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Twilight
Raphael Lipkin is a man obsessed. He hears voices. He talks to ghosts. He is spending the summer at the Mountain Clinic, a psychiatric hospital in upstate New York—not as a patient, but as a visiting professional with a secret, personal quest.
A professor of literature and a Holocaust survivor, Raphael, having rebuilt his life since the war, sees it on the verge of coming apart once more. He longs to talk to Pedro, the man who rescued him as a fifteen-year-old orphan from postwar Poland and brought him to Paris, becoming his friend, mentor, hero, and savior. But Pedro disappeared inside the prisons of Stalin’s Russia shortly after the war. Where is Pedro now, and how can Raphael discern what is true and what is false without him?
A mysterious nighttime caller directs Raphael’s search to the Mountain Clinic, a unique asylum for patients whose delusions spring from the Bible. Amid patients calling themselves Adam, Cain, Abraham, Joseph, Jeremiah, and God, Raphael searches for Pedro’s truth and the meaning of his own survival in a novel that penetrated the mysteries of good, evil, and madness.
A professor of literature and a Holocaust survivor, Raphael, having rebuilt his life since the war, sees it on the verge of coming apart once more. He longs to talk to Pedro, the man who rescued him as a fifteen-year-old orphan from postwar Poland and brought him to Paris, becoming his friend, mentor, hero, and savior. But Pedro disappeared inside the prisons of Stalin’s Russia shortly after the war. Where is Pedro now, and how can Raphael discern what is true and what is false without him?
A mysterious nighttime caller directs Raphael’s search to the Mountain Clinic, a unique asylum for patients whose delusions spring from the Bible. Amid patients calling themselves Adam, Cain, Abraham, Joseph, Jeremiah, and God, Raphael searches for Pedro’s truth and the meaning of his own survival in a novel that penetrated the mysteries of good, evil, and madness.
224 pages, Paperback
First published March 25, 1987
60 people are currently reading
2428 people want to read
About the author
Elie Wiesel
274 books4,541 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 9, 2010
A man’s search for God through the madness of the Holocaust and its legacy.
Raphael is a child survivor of the WWII, who loses his family to the death camps and to insanity. He is attracted to madness himself from a young age, when an old man in an insane asylum in his home town in the Carpathians introduces him to the alternative reality of the madman, and questions claims to legitimate thought by the sane. After enduring the vicissitudes of life and questioning his own sanity in middle age, Rafael retreats to a sanatorium in upstate New York in his quest to find his missing hero Pedro (or is it God that he is in search of?) who pulled him out of the wreckage of war and then went missing. At the sanatorium, Rafael spends time with inmates who have cultivated personalities of Biblical characters: from Cain to Abraham and even the Messiah, and comes to a surprising end to his quest.
While on this fragmented journey we are introduced to vignettes of the philosophy of the mad:
“The path to enlightenment lies through the ravaged landscape of madness”
“The dead live within us. We carry the dead inside us.”
“Understand without seeking and seek not to understand”
God is on trial as well – for the Holocaust survivors hold Him guilty of releasing such mayhem on the world. And God seems helpless to control what he has created – Man. And the scary question being asked, and which is ultimately answered: Is God a Madman?
Despite the intriguing premise, I founded the scenes and characters underdeveloped in this rather short novel. Scenes moved back and forth rapidly in little fragments and the character development was lost as a consequence. There were too many characters and too many sub-plots which seemed like anecdotes from the writer’s experience, crammed into this book, where the pieces did not always fit. Of the three madmen referred to in Rafael’s life, only one comes to life in these pages; I’m still trying to find the ones Paris and the Far East.
Rafael too comes across as a half-baked character, mortally shy of women and abused by his moody wife, who later leaves him, taking their daughter away with her, and taunting him with the parting words, “You cling to misery as it clings to you.” Perhaps the Holocaust did not give us strong characters, only damaged ones.
I’m sure Wiesel has returned to this theme in his other works, and I hope he has explored them in greater detail. This book is just a tad too short and cursory for such weighty subject matter.
Raphael is a child survivor of the WWII, who loses his family to the death camps and to insanity. He is attracted to madness himself from a young age, when an old man in an insane asylum in his home town in the Carpathians introduces him to the alternative reality of the madman, and questions claims to legitimate thought by the sane. After enduring the vicissitudes of life and questioning his own sanity in middle age, Rafael retreats to a sanatorium in upstate New York in his quest to find his missing hero Pedro (or is it God that he is in search of?) who pulled him out of the wreckage of war and then went missing. At the sanatorium, Rafael spends time with inmates who have cultivated personalities of Biblical characters: from Cain to Abraham and even the Messiah, and comes to a surprising end to his quest.
While on this fragmented journey we are introduced to vignettes of the philosophy of the mad:
“The path to enlightenment lies through the ravaged landscape of madness”
“The dead live within us. We carry the dead inside us.”
“Understand without seeking and seek not to understand”
God is on trial as well – for the Holocaust survivors hold Him guilty of releasing such mayhem on the world. And God seems helpless to control what he has created – Man. And the scary question being asked, and which is ultimately answered: Is God a Madman?
Despite the intriguing premise, I founded the scenes and characters underdeveloped in this rather short novel. Scenes moved back and forth rapidly in little fragments and the character development was lost as a consequence. There were too many characters and too many sub-plots which seemed like anecdotes from the writer’s experience, crammed into this book, where the pieces did not always fit. Of the three madmen referred to in Rafael’s life, only one comes to life in these pages; I’m still trying to find the ones Paris and the Far East.
Rafael too comes across as a half-baked character, mortally shy of women and abused by his moody wife, who later leaves him, taking their daughter away with her, and taunting him with the parting words, “You cling to misery as it clings to you.” Perhaps the Holocaust did not give us strong characters, only damaged ones.
