other causes like the state of Israel and against Hamas and victims of oppression including Soviet and Ethiopian Jews, the apartheid in South Africa, the Bosnian genocide, Sudan, the Kurds and the Armenian genocide, Argentina's Desaparecidos or Nicaragua's Miskito people.
He was a professor of the humanities at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He was involved with Jewish causes and human rights causes and helped establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Wiesel was awarded various prestigious awards including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He was a founding board member of the New York Human Rights Foundation and remained active in it throughout his life.
In his political activities Wiesel became a regular speaker on the subject of the Holocaust and remained a strong defender of human rights during his lifetime. He also advocated for many other causes like the state of Israel and against Hamas and victims of oppression including Soviet and Ethiopian Jews, the apartheid in South Africa, the Bosnian genocide, Sudan, the Kurds and the Armenian genocide, Argentina's Desaparecidos or Nicaragua's Miskito people.
He was a professor of the humanities at Boston University, which created the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies in his honor. He was involved with Jewish causes and human rights causes and helped establish the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Wiesel was awarded various prestigious awards including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986. He was a founding board member of the New York Human Rights Foundation and remained active in it throughout his life.
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October 4, 2016
At this novel's beginning we are introduced to Shaltiel Feigenberg who has been kidnapped and is being held hostage. The year is 1975, and as the story progresses we learn through flashbacks that Shaltiel is a holocaust survivor. Also, the book contains long dialogs between Shaltiel and his captors that provides a bit of an insight into to the motives of members of militant political action groups.
Shaltiel was snatched off the streets by two members of the Palestinian Revolutionary Action Group, a fictional terrorist organization. His captors are demanding the release of three Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Feigenberg’s freedom. They also demand that he sign a “voluntary” declaration condemning the Jewish state for all crimes “committed against the unfortunate Palestinians”.
The irony is that Shaltiel is neither famous or rich. He was selected at random on the theory that any Jew will do. The Palestinian prisoners that his captors are demanding to be released are in Israeli prisons. Needless to say, their demands were not acted upon. Thus through most of the book it is inferred that the hostage will need to be killed. The conversations between them as recorded in this novel are thus between the murder victim-to-be and the murderers-to-be.
The following statement by one of the kidnappers now appears to be insightfully prophetic for a story set in the 70s (but not so insightful for the book since it was published in 2010):
Shaltiel was snatched off the streets by two members of the Palestinian Revolutionary Action Group, a fictional terrorist organization. His captors are demanding the release of three Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Feigenberg’s freedom. They also demand that he sign a “voluntary” declaration condemning the Jewish state for all crimes “committed against the unfortunate Palestinians”.
The irony is that Shaltiel is neither famous or rich. He was selected at random on the theory that any Jew will do. The Palestinian prisoners that his captors are demanding to be released are in Israeli prisons. Needless to say, their demands were not acted upon. Thus through most of the book it is inferred that the hostage will need to be killed. The conversations between them as recorded in this novel are thus between the murder victim-to-be and the murderers-to-be.
The following statement by one of the kidnappers now appears to be insightfully prophetic for a story set in the 70s (but not so insightful for the book since it was published in 2010):
I feel close to the Palestinian cause because it pushes rational terrorism across uncharted frontiers. .... The day is not far off when suicide terrorism will be global.There's a lot of material to ponder in this book regarding the exploration of hostage psychology. For survivors of political terror, Wiesel’s message remains emphatic: there is hope and strength in memory–never forget. The book does discuss political chains of violence, however the Palestinian point of view is not treated with much insight or sympathy.
May 17, 2017
Apart from reading "Night", I've never explored any other works by Elie Wiesel. Set in 1975, "Hostage" takes place in a basement in New York City. A Jewish man, a Holocaust survivor, who makes his living as a storyteller is kidnapped by two men. The main focus of the book is told to us in a series of flashbacks about the man's childhood, the meeting of his wife, and his older brother's experience in the Soviet Union.
Although "Hostage" is a mere 214 pages, I'm not sure it's possible to pick up on all the inferences made in the story the first time around. I felt myself putting the book down at some moments to mull over ideas presented. Even now I wonder if I read the story too fast. I have a feeling that I shall return to this book again and again.
Although "Hostage" is a mere 214 pages, I'm not sure it's possible to pick up on all the inferences made in the story the first time around. I felt myself putting the book down at some moments to mull over ideas presented. Even now I wonder if I read the story too fast. I have a feeling that I shall return to this book again and again.
May 6, 2012
Hostage: A Novel by Elie Wiesel
Alfred A. Knopf (Random House, Inc.)
Originally published in France as Otage by Editions Grasser & Fasquelle, Paris, 2010
North American publishing date - August 2012
ISBN-10: 0307599582
ISBN-13: 978-0307599582
224 pages
Genres: Fiction History World War II Holocaust
Fiction Mystery & Thriller Suspense
Elie Wiesel was fifteen when he was deported to Auschwitz. After the war he became a journalist and writer in Paris. Since then he has written more than fifty books, including his masterwork, Night, which was a best seller when it was republished in a new translation. Wiesel has been accorded the United States Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the French Legion of Honor’s Croix, an honorary knighthood of the British Empire, and in 1986, the Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1986, he has been the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University.
Reviewed by Charles S. Weinblatt
Hostage, Elie Wiesel’s latest novel is a powerful examination of the Holocaust, the Israeli/Palestinian struggle, the power of memory, and the desire for emotional resolution.
It is set in 1975 New York City. Shaltiel Feigenberg, a gentle Jewish husband, professional storyteller, and writer is abducted from a Brooklyn street by an Arab and an Italian. He is placed in a basement, bound, and blindfolded. His life is to be exchanged for imprisoned Palestinian terrorists. Although Shaltiel is unknown to almost everyone, his abduction and captivity generate global news attention.
As the world waits apprehensively for his release, Shaltiel regales his captors with stories of his family, his childhood spent hiding from Nazis, the compassion of Russian soldiers who liberated him, and his older brother who turned from Judaism to communism and later escaped from Stalin’s ruthless leaders. All the while, his rescue has become paramount for every police officer and spy, as well as for leaders of the Western nations, the Israeli government, and the global news media.
Tied up and blindfolded in a dark basement, Shaltiel gradually unravels the fabric of a life filled with brutality, captivity, remorse, and fantasy. He struggles to find meaning among memories coated with fear and remorse.
On the emotional front, his Arab captor is filled with anger and cruelty, hurling anti-Semitic invectives, engaging in physical brutality, and he torturing Shaltiel. The Italian captor is less violent; he is a listener motivated by political purpose and an eye toward insurrection. His goal is to change the beliefs and habits of the masses in order to foment revolution.
Author Wiesel’s use of metaphor in Hostage is superb. Through his characters, he examines mankind’s history, meaning, and purpose. The Arab is the killer. His goal is to use imprisonment and murder to intimidate Americans and Israelis. He is willing to capture and kill any Jew in order to further his cause: the destruction of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The Italian is the intellectual, fighting for the poor, weak, and oppressed. Less violent than the Arab, he has allowed himself to be influenced by the killer’s tactics and purpose.
Shaltiel is the tormented Jew who, having survived the Shoah, struggles to find meaning in the stories he has spent a lifetime collecting.
The essence of Mr. Wiesel’s purpose seems an examination of man’s inhumanity to man. His writing style is vivid, the characters captivating and well developed, manifesting a veritable constellation of emotions and experiences.
Through Shaltiel we feel a prisoner’s trepidation, doubt, humiliation, and degradation. The physical brutality of his Arab captor is contrasted by Shaltiel’s affectionate personality and the warmth and tenderness of his memories.
Beyond this, each of the characters anthropomorphizes the politics of nations and ideological movements in which some fight for Israel’s right to exist and some fight for its—and its people’s—destruction.
Shaltiel’s rocky relationship with his wife, Blanca, is examined as he comes to realize his family name and lineage will end with his death. If the novel has any weakness it could be in overly detailed treatment of both Shaltiel’s married years and Blanca’s personality.
With Hostage, Elie Wiesel has once again delivered a novel of intense, express purpose. The pacing is steady and intense, leaving the reader in a constant state of anxiety as to the kindhearted Shaltiel’s fate: murder or freedom? Elie Wiesel adroitly manipulates this anxiety to the very end. The prose is imposing and convincing as Wiesel delivers a ground zero examination of the Holocaust years, the rescue of a small number of incarcerated Jews, the collapse of tolerance among Soviet leaders under Stalin, Israel’s independence, and finally 1975 Brooklyn—all with beauty, skill, and grace.
Hostage is destined to stand alongside Night as a masterpiece: a convincing story imbued with purpose, meaning, and an elegantly disguised sense of moral conviction.
Reviewer Charles S. Weinblatt is the author of the Holocaust novel Jacob’s Courage: A Holocaust Love Story (Mazo Publishers 2007).
Alfred A. Knopf (Random House, Inc.)
Originally published in France as Otage by Editions Grasser & Fasquelle, Paris, 2010
North American publishing date - August 2012
ISBN-10: 0307599582
ISBN-13: 978-0307599582
224 pages
Genres: Fiction History World War II Holocaust
Fiction Mystery & Thriller Suspense
Elie Wiesel was fifteen when he was deported to Auschwitz. After the war he became a journalist and writer in Paris. Since then he has written more than fifty books, including his masterwork, Night, which was a best seller when it was republished in a new translation. Wiesel has been accorded the United States Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the French Legion of Honor’s Croix, an honorary knighthood of the British Empire, and in 1986, the Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1986, he has been the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University.
