Night...

I just finished reading Night by Elie Wiesel. What a powerful book. And I am really saying that because it is, not just because Oprah said so. Normally, I think Oprah books are pretty crap. This time though, powerful is the best way I can describe it. It is so sparse in it's length in it's words. Somehow, that simplicity makes it more impactful.

I was discussing this book today at lunch. I mentioned how normally I try to rotate my books: read one of substance then allow myself one smut. One of my coworkers said "I don't read to think." As if thinking cannot be part of pure entertainment.

There were a couple of quotes and phrases that really hit me. One was in the preface. It was the original opening of the book...

In the beginning there was faith-which is childish; trust-which is vain; and illusion-which is dangerous.

The final lines of this book seemed just as powerful to me. Who out there who has suffered has not seen the corpse in the mirror themselves? When I see some of the people I work with, try to help, I see that corpse in them. Yet they continue on and continue to live because they have no other choice.

From the depths of the mirror, a corpse was contemplating me. The look in his eyes as he gazed at me has never left me.

I guess one other statement I read in the preface is my final thought for Mary, my coworker who does not like to think.

...I believe it important to emphasize how strongly I feel that books, just like people, have a destiny. Some invite sorrow, others joy, some both.