I’m sure Wiesel has returned to this theme in his other works, and I hope he has explored them in greater detail. This book is just a tad too short and cursory for such weighty subject matter.
December 8, 2012
I really enjoyed this novel. The story-telling style jumps from person-to-person and time-to-time, but even if it seems confusing, hang in there - the pieces the author reveals all come together to a very thought-provoking and touching ending.
There were several dialogues that I wish were short enough to add to my 'quotes' page on Goodreads. I wish I could write them all down - perhaps I just need to buy a copy of this novel and mark them. The one I was most touched by was near the end of the novel, when Raphael comes across "God" and has a very meaningful conversation with him. Here is part of it:
There were several dialogues that I wish were short enough to add to my 'quotes' page on Goodreads. I wish I could write them all down - perhaps I just need to buy a copy of this novel and mark them. The one I was most touched by was near the end of the novel, when Raphael comes across "God" and has a very meaningful conversation with him. Here is part of it:
"He does not introduce himself. He does not have to. Now that he has spoken, I know who he is. In his presence I feel alone, Yet this solitude is not a burden. I am alone as he is alone. I am alone because he is alone.
I feel like speaking to him. I, who have been so intent on listening, now feel the need to reach into myself and beyond. I must speak to him of the dead who no longer speak, of the ghosts that haunt my sleep, of the memories that plague me. I must tell him what I have never told a soul.
But the man speaks first: 'This is not how I had imagined my creation. All these creatures that breathe because of me, what do they want? That I keep quiet, that I keep out of their lives. But when I remain silent, they reproach me. When I speak, they call me arbitrary. Those poor earthworms envy me. But why? Because I am invincible? So what? Do they think I like taking the blame for everything?
'...If only they'd leave me alone. There would be help for the sick, a mother for every orphan, a home for every beggar. There would be peace everywhere, in heaven and on earth. No more bloody wars! No more massacres committed in my name! I repudiate them all.'
His words are spoken with such conviction taht I allow myself to be carried by their cadence, their logic. Like Moses before me, I absorb his voice and it is that voice that speaks through mine. 'You say that you pity man. But tell me, where is your pity? How does it manifest itself? And why must it be so sparing? Since you are Almightly, why don't you replace man's baseness with goodness? And his cruel instincts with generosity?'
A cool breeze rustles the leaves. Raphael's neighbor turns up his collar.
'Who are you?' he asks impatiently. 'Who are you, mortal, to question the order of my creation? How dare you ask such momentous questions?'
I would prefer to say nothing, Pedro, and yet I hear myself speak:
'I have seen men suffer, I have seen children die. It is in their name that I speak to you. How can you justify their suffering?'
'I don't have to. Some men kill people and people say it is my fault. Other men permit the killers to kill. Are you saying that too is my fault?'
'You could have prevented it all from happeneing.'
'Yes, I could have. Not only the massacres, but all that preceeded them. I could have prevented the killer from being born, his accomplice from growing up, mankind from going astray... Can you tell me at what precise moment I should have intervened to keep the children from being thrown into the flames? At the very last moment? Why not before? But when is 'before'? When the idea is conceived? When the order is transmitted? When the hunter sights his prey? Go on, answer! You are putting me on trial. Fine. But a trial involves facts and arguments, not clichés. Since you are so clever, can you tell me what I should have done, and when?'
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2015
An unusual exploration of the Holocaust. Some spoilers may follow.
Professor Raphael Lipkin receives a series of midnight phone calls, calling into question his perspective on Pedro, a member of the briha - the underground railroad for Jews out of Eastern Europe during the 1940s. Raphael has written a book, mentioning Pedro in passing and portraying him as almost superhuman and of unalloyed goodness. Raphael hero-worships Pedro. He blames himself for Pedro's capture by the Soviet police while attempting to rescue his brother from a Moscow hospital; decades have passed and he does not know if Pedro is alive or dead.
The midnight caller threatens Raphael's views about Pedro to such a degree that he agrees to go to the Mountain Clinic (the blurb says this is 'upstate New York' but I either missed that detail or I had a different edition because it seemed to be in an unnamed, alpine and probably European location) to find out more.
Once there, he sorts out the clinic's library and listens, day by day, to people who - almost universally - have a mania that makes them believe they are some biblical personage or other. Adam, Cain, Abraham, the Messiah - each with a unique perspective on their own case, a different way of looking at it, a challenge to conventional interpretations.
Ultimately, the book is Wiesel's wrestle with God. Echoing Jacob's wrestle with an angel to get a new name, Wiesel does not reach the point where he refuses to let go unless he can wrest a blessing from on high. Instead, he interprets the nature of God through the events of the Holocaust, rather than interrogating the nature of the Holocaust in the light of God's revelation about himself. Ultimately he concludes that the old blind madman he'd befriended during his childhood - the same mysterious man who offers himself continually to save others and reappears at impossible times in impossible places - might well be God.
Professor Raphael Lipkin receives a series of midnight phone calls, calling into question his perspective on Pedro, a member of the briha - the underground railroad for Jews out of Eastern Europe during the 1940s. Raphael has written a book, mentioning Pedro in passing and portraying him as almost superhuman and of unalloyed goodness. Raphael hero-worships Pedro. He blames himself for Pedro's capture by the Soviet police while attempting to rescue his brother from a Moscow hospital; decades have passed and he does not know if Pedro is alive or dead.
The midnight caller threatens Raphael's views about Pedro to such a degree that he agrees to go to the Mountain Clinic (the blurb says this is 'upstate New York' but I either missed that detail or I had a different edition because it seemed to be in an unnamed, alpine and probably European location) to find out more.