Reviewed by Charles S. Weinblatt
Hostage, Elie Wiesel’s latest novel is a powerful examination of the Holocaust, the Israeli/Palestinian struggle, the power of memory, and the desire for emotional resolution.
It is set in 1975 New York City. Shaltiel Feigenberg, a gentle Jewish husband, professional storyteller, and writer is abducted from a Brooklyn street by an Arab and an Italian. He is placed in a basement, bound, and blindfolded. His life is to be exchanged for imprisoned Palestinian terrorists. Although Shaltiel is unknown to almost everyone, his abduction and captivity generate global news attention.
As the world waits apprehensively for his release, Shaltiel regales his captors with stories of his family, his childhood spent hiding from Nazis, the compassion of Russian soldiers who liberated him, and his older brother who turned from Judaism to communism and later escaped from Stalin’s ruthless leaders. All the while, his rescue has become paramount for every police officer and spy, as well as for leaders of the Western nations, the Israeli government, and the global news media.
Tied up and blindfolded in a dark basement, Shaltiel gradually unravels the fabric of a life filled with brutality, captivity, remorse, and fantasy. He struggles to find meaning among memories coated with fear and remorse.
On the emotional front, his Arab captor is filled with anger and cruelty, hurling anti-Semitic invectives, engaging in physical brutality, and he torturing Shaltiel. The Italian captor is less violent; he is a listener motivated by political purpose and an eye toward insurrection. His goal is to change the beliefs and habits of the masses in order to foment revolution.
Author Wiesel’s use of metaphor in Hostage is superb. Through his characters, he examines mankind’s history, meaning, and purpose. The Arab is the killer. His goal is to use imprisonment and murder to intimidate Americans and Israelis. He is willing to capture and kill any Jew in order to further his cause: the destruction of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The Italian is the intellectual, fighting for the poor, weak, and oppressed. Less violent than the Arab, he has allowed himself to be influenced by the killer’s tactics and purpose.
Shaltiel is the tormented Jew who, having survived the Shoah, struggles to find meaning in the stories he has spent a lifetime collecting.
The essence of Mr. Wiesel’s purpose seems an examination of man’s inhumanity to man. His writing style is vivid, the characters captivating and well developed, manifesting a veritable constellation of emotions and experiences.
Through Shaltiel we feel a prisoner’s trepidation, doubt, humiliation, and degradation. The physical brutality of his Arab captor is contrasted by Shaltiel’s affectionate personality and the warmth and tenderness of his memories.
Beyond this, each of the characters anthropomorphizes the politics of nations and ideological movements in which some fight for Israel’s right to exist and some fight for its—and its people’s—destruction.
Shaltiel’s rocky relationship with his wife, Blanca, is examined as he comes to realize his family name and lineage will end with his death. If the novel has any weakness it could be in overly detailed treatment of both Shaltiel’s married years and Blanca’s personality.
With Hostage, Elie Wiesel has once again delivered a novel of intense, express purpose. The pacing is steady and intense, leaving the reader in a constant state of anxiety as to the kindhearted Shaltiel’s fate: murder or freedom? Elie Wiesel adroitly manipulates this anxiety to the very end. The prose is imposing and convincing as Wiesel delivers a ground zero examination of the Holocaust years, the rescue of a small number of incarcerated Jews, the collapse of tolerance among Soviet leaders under Stalin, Israel’s independence, and finally 1975 Brooklyn—all with beauty, skill, and grace.
Hostage is destined to stand alongside Night as a masterpiece: a convincing story imbued with purpose, meaning, and an elegantly disguised sense of moral conviction.
Reviewer Charles S. Weinblatt is the author of the Holocaust novel Jacob’s Courage: A Holocaust Love Story (Mazo Publishers 2007).
March 1, 2013
How ironic that the bookmark I randomly chose from my bookmark box was a photo looking out through an open wall of a tea house onto a well-manicured Japanese garden. I was constantly switching from the constraint, memory, and heady philosophy of the hostage storyteller to the freedom held within that photo. And every time a little "count your blessings" thought ran through my mind.
Suffering from a bout of disillusionment with modern fiction, I was looking for a book of substance and masterful writing. Elie Wiesel did not disappoint. In fact, this surpassed my expectations. The first 34 pages in which Shaltiel is kidnapped did not grab me and read like much modern fiction. But once he becomes a hostage the story quickly shifts to his relationship/discussions with his captors and to his memories and stories. Told entirely from Shantiel's viewpoint, the outside world ceases to exist. Time disappears. The reader joins Shaltiel as he survives by reliving memories (including the Holocaust,) recalls stories, and talks with his captors, mainly the Italian. These talks cover ethics - of justice, retaliation, Jewish religious philosophy, and sometimes just stories. The hostage is that. A storyteller. From that he has scraped out a living and a life.
The newspaper review that brought this book to my attention stated that this is Wiesel's most personal book. He has recently survived heart surgery and The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity was nearly bankrupted by the Madoff Ponzi scheme. And now, at 83, he has written this amazing book. What a beautiful man he must be.
Shaltiel, the hostage, harbors no anger or resentment toward his captors. His only sadness is that he has no heirs. And that is the focus of his desire to survive. I will not tell you whether or not he survives. Let it suffice to say that, like Wiesel, his purpose in life is not finished.
Suffering from a bout of disillusionment with modern fiction, I was looking for a book of substance and masterful writing. Elie Wiesel did not disappoint. In fact, this surpassed my expectations. The first 34 pages in which Shaltiel is kidnapped did not grab me and read like much modern fiction. But once he becomes a hostage the story quickly shifts to his relationship/discussions with his captors and to his memories and stories. Told entirely from Shantiel's viewpoint, the outside world ceases to exist. Time disappears. The reader joins Shaltiel as he survives by reliving memories (including the Holocaust,) recalls stories, and talks with his captors, mainly the Italian. These talks cover ethics - of justice, retaliation, Jewish religious philosophy, and sometimes just stories. The hostage is that. A storyteller. From that he has scraped out a living and a life.
The newspaper review that brought this book to my attention stated that this is Wiesel's most personal book. He has recently survived heart surgery and The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity was nearly bankrupted by the Madoff Ponzi scheme. And now, at 83, he has written this amazing book. What a beautiful man he must be.
Shaltiel, the hostage, harbors no anger or resentment toward his captors. His only sadness is that he has no heirs. And that is the focus of his desire to survive. I will not tell you whether or not he survives. Let it suffice to say that, like Wiesel, his purpose in life is not finished.
November 7, 2012
The Hostage is an interesting book. A Holocaust survivor is kidnapped by two Palestinian terrorist sympathizers in a bid to free three Palestinian prisoners. But the prisoner, a storyteller, isn't an ordinary prisoner and he ultimately confuses his captors with stories. While he doesn't make black become white and white black, he does make white and black into gray even for himself. As he tells the stories, he begins to see them through different eyes, the eyes of an adult, not just the child he was when he lived through them. The chess playing child he was that saved his life through the Holocaust as he was sheltered by a Nazi colonel. His decision not to have children because he couldn't bear to bring children isn't this world and his realization that his attitude was destroying his marriage. The hostage takers were not two dimensional either. Where it didn't hold together for me was the reader. He didn't have a consistent enough voice that I felt I knew who was talking at any given time. It detracted from the story. I also wasn't completely certain I understood the story. I may have to read it at some point after I let it sit for a while.
January 5, 2013
Although this was another very readable book I kept getting this - somewhat annoying - sense that I was missing something. It seemed to be a book without a point, and I kept wondering if the author had some grandiose sense of himself and was laughing at us mere mortals who wouldn't understand some supremely important message within it. I have read Wiesel's book "Night" and remember finding it to be a great book - it's been a while so I might need to re-read it as I remember little of it - but I remember at least being strongly affected by that story, where as I finished this one and just gave it a rather quizzical look as I sert it down. I don't know - it just really did nothing for me. (Oh, and if anyone knows why or how you could or would want to switch between 1st and 3rd person so randomly, sometimes within the space of a sentence or two, and for what purpose -- I would love to know!)
August 26, 2012
In this new novel, Elie Wiesel once again demonstrates the work of memory through the device of storytelling. Set in 1975, Schaltiel Feigenberg, "a discreet man with no status or fortune", is abducted by two revolution-besotted fools, and Arab and an Italian, both sympathetic to Palestinians. Schaltiel, described only as a storyteller, endures his captivity by remembering his past, his family, and his faith. As he puts it, "We’re going to study together, pray together, tell the world about the dangers of forgetting … together". Noting that "Making a man reconcile life and conscience, truth and love, is a much more complex and brutal task than awakening the body to reality and the soul to fervor," the author weaves multiple stories around Schaltiel's survival of the the holocaust, the fate of his family, and the failure of ideology. The young Schaltiel, a chess prodigy, is preserved to entertain a Nazi SS agent, while his family is sent to the camps; his brother, a Communist, escapes to work in the Kremlin during the war, but abandons his new-found faith to return to that of his fathers. All these stories are told as Schaltiel, in the hands of his captors, awaits his fate. Through his ordeal, he constantly returns to the theme of memory:
"Memory will always be something other than an aggregate of words, well or badly strung together. When man feels the need to throw himself into the fray, his speech changes into action...Speech gently caresses the hands of the sleeping child and slaps the face of the criminal. Speech demands a voice in order to live, in order to become a noose or a caress. Sometimes it scales the peaks at full speed; at other times it inches forward slowly, staggering, crawling. It is speech that helps the sick part with the living; and then again, it is also speech that makes death retreat."
