This book is basically beyond critisism; it is so utterly terrible and horrifying to read of the things that happened during the holocaust, and the book is extremely painful. Although the writing style is a bit choppy, Wiesel's account of the Holocaust is so powerful, emotional, and thought provoking that it should not be turned down. Wiesel's narrative takes you right into the heads of the suffering jews, depicting their losses of hope, faith, humanity, and in some cases, sanity. I think that we owe it to the people that had to go through this to read their story and experience their anguish with them. It is required reading in most High Schools, and though it is gruesome and horrific, I think it should be required reading, if not just to make certain an atrocity like this never happens again. It will definitely raise big questions. Again, this is an extremely, terrifyingly powerful novel, so be sure you are ready for such subjects before you pick up this book.