Once there, he sorts out the clinic's library and listens, day by day, to people who - almost universally - have a mania that makes them believe they are some biblical personage or other. Adam, Cain, Abraham, the Messiah - each with a unique perspective on their own case, a different way of looking at it, a challenge to conventional interpretations.
Ultimately, the book is Wiesel's wrestle with God. Echoing Jacob's wrestle with an angel to get a new name, Wiesel does not reach the point where he refuses to let go unless he can wrest a blessing from on high. Instead, he interprets the nature of God through the events of the Holocaust, rather than interrogating the nature of the Holocaust in the light of God's revelation about himself. Ultimately he concludes that the old blind madman he'd befriended during his childhood - the same mysterious man who offers himself continually to save others and reappears at impossible times in impossible places - might well be God.
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December 1, 2022SPOILER-FREE REVIEW:
Background: Similarly to how I don't rate autobiographies, I just review them (see my review for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass), I'm not going to rate Elie Wiesel's books, but I'll review any that I read. This is because I don't feel like I can put a number on a Holocaust survivor writing about the Holocaust, because even if to me its a story (and this book is fiction), I know that it was his whole reality for years and years, and that what he went through haunted him for decades. So, I personally don't feel right rating it like I would a normal book.
Description: The actual description of this book is really misleading, so I'm going to try to do a better job. This story follows a Jewish family during the Holocaust. There are many time jumps, and the story can become confusing as to what's real and what happens when chronologically, etc. The main character is technically Raphael, but it's really his whole family (parents, three brothers, and two sisters), as well as side sub-stories about people we meet along the way.
The writing style and way the story was structured definitely makes me feel like Elie Wiesel just wrote as he felt. He also doesn't bother to explain many things, he just kind of expects you to know what he's talking about. His writing feels very raw and very realistic, and he doesn't care to sugar coat anything. The writing style immerses you in the book by making it seem like non-fiction/an autobiography.
I liked the time jumps and past-present switches, and that aspect definitely added to me feeling that Wiesel just wrote what he wanted to in the moment. I also really like how we were able to follow so many different characters and I feel like he was able to flush them out in a few pages each.
Wrap Up: This review was kind of all over the place, because I don't really know how to review it, but I hope I was at least semi-coherent.
Background: Similarly to how I don't rate autobiographies, I just review them (see my review for Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass), I'm not going to rate Elie Wiesel's books, but I'll review any that I read. This is because I don't feel like I can put a number on a Holocaust survivor writing about the Holocaust, because even if to me its a story (and this book is fiction), I know that it was his whole reality for years and years, and that what he went through haunted him for decades. So, I personally don't feel right rating it like I would a normal book.
Description: The actual description of this book is really misleading, so I'm going to try to do a better job. This story follows a Jewish family during the Holocaust. There are many time jumps, and the story can become confusing as to what's real and what happens when chronologically, etc. The main character is technically Raphael, but it's really his whole family (parents, three brothers, and two sisters), as well as side sub-stories about people we meet along the way.
The writing style and way the story was structured definitely makes me feel like Elie Wiesel just wrote as he felt. He also doesn't bother to explain many things, he just kind of expects you to know what he's talking about. His writing feels very raw and very realistic, and he doesn't care to sugar coat anything. The writing style immerses you in the book by making it seem like non-fiction/an autobiography.
I liked the time jumps and past-present switches, and that aspect definitely added to me feeling that Wiesel just wrote what he wanted to in the moment. I also really like how we were able to follow so many different characters and I feel like he was able to flush them out in a few pages each.
Wrap Up: This review was kind of all over the place, because I don't really know how to review it, but I hope I was at least semi-coherent.
July 9, 2025
i dont think ive ever read anything like this book but i loved it
April 3, 2015
Elie Wiesel is one of those writers who doesn't use flowery language and frankly, he doesn't need it.Twilight is about Raphael Lipkin's transformation into a man consumed with his past. Lipkin is a Holocaust survivor and literature professor.
One of the best things about this book is the style in which it's written. True to Wiesel's style, the book jumps from various times in the past, memories, (the Ghetto, post-war, pre-war, his arrival in NYC, his marriage, etc.) and Lipkin's present where he is spending the summer at the Mountain Clinic, a psychiatric hospital in upstate New York, to conduct some sort of research.
Other than Raphael, one of the first characters we meet is "the man with the veiled eyes". From what we can tell, he is an older man in Raphael's pre-war community who seems a bit mad. He takes Raphael under his wing and acts as a sort of mentor for young Raphael. Throughout the book this man reappears. He reappears when the Nazis first arrive and then at the very end of the book he appears to Lipkin in the sky, but this time his eyes were not veiled. The presence of this man throughout the novel is interesting and contributes to the themes of madness and God/religion (discussed later).
Wiesel tells us that Lipkin comes from a traditionally Jewish family in a the small village of Rovidok, Galicia (currently the territory that consists of the area that is now the border area of Poland and the Ukraine). His father, Aharon, was a devout and respect Hebrew teacher in their community who was always reminding his family of the importance of the Jewish faith/traditions. His mother, Rivka, was the ideal Jewish wife and mother who constantly worried for her children. Raphael has three brothers: Yoel who is working in Lvov, Ezra who is in Lodz, and Hayyim who dreams of going to Palestine. One of the story lines follows Raphael and his family to their ultimate demise. Mother, father, Ezra, and Hayyim end up dead and Yoel, well, he ends up in the USSR, insane, we don't know his ultimate fate.