The Hostage is a brilliant act of memory and powerful act of speech. Highly recommended.
"Memory will always be something other than an aggregate of words, well or badly strung together. When man feels the need to throw himself into the fray, his speech changes into action...Speech gently caresses the hands of the sleeping child and slaps the face of the criminal. Speech demands a voice in order to live, in order to become a noose or a caress. Sometimes it scales the peaks at full speed; at other times it inches forward slowly, staggering, crawling. It is speech that helps the sick part with the living; and then again, it is also speech that makes death retreat."
The Hostage is a brilliant act of memory and powerful act of speech. Highly recommended.
November 19, 2012
Hostage by Elie Wiesel is a short novel that compresses a modern day drama within a much longer history that stretches beyond the Holocaust to the origins of the Jewish faith.
The story line is as follows: For scant reason having to do with him as a particular Jew, Shaltiel is kidnapped in New York city by terrorists and held hostage in the hopes that his captors can effect an exchange--Shaltiel’s freedom for the freedom of three imprisoned Palestinian freedom fighters. The site of his incarceration is some kind of basement.
Shaltiel’s history is that as a boy he was saved from German extermination camps during World War II by being hidden in a basement (by a German officer), so the irony is apparent: here he is in a basement again, once a hostage, always a hostage.
He is abused and mistreated more in New York than he was in Eastern Europe during World War II. His modern day captors are a brutal Arab extremist and an Italian revolutionary who fundamentally is an anarchist but has allied himself with the Palestinian cause.
Much of the story occurs through Shaltiel’s memory of what happened to his family members during World War II and the Holocaust and what he recalls of his own life afterward, leading to his profession: he’s a story-teller, sometimes writer, and general memorialist of things Jewish, 20th century back to King David...and beyond that.
The tale emerges in bits and pieces: sometimes first person, sometimes third person, sometimes present tense, sometimes past tense, sometimes news clippings and bulletins, sometimes omniscient narration designed to set the stage for U.S./Israeli cooperation in rescuing Shaltiel. (They won’t negotiate as a matter of policy.)
The best sections of this novel have to do with Shaltiel’s frustrating love for his wife, Blanca; the flirtation one family member has with communism during World War II, and a lovely story about a man who plays a violin that has no strings.
A light haze of Jewish mysticism hangs over this novel. There are moments, vignettes, and anecdotes that acquire a dream-like quality, not only reflecting Shaltiel’s stress and pain but also his ongoing confusion about God, whom he never renounces, just as he never gives in to the demand that he sign some kind of statement denouncing Zionism and confirming the justice of the kidnappers’ demands.
Even as someone who has always believed that the Jews have a right to a Jewish state in Palestine, I’ve never believed the Palestinians didn’t have a similar right. In a sentence or two, Wiesel portrays them as casting away that right when they, in effect, did not agree to a two-state solution in the mid-1940s. Then the Palestinians are portrayed, through these kidnappers and their ranting, as determined to reclaim all of Palestine by means of violence.
History shows that yes, the Palestinians and their Arab brothers and sisters have employed violence numerous times against Israel. They’re doing it now out of Gaza. But there are two sides to every story, and this is a one-sided story. For a novel preoccupied with justice, that’s a problem. Rather than spell out the Palestinian perspective (which can be done in great detail), I’ll stick to purely novelistic issues for the moment and set the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian conflict aside.
This could have been a more effective book if it focused more exclusively on Shaltiel’s relationships with the German who helped him survive, with his family, with Blanca, and with the relative who misguidedly adopted communism as his new religion, only to have Stalin drive him from Moscow to Jerusalem, where he reunited with his true faith.
Reviewers and readers aren’t welcome to rewrite authors’ books for them, but my sense is that Wiesel could have accomplished more by using less of the material he packs into a 213 page novel. He offers an abundance of story-telling wisdom, which flows naturally through Shaltiel the story-teller’s mind, that could easily have been exploited to better effect. Ultimately, this is a cosmic and religious meditation; at least that’s where I think its strength lies and the thematic framework within which Wiesel has written with great power for so long.
The story line is as follows: For scant reason having to do with him as a particular Jew, Shaltiel is kidnapped in New York city by terrorists and held hostage in the hopes that his captors can effect an exchange--Shaltiel’s freedom for the freedom of three imprisoned Palestinian freedom fighters. The site of his incarceration is some kind of basement.
Shaltiel’s history is that as a boy he was saved from German extermination camps during World War II by being hidden in a basement (by a German officer), so the irony is apparent: here he is in a basement again, once a hostage, always a hostage.
He is abused and mistreated more in New York than he was in Eastern Europe during World War II. His modern day captors are a brutal Arab extremist and an Italian revolutionary who fundamentally is an anarchist but has allied himself with the Palestinian cause.
Much of the story occurs through Shaltiel’s memory of what happened to his family members during World War II and the Holocaust and what he recalls of his own life afterward, leading to his profession: he’s a story-teller, sometimes writer, and general memorialist of things Jewish, 20th century back to King David...and beyond that.
The tale emerges in bits and pieces: sometimes first person, sometimes third person, sometimes present tense, sometimes past tense, sometimes news clippings and bulletins, sometimes omniscient narration designed to set the stage for U.S./Israeli cooperation in rescuing Shaltiel. (They won’t negotiate as a matter of policy.)
The best sections of this novel have to do with Shaltiel’s frustrating love for his wife, Blanca; the flirtation one family member has with communism during World War II, and a lovely story about a man who plays a violin that has no strings.
A light haze of Jewish mysticism hangs over this novel. There are moments, vignettes, and anecdotes that acquire a dream-like quality, not only reflecting Shaltiel’s stress and pain but also his ongoing confusion about God, whom he never renounces, just as he never gives in to the demand that he sign some kind of statement denouncing Zionism and confirming the justice of the kidnappers’ demands.
Even as someone who has always believed that the Jews have a right to a Jewish state in Palestine, I’ve never believed the Palestinians didn’t have a similar right. In a sentence or two, Wiesel portrays them as casting away that right when they, in effect, did not agree to a two-state solution in the mid-1940s. Then the Palestinians are portrayed, through these kidnappers and their ranting, as determined to reclaim all of Palestine by means of violence.
History shows that yes, the Palestinians and their Arab brothers and sisters have employed violence numerous times against Israel. They’re doing it now out of Gaza. But there are two sides to every story, and this is a one-sided story. For a novel preoccupied with justice, that’s a problem. Rather than spell out the Palestinian perspective (which can be done in great detail), I’ll stick to purely novelistic issues for the moment and set the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian conflict aside.
This could have been a more effective book if it focused more exclusively on Shaltiel’s relationships with the German who helped him survive, with his family, with Blanca, and with the relative who misguidedly adopted communism as his new religion, only to have Stalin drive him from Moscow to Jerusalem, where he reunited with his true faith.
Reviewers and readers aren’t welcome to rewrite authors’ books for them, but my sense is that Wiesel could have accomplished more by using less of the material he packs into a 213 page novel. He offers an abundance of story-telling wisdom, which flows naturally through Shaltiel the story-teller’s mind, that could easily have been exploited to better effect. Ultimately, this is a cosmic and religious meditation; at least that’s where I think its strength lies and the thematic framework within which Wiesel has written with great power for so long.
October 13, 2012
While Wiesel is most famous for Night (and which I also loved), I found Hostage to be a more nuanced meditation on the place of memory, storytelling, and silence in Holocaust remembrance and the fallout from the war. As Shaltiel spends an unknown number of days and nights as a hostage to a Palestinian terrorist and an Italian, well, terrorist, but he's sort of doing it for theoretical reasons, Shalti remembers stories from his life: how he survived the Holocaust in the basement of a Nazi intelligence officer who basically kept him as a chess-playing pet, how his brother became a Communist, and how he and his wife Blanca met.
The narrative shifts from first to third person and past to present tense often. This would drive me crazy in the hands of a lesser writer, but Wiesel manages it seamlessly. The book shifts like sands under your fingers, recreating the effects of memory and forcing you to think about how that effects your recollection of events, aka history. How reliable is our account of history? There are a wide range of stories between Holocaust survivors and Holocaust deniers, and while all of those stories aren't reliable, they still exist. Shaltiel makes his living as a storyteller, and words define his world.
I also found the idea of silence interesting. "Never forget" are the watchwords of those who speak about the Holocaust, but Shaltiel feels the importance of silence in all the words that make up his world.
The narrative shifts from first to third person and past to present tense often. This would drive me crazy in the hands of a lesser writer, but Wiesel manages it seamlessly. The book shifts like sands under your fingers, recreating the effects of memory and forcing you to think about how that effects your recollection of events, aka history. How reliable is our account of history? There are a wide range of stories between Holocaust survivors and Holocaust deniers, and while all of those stories aren't reliable, they still exist. Shaltiel makes his living as a storyteller, and words define his world.
I also found the idea of silence interesting. "Never forget" are the watchwords of those who speak about the Holocaust, but Shaltiel feels the importance of silence in all the words that make up his world.
September 15, 2012
Elie Wiesel is definitely one of my top ten most favorite people on this planet. I just think he is amazing. He is one of those rare individuals that has lived through something horrific and managed to not only survive, but to be made wiser from the experience.
This is a book you could reread and easily find yourself picking up new things each time. I actually listened to this one while running, which was a bit confusing because the story moves around a lot, but I managed.
Very powerful novel with a lot of wisdom mixed in!
This is a book you could reread and easily find yourself picking up new things each time. I actually listened to this one while running, which was a bit confusing because the story moves around a lot, but I managed.
Very powerful novel with a lot of wisdom mixed in!
January 31, 2019
لكي أعطي هذا الكتاب حقه من المراجعة، يجب أولاً أن أوضح أن مراجعتي لن تكون منصفة ومحايدة بسبب طبيعة الكتاب، حيث أنه يتحدث عن رجل يهودي يتم اختطافه وأسره كرهينة من قبل فلسطيني مسلم وإيطالي يدعم الحراك الثوري الذي تقوم به الفصائل الفلسطينية لأسبابه الخاصة..
سأتكلم أولاً عن انطباعي عن الكتاب كعربي مسلم ثم أتحدث عن الكتاب إجمالاً بغض النظر عن هوية القارئ.
أكرر: لن أكون محايداً.
يبدو أن الكاتب يريد أن يتناول قضية النزاع بين اليهود والعرب في دولة فلسطين بطريقة مختلفة. لذلك وضع نفسه كرهينة عند فلسطيني مسلم من أجل أن ينقل للعالم صورة لم يتم إلقاء الضوء عليها من قبل. الصورة تتلخص في أن الفلسطيني الإرهابي، هو إنسان أيضاً ولديه عائلة وبعضهم ماتوا بسبب الإحتلال الصهيوني. كنت أظن أن المؤلف سيقوم بإنصاف الفلسطيني وأن يترك القارئ في حيرة، من هم الأشرار ومن الأخيار.. ولكن إتضح لي أن المؤلف يقوم بتصفية حسابه مع الفلسطينين ويترك القارئ بدون أي شك أو حيرة في أنهم هم الأشرار في هذه القصة.
"الإرهابي" الفلسطيني في هذا الكتاب إسمه (أحمد)، تم تصويره على أنه بذيئ الأخلاق وعنيف وبربري ولا يمت بأي صلة للحضارة والأخلاق وحسن التصرف. أيضاً تم تصويره على أنه مغفل يطيع أوامر "الإسلام" و "النبي" ولم يكلف المؤلف نفسه بأن يشرح أن الإسلام لا يدعم ولا يحرض ولا يأمر بالإعتداء على المدنيين الأبرياء غير حاملي السلاح. لم يبرئ ساحة نبينا عليه وعلى آله أفضل الصلاة والسلام من تصرفات (أحمد) الطوشاء والغوغائية. وكأن نبينا لم يعش بتسالم وهدنة مع اليهود في المدينة. وكأن الإسلام لم يشهد تعايشاً سلمياً بين المسلمين واليهود.
الكاتب طرح نقطة كنت أظن أنها جديرة بالطرح. لماذا تم احتلال فلسطين؟
لأن اليهود ليس لديهم دولة ولأنهم كانوا مضطهدين في أنحاء العالم.
ولماذا يتم حل مشكلتهم على حساب خلق مشكلة جديدة لشعب فلسطين؟
وهنا يراوغ المؤلف في الإجابة.
وأيضاً لم يذكر أن المسلمين هم فقط من قبلوا بالتعايش مع اليهود في حين تم تشريد اليهود من قبل المسيحيين والديانات الأخرى في كل مكان، ومع كل هذا، يردون المعروف بإحتلال أرض من تعايشوا معهم. كل هذا لم يتم التطرق له في الكتاب.
لأن (أحمد) عنيف وأرعن، فإن التحاور معه لن يكون منطقياً، لذلك اخترع المؤلف شخصية الإيطالي غير المسلم والذي يؤمن بالقضية الفلسطينية. تم تصوير هذا الإيطالي على أنه متحضر وعاقل ورزين وهادئ وغير عنيف، حتى إنه لم يصفع أو يؤذي بطل القصة منذ البداية إلى النهاية.. وهذا الإيطالي هو من تم التحاور معه طيلة الكتاب عن أسباب اضطهاد اليهود وما فعله هتلر والمحرقة والمعتقلات ومعاناة اليهود.
كنت سأتغاضى عن الكتاب لو أنه اكتفى بتصوير المسلم بأنه مجنون ويفتقر للمنطق، لو أن المؤلف قام بتبرئة الإسلام من تصرفاته.. ولكن للأسف، المؤلف يريد للقارئ أن يفهم أن أحمد ينفذ حرفياً ما يملي عليه دينه، وهنا دس السم بالعسل، ولذلك أعطيت هذا الكتاب هذا التقييم.
الآن أتحدث عن الكتاب بعض النظر عن هويتي وانتمائي.
ليست هذه أول مرة أقرأ فيها شيئاً عن ما قام به هتلر وعن اضطهاده لليهود. هذا الكتاب ذكرني كثيراً بالكتاب الرائع والجميل جداً
(سارقة الكتب The Book Thief)
ولكن الفرق أن ذلك الكتاب أفضل بكثير من هذا الكتاب.
أعجبني في هذا الكتاب أن البطل (شالتيل) هو رواي قصص ويقوم بتأليفها كمصدر رزق. وكثير من القصص المروية خلال الكتاب جيدة، وإن لم تكن مكتملة الأركان. لكن الكتاب ينتهي بأسئلة لم يتم الإجابة عنها.
من هو الشخص المفقود الذي تمت الإشارة إليه في بداية ونهاية الكتاب؟ حتى بعد عودة شالتيل لأهله؟
ما الرسالة التي تركها بورتيوس ذو العين الواحدة والذي قال له أن يفتحها بعد فترة من الزمن؟
من هو بورتيوس ذو العين الواحدة؟ هل هو إنسان، أم ملاك، أم وهم؟
كنت أظن أننا سنمضي وقتاً كثيراً مع الشرطة والمخابرات في محاولات البحث عن شالطيل ولكن الكتاب يذكر الشرطة في الصفحات الأولى والصفحتين الأخيرتين، بينما بقية الكتاب نمضيها مع شالطي في القبو، مع ذكرياته وأحلامه ومحاوراته مع الإيطالي وأحياناً تلقيه السب والشتم والصفعات واللكمات من (أحمد).
الكتاب أقل من عادي ويتنقل كثيراً بين الراوي بصيغة الشخص الثالث وبين الراوي على لسان شالطيل بطل القصة. ولا أعلم السبب بين التنقل هذا، ولا الميزة التي يكتسبها المؤلف من هذا التنقل، ولا حتى المنطق الذي يملي عليه الإنتقال من صيغة لصيغة، مما ينتج عنه تخبط وعدم اتساق.
فيما عدا ذلك، شالطيل شخصية طيبة ومحبوبة ومسالمة وهادئة.. كنت آمل أن نعرف هذه الشخصية أكثر. الجزء الذي أعجبني في الكتاب هو عندما كان شالطيل طفلاً يعيش خائفاً في بيت الضابط الألمان��... في رأيي أن هذه الجزئية هي ما كان يجدر إلقاء المزيد من الضوء عليها.. كان من الممكن أن يكون الكتاب أكثر متعة لو أنه ركز على هذه الجزئية. أيضاً أعجبتني الجزئيات التي تتحدث عن المشتركات في الموروث اليهودي والإسلامي فيما يخص قصة نبي الله يوسف وما حصل له مع إخوته. وكذلك نبي الله إسماعيل ويعقوب وأيوب وإسحاق.. كم تمنيت لو أنه تم الإسهاب في التحدث عنهم...
ربما كنا سنحصل على رواية مقاربة لسارقة الكتب لو لم يتم ازدراء دين آخر ..
سأتكلم أولاً عن انطباعي عن الكتاب كعربي مسلم ثم أتحدث عن الكتاب إجمالاً بغض النظر عن هوية القارئ.
أكرر: لن أكون محايداً.
يبدو أن الكاتب يريد أن يتناول قضية النزاع بين اليهود والعرب في دولة فلسطين بطريقة مختلفة. لذلك وضع نفسه كرهينة عند فلسطيني مسلم من أجل أن ينقل للعالم صورة لم يتم إلقاء الضوء عليها من قبل. الصورة تتلخص في أن الفلسطيني الإرهابي، هو إنسان أيضاً ولديه عائلة وبعضهم ماتوا بسبب الإحتلال الصهيوني. كنت أظن أن المؤلف سيقوم بإنصاف الفلسطيني وأن يترك القارئ في حيرة، من هم الأشرار ومن الأخيار.. ولكن إتضح لي أن المؤلف يقوم بتصفية حسابه مع الفلسطينين ويترك القارئ بدون أي شك أو حيرة في أنهم هم الأشرار في هذه القصة.
"الإرهابي" الفلسطيني في هذا الكتاب إسمه (أحمد)، تم تصويره على أنه بذيئ الأخلاق وعنيف وبربري ولا يمت بأي صلة للحضارة والأخلاق وحسن التصرف. أيضاً تم تصويره على أنه مغفل يطيع أوامر "الإسلام" و "النبي" ولم يكلف المؤلف نفسه بأن يشرح أن الإسلام لا يدعم ولا يحرض ولا يأمر بالإعتداء على المدنيين الأبرياء غير حاملي السلاح. لم يبرئ ساحة نبينا عليه وعلى آله أفضل الصلاة والسلام من تصرفات (أحمد) الطوشاء والغوغائية. وكأن نبينا لم يعش بتسالم وهدنة مع اليهود في المدينة. وكأن الإسلام لم يشهد تعايشاً سلمياً بين المسلمين واليهود.