The person we are introduced to immediately, in Raphael's internal dialogue, but we don't actually find out his story/connection to Raphael to about halfway through the book. I don't want to give too much away here because I find Pedro and his role in the book one of the most fascinating points and therefore don't want to ruin it for anyone. However, I will say that throughout the novel Lipkin talks to him, in his own mind, as if he were someone who was always there. It seems as if Raphael idolizes this Pedro character. We know that he is at the Mountain Clinic because a mysterious caller keeps calling him and defaming Pedro.
The two major themes I picked up on in this book are madness and God/religion. Everything in this book revolves around madness and insanity. The old man with the veiled eyes is described and often seen as mad. Yoel seems to go mad. The Mountain Clinic patients are considered insane. Even Raphael questions his sanity throughout the book. The juxtaposition of madness and religion make the book even more beautiful. The Mountain Clinic is an asylum for people who have illnesses related to Biblical themes, so Wiesel obviously meant for the two to go hand-in-hand here. In the ghetto and during the war, Lipkin questions God and how he could let such a thing happen. The ideas of madness and God are strongly connected here, truly fascinating.
Overall this book is incredible. The only reason I gave it four stars is because some accusations are brought up against Pedro and at the end of the book they're not resolved. It left me feeling a little empty on that subject, especially because how important he was to Raphael. However, I highly recommend this book.
One of the best things about this book is the style in which it's written. True to Wiesel's style, the book jumps from various times in the past, memories, (the Ghetto, post-war, pre-war, his arrival in NYC, his marriage, etc.) and Lipkin's present where he is spending the summer at the Mountain Clinic, a psychiatric hospital in upstate New York, to conduct some sort of research.
Other than Raphael, one of the first characters we meet is "the man with the veiled eyes". From what we can tell, he is an older man in Raphael's pre-war community who seems a bit mad. He takes Raphael under his wing and acts as a sort of mentor for young Raphael. Throughout the book this man reappears. He reappears when the Nazis first arrive and then at the very end of the book he appears to Lipkin in the sky, but this time his eyes were not veiled. The presence of this man throughout the novel is interesting and contributes to the themes of madness and God/religion (discussed later).
Wiesel tells us that Lipkin comes from a traditionally Jewish family in a the small village of Rovidok, Galicia (currently the territory that consists of the area that is now the border area of Poland and the Ukraine). His father, Aharon, was a devout and respect Hebrew teacher in their community who was always reminding his family of the importance of the Jewish faith/traditions. His mother, Rivka, was the ideal Jewish wife and mother who constantly worried for her children. Raphael has three brothers: Yoel who is working in Lvov, Ezra who is in Lodz, and Hayyim who dreams of going to Palestine. One of the story lines follows Raphael and his family to their ultimate demise. Mother, father, Ezra, and Hayyim end up dead and Yoel, well, he ends up in the USSR, insane, we don't know his ultimate fate.
The person we are introduced to immediately, in Raphael's internal dialogue, but we don't actually find out his story/connection to Raphael to about halfway through the book. I don't want to give too much away here because I find Pedro and his role in the book one of the most fascinating points and therefore don't want to ruin it for anyone. However, I will say that throughout the novel Lipkin talks to him, in his own mind, as if he were someone who was always there. It seems as if Raphael idolizes this Pedro character. We know that he is at the Mountain Clinic because a mysterious caller keeps calling him and defaming Pedro.
The two major themes I picked up on in this book are madness and God/religion. Everything in this book revolves around madness and insanity. The old man with the veiled eyes is described and often seen as mad. Yoel seems to go mad. The Mountain Clinic patients are considered insane. Even Raphael questions his sanity throughout the book. The juxtaposition of madness and religion make the book even more beautiful. The Mountain Clinic is an asylum for people who have illnesses related to Biblical themes, so Wiesel obviously meant for the two to go hand-in-hand here. In the ghetto and during the war, Lipkin questions God and how he could let such a thing happen. The ideas of madness and God are strongly connected here, truly fascinating.
Overall this book is incredible. The only reason I gave it four stars is because some accusations are brought up against Pedro and at the end of the book they're not resolved. It left me feeling a little empty on that subject, especially because how important he was to Raphael. However, I highly recommend this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2015
I can't believe I have given a two-star rating to a book about the Holocaust, especially when it was written by a Holocaust survivor. A couple years ago, I read Elie Wiesel's Night which is basically his account of his experiences in the Jewish ghetto and later on, a concentration camp. I cried my eyes out and couldn't stop thinking about what I had read and what this man had survived.
While Night was haunting in its simplistic storytelling and brutal honesty, I thought that Twilight was extremely disjointed and hard to follow. I still have basically no clue who some of the characters were and what the ultimate goal of the book was. I'm still not sure if the main character was insane and experiencing delusions and/or hallucinations or if some of the figures were meant to be angels. *shrugs* I just could not get into this book, which is crazy, as books on this topic usually crush me and haunt me for days.
Although I didn't like Twilight, I admit it had its interesting moments, for sure. I found the setting of a psychiatric hospital in the Carpathian mountains that specializes in patients with religious delusions (one thought he was Abraham, one Cain, one God, etc.) to be fascinating. Some of the conversations with the psych patients were actually pretty wise and enlightening. Really, those conversations were the "silver lining" of the story.
I think this book could have been quite good if it didn't flip topics and settings without any sort of clarity and if it were written in a way that made me care... But it wasn't and Lord help me, I didn't. And I feel bad about that, actually.
☆☆
While Night was haunting in its simplistic storytelling and brutal honesty, I thought that Twilight was extremely disjointed and hard to follow. I still have basically no clue who some of the characters were and what the ultimate goal of the book was. I'm still not sure if the main character was insane and experiencing delusions and/or hallucinations or if some of the figures were meant to be angels. *shrugs* I just could not get into this book, which is crazy, as books on this topic usually crush me and haunt me for days.