الكاتب طرح نقطة كنت أظن أنها جديرة بالطرح. لماذا تم احتلال فلسطين؟
لأن اليهود ليس لديهم دولة ولأنهم كانوا مضطهدين في أنحاء العالم.
ولماذا يتم حل مشكلتهم على حساب خلق مشكلة جديدة لشعب فلسطين؟
وهنا يراوغ المؤلف في الإجابة.
وأيضاً لم يذكر أن المسلمين هم فقط من قبلوا بالتعايش مع اليهود في حين تم تشريد اليهود من قبل المسيحيين والديانات الأخرى في كل مكان، ومع كل هذا، يردون المعروف بإحتلال أرض من تعايشوا معهم. كل هذا لم يتم التطرق له في الكتاب.
لأن (أحمد) عنيف وأرعن، فإن التحاور معه لن يكون منطقياً، لذلك اخترع المؤلف شخصية الإيطالي غير المسلم والذي يؤمن بالقضية الفلسطينية. تم تصوير هذا الإيطالي على أنه متحضر وعاقل ورزين وهادئ وغير عنيف، حتى إنه لم يصفع أو يؤذي بطل القصة منذ البداية إلى النهاية.. وهذا الإيطالي هو من تم التحاور معه طيلة الكتاب عن أسباب اضطهاد اليهود وما فعله هتلر والمحرقة والمعتقلات ومعاناة اليهود.
كنت سأتغاضى عن الكتاب لو أنه اكتفى بتصوير المسلم بأنه مجنون ويفتقر للمنطق، لو أن المؤلف قام بتبرئة الإسلام من تصرفاته.. ولكن للأسف، المؤلف يريد للقارئ أن يفهم أن أحمد ينفذ حرفياً ما يملي عليه دينه، وهنا دس السم بالعسل، ولذلك أعطيت هذا الكتاب هذا التقييم.
الآن أتحدث عن الكتاب بعض النظر عن هويتي وانتمائي.
ليست هذه أول مرة أقرأ فيها شيئاً عن ما قام به هتلر وعن اضطهاده لليهود. هذا الكتاب ذكرني كثيراً بالكتاب الرائع والجميل جداً
(سارقة الكتب The Book Thief)
ولكن الفرق أن ذلك الكتاب أفضل بكثير من هذا الكتاب.
أعجبني في هذا الكتاب أن البطل (شالتيل) هو رواي قصص ويقوم بتأليفها كمصدر رزق. وكثير من القصص المروية خلال الكتاب جيدة، وإن لم تكن مكتملة الأركان. لكن الكتاب ينتهي بأسئلة لم يتم الإجابة عنها.
من هو الشخص المفقود الذي تمت الإشارة إليه في بداية ونهاية الكتاب؟ حتى بعد عودة شالتيل لأهله؟
ما الرسالة التي تركها بورتيوس ذو العين الواحدة والذي قال له أن يفتحها بعد فترة من الزمن؟
من هو بورتيوس ذو العين الواحدة؟ هل هو إنسان، أم ملاك، أم وهم؟
كنت أظن أننا سنمضي وقتاً كثيراً مع الشرطة والمخابرات في محاولات البحث عن شالطيل ولكن الكتاب يذكر الشرطة في الصفحات الأولى والصفحتين الأخيرتين، بينما بقية الكتاب نمضيها مع شالطي في القبو، مع ذكرياته وأحلامه ومحاوراته مع الإيطالي وأحياناً تلقيه السب والشتم والصفعات واللكمات من (أحمد).
الكتاب أقل من عادي ويتنقل كثيراً بين الراوي بصيغة الشخص الثالث وبين الراوي على لسان شالطيل بطل القصة. ولا أعلم السبب بين التنقل هذا، ولا الميزة التي يكتسبها المؤلف من هذا التنقل، ولا حتى المنطق الذي يملي عليه الإنتقال من صيغة لصيغة، مما ينتج عنه تخبط وعدم اتساق.
فيما عدا ذلك، شالطيل شخصية طيبة ومحبوبة ومسالمة وهادئة.. كنت آمل أن نعرف هذه الشخصية أكثر. الجزء الذي أعجبني في الكتاب هو عندما كان شالطيل طفلاً يعيش خائفاً في بيت الضابط الألمان��... في رأيي أن هذه الجزئية هي ما كان يجدر إلقاء المزيد من الضوء عليها.. كان من الممكن أن يكون الكتاب أكثر متعة لو أنه ركز على هذه الجزئية. أيضاً أعجبتني الجزئيات التي تتحدث عن المشتركات في الموروث اليهودي والإسلامي فيما يخص قصة نبي الله يوسف وما حصل له مع إخوته. وكذلك نبي الله إسماعيل ويعقوب وأيوب وإسحاق.. كم تمنيت لو أنه تم الإسهاب في التحدث عنهم...
ربما كنا سنحصل على رواية مقاربة لسارقة الكتب لو لم يتم ازدراء دين آخر ..
November 22, 2023
I did not realize this would be so topical for the Israel-Palestine conflict but I found its perspective refreshing. The book certainly isn't perfect, especially if non-linear narratives aren't your thing, but for me it's a 5 out of 5. I highly recommend it.
June 12, 2024
This wasn't the greatest book ever written by someone who is admittedly nonetheless one of the most profound writers of the twentieth century, but I couldn't imagine one that's more timely, considering the events which have occurred over the last six months, in the very land which is the focus of this at least capable novel. I would recommend reading it for that reason alone.
I assume Elie Wiesel needs no introduction, but a brief biography: Eliezer Wiesel was a Romanian-born (Transylvanian) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor who authored 57 books over the course of his remarkable life. His life's work has earned him just about every prestigious prize in the world, including a Congressional Gold Medal (1984), the French Legion of Honor – Commander, Grand Officer, and Grand Cross (1984, 1990, 2000), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1992), the Order of the Star of Romania – Grand Officer (2002) an Honorary knighthood (2006), and the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1986. He was a founding board member of the New York Human Rights Foundation and a professor of the humanities at Boston University. The Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies was subsequently created in his honor.
Few of Wiesel's family survived the Holocaust. He had three siblings: elder sisters Beatrice and Hilda survived the war and were eventually reunited with Wiesel at a French orphanage, but his parents and younger sister Tzipora did not. His remaining family eventually emigrated to North America, with Beatrice moving to Montreal, Canada. At age fifteen, Wiesel and his family, along with the entirety of his hometown's town's Jewish population had been interred in one of two confinement ghettos in Máramarossziget (Sighet), but in May 1944, Hungarian authorities began to deport the Jewish population to Auschwitz. An estimated ninety percent of deportees were murdered immediately upon arrival - that included Wiesel's mother and younger sister.
Wiesel's most famous novel, "Night," is one of the most celebrated works of Holocaust literature ever written. It documents in excruciating detail his experiences in several Nazi concentration camps, most notably Auschwitz and Buchenwald. One of the most heart-wrenching descriptions in the book is when Wiesel recounts the death of his father in Auschwitz. Wiesel essentially credits his father for his own survival, however, stating later in life that his primary motivation for trying to survive Auschwitz was knowing that his father was still alive, specifically that "I knew that if I died, he would die."
In the wake of that indescribable trauma, for nearly a decade years after the war, Wiesel refused to write about or discuss his experiences during the war, but that changed after meeting French author François Mauriac, the 1952 Nobel Laureate in Literature who eventually became a close friend. Wiesel first wrote a 900-page memoir in Yiddish, entitled "Un di velt hot geshvign" (And the World Remained Silent), an abridged version of which was later published in Buenos Aires. That initial book became the foundation of the work we know today as "Night," or "La Nuit," in French, which was first published in 1955. It was subsequently translated into English in 1960, and then, eventually, dozens of other languages. In 1955, Wiesel also moved to New York as foreign correspondent for the Israel daily, "Yediot Ahronot." He continued to write books, amassing a large body of work. In 1969, he married Marion Erster Rose, who translated many of his books. They had one son, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel, named after Wiesel's father who perished at Buchenwald shortly before the camp was liberated.
Many of Wiesel's books are works of non-fiction, but some, as this novel, are fictional accounts based on timely events of the day, which served as springboards to a discussion of more broad-reaching themes. The premise of this novel, as above, is a timely one indeed. It's a fictional account (keeping in mind the fact that at the time of writing this review, more than a hundred hostages are still being held hostage in Gaza in the wake of an unprecedented attack) which tells the story of Holocaust survivor Shaltiel Feignberg, a rather obscure writer, storyteller and philosopher, who is himself abducted and held hostage in a dark basement by two captors, whom he describes as an "Arab" and an "Italian."
As Shaltiel eventually discovers, the "Italian," Luigi, is a hapless "useful idiot" with some serious daddy issues who is bent on revolution of any stripe, who identifies as a political revolutionary, whatever that means - indeed, it doesn't really have any meaning, and Luigi doesn't seemingly have any purpose other than to rebel against the Establishment. He apparently sides with just about any group he views as "oppressed," which, in this instance, is the Palestinian people. He has no particular animosity toward the Jewish people - although the same can't be said for his father, who was apparently a high-ranking fascist official under Mussolini. Rather, Luigi believes that their presence in the region, as well as their insistence on having an actual state, is oppressing the Palestinians.
The second, "Ahmed," is a far more malevolent character, who harbors a deep hatred for Jews and what he describes as the "Zionist cause," that is, the presence of Jewish people in the Levant. As such, he heaps both physical and psychological abuse on his prisoner, whom he believes to be a Jewish figure of some renown whose plight will capture the attention of the world. He becomes even more violent and abusive when he learns that this isn't the case. However, the actions of the two men catapult Shaltiel to front-page news, making him more of a celebrity than he ever was before.
In addition to some rather nondescript revolutionary aims, the two men state that Shaltiel is being held to negotiate the release of three of their brethren, Palestinians who are currently incarcerated on terrorist charges. Believing that Shaltiel is famous, they also demand that he write a letter denouncing Zionism and criticizing the actions of Jewish leaders in Israel, but Shaltiel refuses to be a pawn in their game, despite their abuse and threats of execution. Unknown to all of them, both Jewish forces, in the form of Mossad agents, as well as NYPD and FBI personnel are looking for him. They are given three days to acquiesce to the demands of the hostage takers before Shaltiel is summarily executed.
Especially traumatic for Shaltiel, in addition to the physical abuse at the hands of Ahmed, is his confinement in a dark basement. He survived the war years by being sequestered and hidden in the castle basement of a high-ranking German officer who concealed him seemingly for the sole purpose of having a capable chess partner, as Shaltiel was a prodigy in his youth.
Over the course of the 80 hours of his captivity, Shaltiel recalls the events of his life, including the death of his grandmother at Auschwitz, his complex relationship with his absentee father, how he met Blanca, his wife, and the misadventures of his Communist elder brother. He draws strength from his studies, the spiritual mentors he has had throughout his life, and a deep desire to see his family again, lamenting the fact that he chose to never have children, all while contemplating his own mortality in the face of what will almost certainly result in his murder at the hands of the terrorists who have taken him captive.
The most timely part of the novel, unintentionally at the time, obviously, is reflective of the longstanding hostilities and seemingly irreconcilable conflicts which are as pervasive today as they were a half-century ago. The passage below could have been written today. Luigi asks him:
"'Even if the Jewish people deserved a homeland, why did it have to be Palestine?'
'Because no other people in the world have been as haunted as mine for thousands of years by the nostalgia of returning to the land of their ancestors.'
'Nostalgia is a feeling that leaves me cold,' Luigi said. 'What I'm interested in is justice. I'm fighting so that justice is rendered to the oppressed Palestinians. You Jews have forgotten that your hope is founded on their despair.'
I reminded Luigi of a few historical truths: There had never been a Palestinian state since the origins of Islam. It was only in 1947 that, for the first time, the concept of a legal and independent Arab state in Palestine appeared on a resolution adopted by the United Nations. This resolution, known as partition - between a Jewish state and an Arab state (NOT a Palestinian state) - had been accepted by Israel. The Arabs rejected it and chose violence instead. Had they accepted that proposed plan, today Lydda and Jaffa would be part of a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside a smaller, if not weaker, Jewish state. And Ahmed could have grown up and led a peaceful, productive existence instead of devoting his days and nights to murder."
Agree or disagree, the debate which rages on virtually identical to that which was going on when this was written, and when the account takes place, which was in 1975.
It also offers the best and most succinct description of the Cult of Communism I've ever read, which was spoken by the secretary of the Communist cell which Shaltiel's elder brother joins: "From now on, your family is us. We have complete priority over all the people who are not party [read cult] members. Forget your individual conscience and your personal passions: You've now written them off once and for all. The party is the equivalent of God for your father - the beginning and end of all things. Betray the party and you'll be damned."
If you ever encounter ANY group which says this to you - religious, ideological or political: RUN. Of course, the problem is, they are almost never so overt. This is indeed the message, but it's presented in a way that people don't actually recognize what is being demanded of them until it's too late.
This and other moral and practical lessons make this short but powerful novel a worthwhile read, if for no other reason than the current state of war going on as this is written in the state of Israel.
I assume Elie Wiesel needs no introduction, but a brief biography: Eliezer Wiesel was a Romanian-born (Transylvanian) writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor who authored 57 books over the course of his remarkable life. His life's work has earned him just about every prestigious prize in the world, including a Congressional Gold Medal (1984), the French Legion of Honor – Commander, Grand Officer, and Grand Cross (1984, 1990, 2000), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1992), the Order of the Star of Romania – Grand Officer (2002) an Honorary knighthood (2006), and the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1986. He was a founding board member of the New York Human Rights Foundation and a professor of the humanities at Boston University. The Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies was subsequently created in his honor.
Few of Wiesel's family survived the Holocaust. He had three siblings: elder sisters Beatrice and Hilda survived the war and were eventually reunited with Wiesel at a French orphanage, but his parents and younger sister Tzipora did not. His remaining family eventually emigrated to North America, with Beatrice moving to Montreal, Canada. At age fifteen, Wiesel and his family, along with the entirety of his hometown's town's Jewish population had been interred in one of two confinement ghettos in Máramarossziget (Sighet), but in May 1944, Hungarian authorities began to deport the Jewish population to Auschwitz. An estimated ninety percent of deportees were murdered immediately upon arrival - that included Wiesel's mother and younger sister.
Wiesel's most famous novel, "Night," is one of the most celebrated works of Holocaust literature ever written. It documents in excruciating detail his experiences in several Nazi concentration camps, most notably Auschwitz and Buchenwald. One of the most heart-wrenching descriptions in the book is when Wiesel recounts the death of his father in Auschwitz. Wiesel essentially credits his father for his own survival, however, stating later in life that his primary motivation for trying to survive Auschwitz was knowing that his father was still alive, specifically that "I knew that if I died, he would die."
In the wake of that indescribable trauma, for nearly a decade years after the war, Wiesel refused to write about or discuss his experiences during the war, but that changed after meeting French author François Mauriac, the 1952 Nobel Laureate in Literature who eventually became a close friend. Wiesel first wrote a 900-page memoir in Yiddish, entitled "Un di velt hot geshvign" (And the World Remained Silent), an abridged version of which was later published in Buenos Aires. That initial book became the foundation of the work we know today as "Night," or "La Nuit," in French, which was first published in 1955. It was subsequently translated into English in 1960, and then, eventually, dozens of other languages. In 1955, Wiesel also moved to New York as foreign correspondent for the Israel daily, "Yediot Ahronot." He continued to write books, amassing a large body of work. In 1969, he married Marion Erster Rose, who translated many of his books. They had one son, Shlomo Elisha Wiesel, named after Wiesel's father who perished at Buchenwald shortly before the camp was liberated.
Many of Wiesel's books are works of non-fiction, but some, as this novel, are fictional accounts based on timely events of the day, which served as springboards to a discussion of more broad-reaching themes. The premise of this novel, as above, is a timely one indeed. It's a fictional account (keeping in mind the fact that at the time of writing this review, more than a hundred hostages are still being held hostage in Gaza in the wake of an unprecedented attack) which tells the story of Holocaust survivor Shaltiel Feignberg, a rather obscure writer, storyteller and philosopher, who is himself abducted and held hostage in a dark basement by two captors, whom he describes as an "Arab" and an "Italian."
As Shaltiel eventually discovers, the "Italian," Luigi, is a hapless "useful idiot" with some serious daddy issues who is bent on revolution of any stripe, who identifies as a political revolutionary, whatever that means - indeed, it doesn't really have any meaning, and Luigi doesn't seemingly have any purpose other than to rebel against the Establishment. He apparently sides with just about any group he views as "oppressed," which, in this instance, is the Palestinian people. He has no particular animosity toward the Jewish people - although the same can't be said for his father, who was apparently a high-ranking fascist official under Mussolini. Rather, Luigi believes that their presence in the region, as well as their insistence on having an actual state, is oppressing the Palestinians.
The second, "Ahmed," is a far more malevolent character, who harbors a deep hatred for Jews and what he describes as the "Zionist cause," that is, the presence of Jewish people in the Levant. As such, he heaps both physical and psychological abuse on his prisoner, whom he believes to be a Jewish figure of some renown whose plight will capture the attention of the world. He becomes even more violent and abusive when he learns that this isn't the case. However, the actions of the two men catapult Shaltiel to front-page news, making him more of a celebrity than he ever was before.
In addition to some rather nondescript revolutionary aims, the two men state that Shaltiel is being held to negotiate the release of three of their brethren, Palestinians who are currently incarcerated on terrorist charges. Believing that Shaltiel is famous, they also demand that he write a letter denouncing Zionism and criticizing the actions of Jewish leaders in Israel, but Shaltiel refuses to be a pawn in their game, despite their abuse and threats of execution. Unknown to all of them, both Jewish forces, in the form of Mossad agents, as well as NYPD and FBI personnel are looking for him. They are given three days to acquiesce to the demands of the hostage takers before Shaltiel is summarily executed.
Especially traumatic for Shaltiel, in addition to the physical abuse at the hands of Ahmed, is his confinement in a dark basement. He survived the war years by being sequestered and hidden in the castle basement of a high-ranking German officer who concealed him seemingly for the sole purpose of having a capable chess partner, as Shaltiel was a prodigy in his youth.