Although I didn't like Twilight, I admit it had its interesting moments, for sure. I found the setting of a psychiatric hospital in the Carpathian mountains that specializes in patients with religious delusions (one thought he was Abraham, one Cain, one God, etc.) to be fascinating. Some of the conversations with the psych patients were actually pretty wise and enlightening. Really, those conversations were the "silver lining" of the story.
I think this book could have been quite good if it didn't flip topics and settings without any sort of clarity and if it were written in a way that made me care... But it wasn't and Lord help me, I didn't. And I feel bad about that, actually.
☆☆
September 1, 2022
This novel is by famed and prolific author Elie Wiesel, most famous for his book "Night," about his experiences during the Holocaust. Many readers don't realize, however, that he penned numerous other books, many of which are works of fiction, but which could be also considered semi-autobiographies, which explore deep philosophical subjects as profound as the meaning of life itself. Wiesel himself stated, on more than one occasion, that writing was his therapy, which he used to alleviate his PTSD while enlightening generations of readers about the Holocaust, and, as here, its aftermath.
This book was clearly written with that purpose in mind. Indeed, it seems to touch on many subjects with which Wiesel himself struggled in coming to some manner of acceptance, if not resolution, after his horrific experiences as a boy in Auschwitz. This short novel opens with the story of Raphael, a quiet boy, ten years old at the time the Nazis invaded his homeland, who "feared madness but was drawn to madmen." Ostensibly out of some type of charitable intent, the boy spends his Shabbat afternoons at an insane asylum (!), where he meets an almost Messianic madman who regales him with somewhat perplexing worldly wisdom during his visits, whose words haunt Raphael throughout his troubled life.
During an episode of delirium after contracting typhus, Raphael sees an apparition of the madman in a dream (or delusion). The madman tell him that he offered himself to spare not only the boy, but the whole town, from the epidemic. True to his word, the madman was later accused of attacking a German soldier shortly after the invasion, and was hanged for the crime, in fulfillment of the prophesy he made to Raphael. Or did the event occur at all? It's sometimes difficult to determine what is real and what is imagined in the mind of Raphael, who, after emigrating to the United States after the war, journeys to a mountain clinic to wrestle with his own demons. Now a professor, Raphael enters the sanatorium in New York on the pretext of conducting research for scholarly publication, specifically, as he tells the director, the relationship between madness and prophesy (recalling the experience with the old inmate madman from his youth), and madness as portrayed in the Bible as opposed to that of the modern day. In reality, he is searching for a mysterious caller who may be able to shed light on the whereabouts of a man Raphael credits with saving his life and taking him to Paris, a man he considers to be his savior, and that of many other Jewish children caught up in similar circumstances.
It's a somewhat difficult read, particularly in the non-sequential presentation of events. However, most of the vignettes speak loudly enough for themselves. One of the most profound for me is the account of Raphael's brother Yoel, who left behind his parents and fiancee, and who makes it to the Soviet Union after the war, but is then arrested and interrogated on suspicion of being a spy, despite the fact that his fiancee was a devout communist, even during the war, when such affiliations, if discovered, would mean almost certain death. Yoel is arrested and interrogated endlessly, held in prison with other suspects without charges, until he comes up with a strategy, perhaps one divinely inspired: he recalls a recitation of a passage from the book of the prophet Jeremiah, and becomes Jeremiah to his interrogators, who think him mad... perhaps correctly. Thus, madness has touched Raphael and his family, who seem to be representations of the madness of the war, even in survival.
Another prominent theme, as in the writings of many Holocaust survivors, is that of futility and fate. Another patient at the clinic, Boris, plays the role of the scapegoat, here in the physical sense, as the one of two kid goats spared from sacrifice and released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities in order to expunge the entire community. Although there are some parallels in other ancient societies, including those of Greece, the practice is first attested in the ancient Hebrew context in Leviticus (16:21-22), which states that Aaron, the high priest, must impart unto the surviving goat all transgressions of the people of Israel, by laying his hands upon its head and confessing the people's sins, then designating someone to release it into the wilderness. Was that what the old madman was to Raphael, and the whole community?
Many also continued to struggle for a lifetime with survivor's guilt, another prominent theme in the book, and in Holocaust literature in general, in fact. Back to the allegory of the scapegoat: why was one kid chosen to die and the other to live? By what chance was the one chosen over the other? "Why this goat rather than another?" muses Boris, another patient. "Only God has the answer. Why me and not my neighbor?" This is a question which continued to haunt many survivors for the remainder of their lives, especially if they were the only surviving members of their entire families, which, tragically, was not uncommon.
Even after the war, the suffering did not end for many of the "survivors." I can't remember the exact source, but one of the most poignant statements regarding life after trauma I've ever read by someone who didn't consider themself such went something to the effect: "we didn't survive... we just didn't die." Thus, many who did not die, as it were, during the war, did not consider themselves survivors. Some simply lived longer than others, but were ultimately victims of the war the same as those who died in the camps. One prominent example is another renowned author, Primo Levi, who reportedly (though it is somewhat disputed) committed suicide at age 67. Like Yoel's experiences of continued suffering at the hands of a new enemy, discovering that, in fact, no family members survived, ushered many to a belated end. It is with these weighty themes Wiesel so eloquently struggles, and communicates to future generations, albeit in a different fashion with his fictional writings than his own personal experiences, which are equally impactful.
-To refuse to live is an act of treason not only toward the living, but also toward the dead.