Over the course of the 80 hours of his captivity, Shaltiel recalls the events of his life, including the death of his grandmother at Auschwitz, his complex relationship with his absentee father, how he met Blanca, his wife, and the misadventures of his Communist elder brother. He draws strength from his studies, the spiritual mentors he has had throughout his life, and a deep desire to see his family again, lamenting the fact that he chose to never have children, all while contemplating his own mortality in the face of what will almost certainly result in his murder at the hands of the terrorists who have taken him captive.
The most timely part of the novel, unintentionally at the time, obviously, is reflective of the longstanding hostilities and seemingly irreconcilable conflicts which are as pervasive today as they were a half-century ago. The passage below could have been written today. Luigi asks him:
"'Even if the Jewish people deserved a homeland, why did it have to be Palestine?'
'Because no other people in the world have been as haunted as mine for thousands of years by the nostalgia of returning to the land of their ancestors.'
'Nostalgia is a feeling that leaves me cold,' Luigi said. 'What I'm interested in is justice. I'm fighting so that justice is rendered to the oppressed Palestinians. You Jews have forgotten that your hope is founded on their despair.'
I reminded Luigi of a few historical truths: There had never been a Palestinian state since the origins of Islam. It was only in 1947 that, for the first time, the concept of a legal and independent Arab state in Palestine appeared on a resolution adopted by the United Nations. This resolution, known as partition - between a Jewish state and an Arab state (NOT a Palestinian state) - had been accepted by Israel. The Arabs rejected it and chose violence instead. Had they accepted that proposed plan, today Lydda and Jaffa would be part of a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside a smaller, if not weaker, Jewish state. And Ahmed could have grown up and led a peaceful, productive existence instead of devoting his days and nights to murder."
Agree or disagree, the debate which rages on virtually identical to that which was going on when this was written, and when the account takes place, which was in 1975.
It also offers the best and most succinct description of the Cult of Communism I've ever read, which was spoken by the secretary of the Communist cell which Shaltiel's elder brother joins: "From now on, your family is us. We have complete priority over all the people who are not party [read cult] members. Forget your individual conscience and your personal passions: You've now written them off once and for all. The party is the equivalent of God for your father - the beginning and end of all things. Betray the party and you'll be damned."
If you ever encounter ANY group which says this to you - religious, ideological or political: RUN. Of course, the problem is, they are almost never so overt. This is indeed the message, but it's presented in a way that people don't actually recognize what is being demanded of them until it's too late.
This and other moral and practical lessons make this short but powerful novel a worthwhile read, if for no other reason than the current state of war going on as this is written in the state of Israel.
December 4, 2012
Shaltiel Feigenberg is a middle-aged storyteller in Brooklyn on his way to visit a friend when he is kidnapped by two men seeking the release of three Palestinian prisoners.
His four-day confinement is the setting of Elie Wiesel’s latest novel Hostage (Knopf). Although, this being a Wiesel novel, much of the action, as one would expect, takes place inside the protaganist’s head.
It is 1975, the middle of a volatile decade. Gerald Ford is in office, the Munich massacre at the Olympics and the Yom Kippur War are not far behind, and the rise of the PLO is consuming much of Israeli intelligence’s resources.
But Shaltiel doesn’t understand why he has been taken. Surely it’s a case of mistaken identity. In his own words, the virtually unknown writer – soon to be catapulted onto the world stage – is a nobody.
The novel goes back and forth between the present and the past. The introduction of Israeli special agents tracking his disappearance early in the novel hints at a potential thriller that never really materializes.
Most of the action takes place as verbal debates either between him and the kidnappers or in his own mind with his memories.
The 200-page novel is not without digressions. The story of Shaltiel’s brother who fled to Russia before the war and became a rising star in the Communist Party does little to add to the main story line, although it does bring up the theme of redemption, one of many themes in Hostage.
The best part of the book is the intellectual discussions Shaltiel has with Luigi (an Italian, one of his kidnappers, the other being Ahmed, an Arab, who is more prone to verbal abuse than intellectual debates).
His kidnappers belong to the Palestinian Revolutionary Group – and this kidnapping is part of a new strategy to destabilize Israel by striking at American Jews.
When given a chance, Shaltiel gives Luigi a lesson in historical truths on the history of Israel and the Arab rejection of the partition.
The two end up having a verbal chess game, and one gets the feeling that the premise is merely a way for Wiesel to discuss Palestine, Israel, the occupation, revolution and terrorism.
Weighty stuff inside what otherwise is a straightforward book about hostage taking.
And, of course, a Wiesel book wouldn’t be complete without touching upon the themes of the Holocaust, silence and the nature of evil.
His four-day confinement is the setting of Elie Wiesel’s latest novel Hostage (Knopf). Although, this being a Wiesel novel, much of the action, as one would expect, takes place inside the protaganist’s head.
It is 1975, the middle of a volatile decade. Gerald Ford is in office, the Munich massacre at the Olympics and the Yom Kippur War are not far behind, and the rise of the PLO is consuming much of Israeli intelligence’s resources.
But Shaltiel doesn’t understand why he has been taken. Surely it’s a case of mistaken identity. In his own words, the virtually unknown writer – soon to be catapulted onto the world stage – is a nobody.
The novel goes back and forth between the present and the past. The introduction of Israeli special agents tracking his disappearance early in the novel hints at a potential thriller that never really materializes.
Most of the action takes place as verbal debates either between him and the kidnappers or in his own mind with his memories.
The 200-page novel is not without digressions. The story of Shaltiel’s brother who fled to Russia before the war and became a rising star in the Communist Party does little to add to the main story line, although it does bring up the theme of redemption, one of many themes in Hostage.
The best part of the book is the intellectual discussions Shaltiel has with Luigi (an Italian, one of his kidnappers, the other being Ahmed, an Arab, who is more prone to verbal abuse than intellectual debates).
His kidnappers belong to the Palestinian Revolutionary Group – and this kidnapping is part of a new strategy to destabilize Israel by striking at American Jews.
When given a chance, Shaltiel gives Luigi a lesson in historical truths on the history of Israel and the Arab rejection of the partition.
The two end up having a verbal chess game, and one gets the feeling that the premise is merely a way for Wiesel to discuss Palestine, Israel, the occupation, revolution and terrorism.
Weighty stuff inside what otherwise is a straightforward book about hostage taking.
And, of course, a Wiesel book wouldn’t be complete without touching upon the themes of the Holocaust, silence and the nature of evil.
September 4, 2012
Hostage © 2012 – Fiction
By Elie Wiesel (Jewish-American b-1928) – Terrorism
Hostage is an excellent novel with the pleasure of utilizing only three characters for some deep drama. Human interaction and emotion rule the day without relying on graphic torture or Hollywood antics.
Elie Wiesel is one of only a small handful of writers who could pull this off brilliantly. Being a holocaust survivor himself, as well as actually having endured Auschwitz’s death camp, Elie regrettably knows his material.
Elie’s Jewish character in the novel held hostage ‘Shaltiel Fiegenberg’ is neither famous nor in any way more or less significant. The terrorists consist of an Islamic extremist and an intellectual Italian sympathizer. The bounty for Shatiel’s freedom is the freeing of three Palestinian prisoners.
An American held captive by a couple of revolutionist is not by any means a fresh idea. Hollywood has trampled this idea to death however Elie’s version comes off way more worthy of note, considering the source. It reads like a Turner Classic Movie relying on content and quality to carry the day rather than Bruce Willis, explosions, shock & awe.
At 214 pages it was taken in with one sitting. Well actually, I made it to 211 wherein my wife unyieldingly intervened with some domicile crisis, thereby causing a rather obtuse ‘book interrupted’ incident. We have talked it out and have since reconciled. Almost a full pull
A good read.
By John Archibald, September 2012
By Elie Wiesel (Jewish-American b-1928) – Terrorism
Hostage is an excellent novel with the pleasure of utilizing only three characters for some deep drama. Human interaction and emotion rule the day without relying on graphic torture or Hollywood antics.
Elie Wiesel is one of only a small handful of writers who could pull this off brilliantly. Being a holocaust survivor himself, as well as actually having endured Auschwitz’s death camp, Elie regrettably knows his material.
Elie’s Jewish character in the novel held hostage ‘Shaltiel Fiegenberg’ is neither famous nor in any way more or less significant. The terrorists consist of an Islamic extremist and an intellectual Italian sympathizer. The bounty for Shatiel’s freedom is the freeing of three Palestinian prisoners.
An American held captive by a couple of revolutionist is not by any means a fresh idea. Hollywood has trampled this idea to death however Elie’s version comes off way more worthy of note, considering the source. It reads like a Turner Classic Movie relying on content and quality to carry the day rather than Bruce Willis, explosions, shock & awe.
At 214 pages it was taken in with one sitting. Well actually, I made it to 211 wherein my wife unyieldingly intervened with some domicile crisis, thereby causing a rather obtuse ‘book interrupted’ incident. We have talked it out and have since reconciled. Almost a full pull
A good read.
By John Archibald, September 2012
May 14, 2017
I don’t consider myself to be overly politically correct but am I the only one somewhat offended by the Arab caricature of the Palestinian kidnapper/terrorist? Yes, a blood-thirsty, foaming-at-the mouth fanatic is not my idea of empathy but I suppose that wasn’t what he was going for in this novel. He saves his empathy for a much less obvious representation of the Muslim, an Italian with the extremely Italian name of Luigi. Ahmed is just too Arab and too Muslim to come across as anything other than some sort of wild animal.