This book was clearly written with that purpose in mind. Indeed, it seems to touch on many subjects with which Wiesel himself struggled in coming to some manner of acceptance, if not resolution, after his horrific experiences as a boy in Auschwitz. This short novel opens with the story of Raphael, a quiet boy, ten years old at the time the Nazis invaded his homeland, who "feared madness but was drawn to madmen." Ostensibly out of some type of charitable intent, the boy spends his Shabbat afternoons at an insane asylum (!), where he meets an almost Messianic madman who regales him with somewhat perplexing worldly wisdom during his visits, whose words haunt Raphael throughout his troubled life.
During an episode of delirium after contracting typhus, Raphael sees an apparition of the madman in a dream (or delusion). The madman tell him that he offered himself to spare not only the boy, but the whole town, from the epidemic. True to his word, the madman was later accused of attacking a German soldier shortly after the invasion, and was hanged for the crime, in fulfillment of the prophesy he made to Raphael. Or did the event occur at all? It's sometimes difficult to determine what is real and what is imagined in the mind of Raphael, who, after emigrating to the United States after the war, journeys to a mountain clinic to wrestle with his own demons. Now a professor, Raphael enters the sanatorium in New York on the pretext of conducting research for scholarly publication, specifically, as he tells the director, the relationship between madness and prophesy (recalling the experience with the old inmate madman from his youth), and madness as portrayed in the Bible as opposed to that of the modern day. In reality, he is searching for a mysterious caller who may be able to shed light on the whereabouts of a man Raphael credits with saving his life and taking him to Paris, a man he considers to be his savior, and that of many other Jewish children caught up in similar circumstances.
It's a somewhat difficult read, particularly in the non-sequential presentation of events. However, most of the vignettes speak loudly enough for themselves. One of the most profound for me is the account of Raphael's brother Yoel, who left behind his parents and fiancee, and who makes it to the Soviet Union after the war, but is then arrested and interrogated on suspicion of being a spy, despite the fact that his fiancee was a devout communist, even during the war, when such affiliations, if discovered, would mean almost certain death. Yoel is arrested and interrogated endlessly, held in prison with other suspects without charges, until he comes up with a strategy, perhaps one divinely inspired: he recalls a recitation of a passage from the book of the prophet Jeremiah, and becomes Jeremiah to his interrogators, who think him mad... perhaps correctly. Thus, madness has touched Raphael and his family, who seem to be representations of the madness of the war, even in survival.
Another prominent theme, as in the writings of many Holocaust survivors, is that of futility and fate. Another patient at the clinic, Boris, plays the role of the scapegoat, here in the physical sense, as the one of two kid goats spared from sacrifice and released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities in order to expunge the entire community. Although there are some parallels in other ancient societies, including those of Greece, the practice is first attested in the ancient Hebrew context in Leviticus (16:21-22), which states that Aaron, the high priest, must impart unto the surviving goat all transgressions of the people of Israel, by laying his hands upon its head and confessing the people's sins, then designating someone to release it into the wilderness. Was that what the old madman was to Raphael, and the whole community?
Many also continued to struggle for a lifetime with survivor's guilt, another prominent theme in the book, and in Holocaust literature in general, in fact. Back to the allegory of the scapegoat: why was one kid chosen to die and the other to live? By what chance was the one chosen over the other? "Why this goat rather than another?" muses Boris, another patient. "Only God has the answer. Why me and not my neighbor?" This is a question which continued to haunt many survivors for the remainder of their lives, especially if they were the only surviving members of their entire families, which, tragically, was not uncommon.
Even after the war, the suffering did not end for many of the "survivors." I can't remember the exact source, but one of the most poignant statements regarding life after trauma I've ever read by someone who didn't consider themself such went something to the effect: "we didn't survive... we just didn't die." Thus, many who did not die, as it were, during the war, did not consider themselves survivors. Some simply lived longer than others, but were ultimately victims of the war the same as those who died in the camps. One prominent example is another renowned author, Primo Levi, who reportedly (though it is somewhat disputed) committed suicide at age 67. Like Yoel's experiences of continued suffering at the hands of a new enemy, discovering that, in fact, no family members survived, ushered many to a belated end. It is with these weighty themes Wiesel so eloquently struggles, and communicates to future generations, albeit in a different fashion with his fictional writings than his own personal experiences, which are equally impactful.
-To refuse to live is an act of treason not only toward the living, but also toward the dead.
November 6, 2018
It took me a day to finish, but it feels like it will take a lifetime to actually process it - absolutely incredible, something I can read over and over and get something new everytime
April 26, 2023
Let’s start with this statement: I adore Elie Wiesel. He was a brilliant author and an incredible man. One of the highlights of my adult life was getting to hear him lecture one evening.
With that said… I didn’t get this book. It was beautifully written, but it just plain didn’t make sense to me, and it had no conclusion. Maybe I’m just not bright enough to follow where he was trying to take his reader. I picked this book up when we visited the Dachau concentration camp near Munich last summer, and even though it confused me, I’m glad I read it because I think it’s the only thing he’s written that I hadn’t read.
With that said… I didn’t get this book. It was beautifully written, but it just plain didn’t make sense to me, and it had no conclusion. Maybe I’m just not bright enough to follow where he was trying to take his reader. I picked this book up when we visited the Dachau concentration camp near Munich last summer, and even though it confused me, I’m glad I read it because I think it’s the only thing he’s written that I hadn’t read.
May 18, 2025
4.5!
i rlly loved this one
i rlly loved this one
July 7, 2017
I have very mixed feelings about this book. Firstly, it has a lot of great lines and passages. I gave up trying to note all of them down, as it would most probably clog up this review post. Those quotes are deeply affecting, triggering one to do deep introspection about one's values, principles and beliefs. Also, since the theme of madness in this book, narrated in the style where it draws Biblical references, is one that I can relate to.
That being said, the structure of this book is an utter challenge. It was only when I persevered towards the end, when the logical flow of this book began to make much better sense, as its disjointedness was wearing me down as a reader very badly.
Maybe that was the purpose of the author, afterall madness is indeed akin to disjointedness. But even then, my advice to all who wish to try this book. It is not easy, and the pay-offs for it may not be for everyone. Maybe I will revisit it another time and my outlook towards it would have changed.
That being said, the structure of this book is an utter challenge. It was only when I persevered towards the end, when the logical flow of this book began to make much better sense, as its disjointedness was wearing me down as a reader very badly.
Maybe that was the purpose of the author, afterall madness is indeed akin to disjointedness. But even then, my advice to all who wish to try this book. It is not easy, and the pay-offs for it may not be for everyone. Maybe I will revisit it another time and my outlook towards it would have changed.
January 8, 2016
This almost felt like a good book. Almost.
It has all the elements of a good story, but it's just horribly disjointed. There were several time periods and characters the book kept jumping between without much more than a line break to announce the upcoming change of scenery or voice. I didn't like or care about any of the characters (probably because I never felt like I had enough time to get to know them). Also, too often, a character would tell a story within the current story. It was nothing short of confusing.
Toward the end, I started to get that that might have been the point. You're no longer reading about madmen, you are one...maybe? Even if that is the case, I still had a pretty difficult time dragging my feet through 95% of the book. Meh.
It has all the elements of a good story, but it's just horribly disjointed. There were several time periods and characters the book kept jumping between without much more than a line break to announce the upcoming change of scenery or voice. I didn't like or care about any of the characters (probably because I never felt like I had enough time to get to know them). Also, too often, a character would tell a story within the current story. It was nothing short of confusing.
Toward the end, I started to get that that might have been the point. You're no longer reading about madmen, you are one...maybe? Even if that is the case, I still had a pretty difficult time dragging my feet through 95% of the book. Meh.
June 27, 2017
I became fascinated by this exploration of how people of strong faith behave when confronted with the horrors of the Holocaust. It's gradually revealed that patients in a mental hospital who think they are Abraham, Cain and the Messiah have retreated into these personas in response to Nazi torture. Who is mad and who is sane during this period of history? To the question why does God allow such atrocities, the reply is at what point should he intervene - before a killer is born? Before a gun is fired?
January 11, 2022
This is certainly a book I will be revisiting as the years go by. I really enjoyed the exploration of madness and religion. While the ties between these two concepts have been something I have pondered in the past, this book really took the topic to fascinating depths. There was so much to stop and reflect on, asides from madness and religion, such as intergenerational trauma, good and evil, how we perceive others, one's search for truth, etc. Elie Wiesel shows that he is not just an incredible author or storytellers , but someone who is deeply philosophical and intelligent.
November 18, 2010
This book was backwards for me; it started out great, but got worse for me as it went along. I found it hard to finish and was relieved when it was over; the premise of the story was great, but the way everything kept jumping around and the constant references to madness made me feel like I would go mad myself just reading it. Sorry, don't recommend.
January 21, 2024
I started this book with the intention of learning, but I didn’t know what about. This book truly stunned me in its truths about life.
When I first started reading in February of 2023, I was deeply invested and was pretty steadily making my way through it. I was severely traumatized in April of that year and put the book down for almost a year. I couldn’t read it without my feelings of trauma plaguing me. After being treated for my PTSD from that incident in April, I was finally able to pick the book back up and finish it. It was so worth it. I connected so much more with what was being said and the outlooks on life that were given. I’m glad that I didn’t finish the book when I first started it.
I understand other’s complaints about the characters feeling underdeveloped. Personally, I think it’s better that it stays that way! Not every person who enters your life will be a fully developed character and this book reflected that well.
For anyone wondering, I would say that this is more than worth reading, if not for the destination of the end of the book, than for the journey it takes you through.
When I first started reading in February of 2023, I was deeply invested and was pretty steadily making my way through it. I was severely traumatized in April of that year and put the book down for almost a year. I couldn’t read it without my feelings of trauma plaguing me. After being treated for my PTSD from that incident in April, I was finally able to pick the book back up and finish it. It was so worth it. I connected so much more with what was being said and the outlooks on life that were given. I’m glad that I didn’t finish the book when I first started it.
I understand other’s complaints about the characters feeling underdeveloped. Personally, I think it’s better that it stays that way! Not every person who enters your life will be a fully developed character and this book reflected that well.
For anyone wondering, I would say that this is more than worth reading, if not for the destination of the end of the book, than for the journey it takes you through.
September 5, 2022
This book is a poignant exploration of the Holocaust through the lense of Raphael, a professor in search of his defamed hero. Set in the Mountain Clinic, an asylum in upstate New York, Twilight interweaves narratives from both patients and Raphael to provide an account of God. The book is a foray into the character of God Himself and seeks an answer as to why He allowed the Holocaust to happen, or if he possibly caused the Holocaust due to His nature.
I enjoyed this book, which had many deep and insightful quotes into the qualities of life and of man. It was a more challenging read due to the philosophical threads incorporated into the plot, but that is what makes the book so powerful. I hadn't realized that Eli Wiesel authored more works than Night, so coming across this book was a pleasant surprise. It is definitely worth the time to read.
I enjoyed this book, which had many deep and insightful quotes into the qualities of life and of man. It was a more challenging read due to the philosophical threads incorporated into the plot, but that is what makes the book so powerful. I hadn't realized that Eli Wiesel authored more works than Night, so coming across this book was a pleasant surprise. It is definitely worth the time to read.
November 27, 2024
Unreal.
Elie wiesel is know for his Night trilogy, which is written from his experience as a concentration camp survivor. I somehow read Twilight first.