I know one thing about myself and that is that I don’t have a bit of anti-Semitism in me; it’s just that I hate all religions beginning with the Catholicism that I shed when I was about 5 years old. I just think that any stories about your wise and powerful god are silly and farfetched no matter what book you are reading from.
P.S. Shaltiel sounds like a stripper name which is what I was thinking every time I read the name, no offense to all of the Shaltiels out there who aren't exotic dancers.
I know one thing about myself and that is that I don’t have a bit of anti-Semitism in me; it’s just that I hate all religions beginning with the Catholicism that I shed when I was about 5 years old. I just think that any stories about your wise and powerful god are silly and farfetched no matter what book you are reading from.
P.S. Shaltiel sounds like a stripper name which is what I was thinking every time I read the name, no offense to all of the Shaltiels out there who aren't exotic dancers.
December 3, 2012
An interesting interweaving of stories around the experiences of a Jewish storyteller who is kidnapped by a Palestinian and an Italian. Shaltiel Feigenberg's father had brought him to America to escape a Europe marred by the Holocaust, but the repercussions of the establishment of Israel brought about the situation of Shaltiel's kidnap.
During the Second World War Shaltiel survived by being able to win or lose games of chess in the basement of his German protector. In the Brooklyn basement of his kidnappers, he has to use his ability to speak or remain silent to persuade his captors not to kill him.
His tales have some effect on one of his captors, but it's on the European one, not the Palestinian man with whom he really needs to connect the most. I enjoyed the story very much, but it still leaves me feeling fairly hopeless about the prospects of peace in the Middle East.
During the Second World War Shaltiel survived by being able to win or lose games of chess in the basement of his German protector. In the Brooklyn basement of his kidnappers, he has to use his ability to speak or remain silent to persuade his captors not to kill him.
His tales have some effect on one of his captors, but it's on the European one, not the Palestinian man with whom he really needs to connect the most. I enjoyed the story very much, but it still leaves me feeling fairly hopeless about the prospects of peace in the Middle East.
September 16, 2012
Elie Wiesel is one of the few authors who could have written this book so effectively. His use of word, memory and nuanced communications between characters is done so deftly. His message and the way in which he communicates it is pitch perfect. The main character is so interesting and his life is so rich in many ways yet he is the victim of a terrorist act throughout the book. His inner thoughts and musings are a pleasure to read. Some of the parts of this book drag a tad just because it's hard to relate to them, passages seemingly out of context. However, overall it's a masterfully written book.
September 11, 2012
If you can read Elie Weisel and not have a tear come to your eye at least a time or two, you need to have an empathy check. Hostage is a lesson in history, philosophy, religion and mysticism loosely held together by the story of a Jewish storyteller held hostage by terrorists. It's a little like fine wine in a crystal goblet, the crystal (read story) is nice but it is the wine (content) that is really important. I would love to have the opportunity to hear Mr. Weisel speak in person, I'll bet he's fantastic. Everyone should read this book.
August 18, 2013
Drawing on his experience as a holocaust survivor Wiesel taps into that part of his life that brought him world wide acclaim with Night. This is an updated version of the hostage scenario he wrote about in Night in which a modern Jewish story teller is held hostage by an Arab and an Italian terrorist in New York City. There are lots of side stories about the hostage's earlier life and also some of the stories he has told to others over the years. This is a very thoughtful book which is centered on intellectual concepts rather than any type of physical action.
April 27, 2014
Beautiful prose, questions the cycle of brutality that continues not only in the Middle East, but in he world as a whole, told from the perspective of a Jewish Storyteller who survived the Holocaust, only to be captured, seemingly at random by two Terrorists, whom Wiesel models both as victims of tragic circumstance and brutality perpetuating itself. A powerful book, which raises a good deal of ethical and moral questions, spanning generations, continents, ideologies, nature versus nurture, religion, and ideas of statehood.
September 25, 2012
Another powerful story from Elie Wiesel. Mr. Wiesel reminded me that all of us have the means to be storytellers--we just need to remember that not all of our stories are interesting to everyone.
October 15, 2012
Really tried hard to get through it, but finally gave up. Too depressing. Hard to differentiate the voices of the characters in different time periods. Just could not keep going.
February 5, 2017
it's hard to write a really excellent book that takes place in one room.
August 24, 2018
I felt like the whole book was exposition. Also, the characters felt like mouthpieces for philosophies that weren't all that terribly interesting.
January 4, 2022
There is an interesting discussion in this book between two terrorists who support the Palestinian cause and their Jewish-American hostage about the decades-old conflict surrounding land ownership in the Holy Land. This book has value for that conversation alone. However, it is very heavy-handed in its leanings. Yes, the villains are obvious in this particular story, but it is not a completely fair representation of all Palestinians or what their people face either.
There was no one more entitled than this particular author, a Holocaust survivor, to the opinions expressed in this book; however, looking at this never-ending conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and the multiple generations of children born after WWII who have grown up in a war zone, I wish the two sides would finally stop being led by the governments serving as puppet masters (most especially the ongoing U.S. involvement/funding) and find a way toward resolution.
There is one less murderer in the world but does it make it any better? Does it change anything? And will his children become avengers like their father? Will the chain of violence be passed on from one generation to the next? Will it never come to an end?"
After a point in regard to this debate, it gets muddled as to who is actually the oppressor and who is the oppressed. It's time for this to come to an end. Violence begets more violence. Hatred begets hate. Both sides have families and children and dreams for their future. I wonder if this is truly about religious beliefs anymore or if it has just become a habit of getting revenge for past and continuous murders on each side? I realize this is idealistic and impossible (and most likely uninformed and ignorant), but I wish they could see that and stop killing each other already.
There was no one more entitled than this particular author, a Holocaust survivor, to the opinions expressed in this book; however, looking at this never-ending conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and the multiple generations of children born after WWII who have grown up in a war zone, I wish the two sides would finally stop being led by the governments serving as puppet masters (most especially the ongoing U.S. involvement/funding) and find a way toward resolution.
There is one less murderer in the world but does it make it any better? Does it change anything? And will his children become avengers like their father? Will the chain of violence be passed on from one generation to the next? Will it never come to an end?"
After a point in regard to this debate, it gets muddled as to who is actually the oppressor and who is the oppressed. It's time for this to come to an end. Violence begets more violence. Hatred begets hate. Both sides have families and children and dreams for their future. I wonder if this is truly about religious beliefs anymore or if it has just become a habit of getting revenge for past and continuous murders on each side? I realize this is idealistic and impossible (and most likely uninformed and ignorant), but I wish they could see that and stop killing each other already.
February 18, 2020
This is an interesting book about a Holocaust survivor who was later kidnapped in the 70's as a part of the ongoing political conflict between the Palestinians and Israel. The captive, a professional storyteller, uses his time in captivity recanting stories to himself and his captors about his past. It's a fascinating look at the struggle of Eastern European Jews from the 1940's-1970's. I really appreciated going on the journey with Shielteal, the captive, and learning about some of that history from his perspective. My one big critique with the story is that I didn't feel any of the fear in him that I would have felt if I had been kidnapped and held by terrorists. Considering the fact that I might be executed at any moment would bring about extreme terror and I just didn't feel that from the main character of the story. But overlooking that point, I did enjoy reading this book and intend to read others by Elie Wiesel. I think he has an important voice that needs to be heard more by readers in our time.
December 20, 2021
Elie Wiesel's Israeli-Palestinian drama, Hostage, works on a number of allegorical levels. In one sense, it is a commentary on the history of Jewish persecution, and a meditation on the monumental role of suffering within that ethnic/religious tradition. In another, the kidnapping and torture of Wiesel's story-telling protagonist symbolizes the very incommunicability of that suffering.
The novel represents a thematic bridge between Wiesel's anecdotal and literary styles. Through Hostage, Wiesel connects his own personal experience as a Holocaust survivor with a fictional account of one diasporic life in the post-911 world. Although the book pours on the ideology, I suppose that is unavoidable, given the ideologically-charged subject matter. I still found it to be a thoroughly rewarding experience.
The novel represents a thematic bridge between Wiesel's anecdotal and literary styles. Through Hostage, Wiesel connects his own personal experience as a Holocaust survivor with a fictional account of one diasporic life in the post-911 world. Although the book pours on the ideology, I suppose that is unavoidable, given the ideologically-charged subject matter. I still found it to be a thoroughly rewarding experience.
December 6, 2017
A kidnapped Jewish man reflects back on his and his family's experiences in Europe during WWII and the Holocaust. It's a similar narrative format as other Elie Wiesel novels, with flashbacks driving much of the story, and a similar hostage-vs-his kidnappers interplay as in Dawn.
I felt like there are some great parts of this work, but the novel's various pieces don't come together to make a seamless whole. Not as good as any of the works in the Night trilogy, unfortunately.
I felt like there are some great parts of this work, but the novel's various pieces don't come together to make a seamless whole. Not as good as any of the works in the Night trilogy, unfortunately.
December 26, 2017
In this book, Wiesel relates the experience of a storyteller named Shaltiel Feigenberg who is taken hostage. This new experience changes the character of the storyteller as he becomes an object to his captors that want to exchange his life for the freedom of three Palestinian prisoners. Although Feigenberg does not know the prisoners that his freedom is bartered for, he reflects on his experiences during World War II and how his worth as a jew was less than nothing.
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