Twilight is a much more loose and poetic work, which takes an older man, a survivor like Wiesel, looking for his friend, a saviour and his God in a mental institution where people believe they are certain figures in the Torah. Through talking to them while recounting memories of his own life, Wiesel delves deeper into the soul of this broken Jewish man.
This book was beautiful and fascinating and heartbreaking and I've thought about it lot since reading it. I dont know who to recommend it to, but if the small description is at all interesting to you, give it a go.
Elie wiesel is know for his Night trilogy, which is written from his experience as a concentration camp survivor. I somehow read Twilight first.
Twilight is a much more loose and poetic work, which takes an older man, a survivor like Wiesel, looking for his friend, a saviour and his God in a mental institution where people believe they are certain figures in the Torah. Through talking to them while recounting memories of his own life, Wiesel delves deeper into the soul of this broken Jewish man.
This book was beautiful and fascinating and heartbreaking and I've thought about it lot since reading it. I dont know who to recommend it to, but if the small description is at all interesting to you, give it a go.
August 3, 2017
i just finished this extraoridary novel and i'm not quite sure how to feel about it. Elie Wiesel's writing style is outstandingly beautiful. Combined with the fact that Wiesel is a holocaust survivor himself, this novel overflows you with pure and raw emotions. It also asks some highly intersting and important questions about life, death and god himself and how he can let something as horrible as the holocaust happen. I guess i would have absolutely loved this book wouldn't it be for the ending. Wiesel leaves open lots of questions and to be honest, that's probably what worked best for this book considering its whole concept. Still, i would have loved to get my answers.
December 31, 2024
“The image of evil unleashed on mankind tormented him.
Whose fault was it? Whose responsibility? Horror on this scale implicated not only man but God as well. Only God could vanquish evil, halt the massacres, end the wars. Why didn't He? Could He be on the side of the killers? Raphael rejected that notion. God on the side of evil? Unthinkable. Was He not the opposite of evil? He told himself that he would never accept the idea that God could be cruel. Man could be cruel, not God.
He was convinced of it. But then, what about the killings in Kolomey? Yes, that was worse than the concept of a cruel or indifferent God.”
Whose fault was it? Whose responsibility? Horror on this scale implicated not only man but God as well. Only God could vanquish evil, halt the massacres, end the wars. Why didn't He? Could He be on the side of the killers? Raphael rejected that notion. God on the side of evil? Unthinkable. Was He not the opposite of evil? He told himself that he would never accept the idea that God could be cruel. Man could be cruel, not God.
He was convinced of it. But then, what about the killings in Kolomey? Yes, that was worse than the concept of a cruel or indifferent God.”
May 14, 2018
It's typical of Wiesel's strength discourses on Jewish holocaust. But this time with a stronger sense of familial feeling and richer Jewish traditions and terminologies. Unlight Night trilogy, this book is heavily contained with questions 'and what about God on this?' especially toward the end. The book also provides some flavor of madmen's realms.
Nevertheless, I found Raphael's characters (including his admiration to Pedro) were not clear. It could be the bait for readers to read until the end but couldn't find it myself.
Nevertheless, I found Raphael's characters (including his admiration to Pedro) were not clear. It could be the bait for readers to read until the end but couldn't find it myself.
May 20, 2018
a deep and philosophical journey of a book. if there is God, is He a madman? does He suffer because His creation has gone awry? what a thought, though.
however, the questions we have from the beginning don't resolve themselves in the end. who was the caller? were his accusations any true? why did he insist on Raphael's coming to the clinic? it may be shallow of me, but I'd still appreciate knowing the answers - to have a conclusion, any conclusion to the mystery that penetrates the whole book.
I know, it doesn't matter in a greater scope of things and all that, AND YET.
however, the questions we have from the beginning don't resolve themselves in the end. who was the caller? were his accusations any true? why did he insist on Raphael's coming to the clinic? it may be shallow of me, but I'd still appreciate knowing the answers - to have a conclusion, any conclusion to the mystery that penetrates the whole book.
I know, it doesn't matter in a greater scope of things and all that, AND YET.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2019
What to say about Elie Wiesel’s Twilight... when it was recommended to me I pictured teenage vampires. This book found another way to turn my blood to ice. The harrowing stories from a holocaust survivor are told but also skirted artfully. The book focussing instead on Lipkin’s examination of his mental state many years later. Beautifully woven through time. I started reading it while backpacking Poland - accidental timing - and this perhaps deepened the book’s effect on me. Highly recommended read for those who, like me, are behind the times discovering Wiesel.
December 4, 2020
"Madness is a question, not an answer. Madness lies not in the acceptance of time, but in the wish to alter it. Madness lies not in solitude but in the person confronting it. I don’t mind entering it as long as it leaves me unharmed. What distance separates man from God? What separates life from death? Madness from truth? And words from silence? I am free, and yet I am my own prisoner".
November 26, 2024
A mix of everything I love in a book; non linear timeline, repetition, perspective switching. Super thought provoking. Not much else that I could comment on; my lack of criticism feels like I'm diminishing how good it is. Wish I read it for school or something....
Do wish I read this sooner, but reading the Night Trilogy feels kind of essential in a way.
Do wish I read this sooner, but reading the Night Trilogy feels kind of essential in a way.
December 27, 2017
Oh, this is good. But it chases its tail a bit in terms of plot. And you get the feeling of a missed opportunity.
November 4, 2019
I wish I could write that I liked this book, but honestly, I didn't. The back and forth style in which it was written was distracting. Not recommended.
May 19, 2020
Amazing! I loved it! A great exploration of the problem of evil
August 22, 2022
take everything that made dawn great and stretch it out and throw god in there. the changing narratives were cool too. this was a good challenge for me.
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