Product Description

'With the moral stamina and intellectual pose of a twentieth-century Titan, this slightly built, duitful, unassuming chemist set out systematically to remember the German hell on earth, steadfastly to think it through, and then to render it comprehensible in lucid, unpretentious prose. He was profoundly in touch with the minutest workings of the most endearing human events and with the most contempible. What has survived in Levi's writing isn't just his memory of the unbearable, but also, in THE PERIODIC TABLE and THE WRENCH, his delight in what made the world exquisite to him. He was himself a magically endearing man, the most delicately forceful enchanter I've ever known' PHILIP ROTH

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4536 in Books
• Published on: 1991-01-01
• Original language: Italian
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
'The death of Primo Levi robs Italy of one of its finest writers...One of the few survivors of the Holocaust to speak of his experiences with a gentle voice' GUARDIAN 'A life-changing book.' Daily Express THE TRUCE: 'One of the century's truly necessary books.' Philip Roth 'One of the greatest human testaments of the era.' SCOTSMAN IF THIS IS A MAN: 'This book is the most profoundly affecting of all those written by survivors of the Holocaust. Sober and passionate, it depicts an experience of the ultimate nightmare related by a man both sensitive and resilient, who speaks for all those made dumb forever.' THE WEEK 'Levi's book still has the power to make one weep of the greatest and alas, the defining atrocity of our century. Yet throughout, the fear, the endless hunger and the pain are leavened by tiny grains of affection, of generosity, even humour. Which is why this masterpiece is not merely terrifying but also endlessly readable. It is, ultimately, about moral as well as physical endurance, about hope, and about the survival of man's unquenchable human spirit.' DAILY MAIL 'Levi builds a serene sense of Man's worth. This is an extraordinarily endearing testament.' LONDON DAILY NEWS 'His tone throughout the memoir is dry-eyed and understated. He makes few references to himself, and they are rarely flattering. But by the end of this short book one is left with a monument to human dignity.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'In describing Levi's account of his experiences in Nazi camps it is tempting to say that words are not enough, that language crumbles before this unforgettable testament. But the book's achievement is precisely to abjure such hyperbole to name the unnameable. Eschewing a desire for recrimination, Levi offers a lucid document of a descent into hell which is courageous and unflinching.' DAILY TELEGRAPH

Daily Express
'A life-changing book.'

About the Author
Primo Levi was born in Turin in 1919 and trained as chemist. Arrested a member of the anti-fascist resistance during the war, he was deported to Auschwitz. His experiences there are described in his two classic autobiographical works, IF THIS IS A MAN and THE TRUCE.

Customer Reviews

One of the most important books of the 20th century
If this book is not on the national curriculum as essential reading for the European History module, then it should be. Before I bought this book, I asked myself "did I want to read another book on the Holocaust"? This isn't neccessarily about the Holocaust, in fact, a small portion of the book takes place in Auschwitz, it's more about one mans survival through hell, uncertainty and the unknown. Yet, because it is beautifully written, it uplifts, rather than depresses the reader. Levis' gentle prose style and almost photographic memory make this book a must read. It's a book that I will read many times throughout my life. Buy it!

Review
I approached If This Is A Man with a certain amount of weariness. There have been countless films and books and TV programmes about the Holocaust, so what would one more book on the subject present? The answer to that is that If This Is a Man brings a real sense of the horror of Auschwitz to the reader. The figure of 6 million dead almost de-humanises the de-humanised: it is easy to rattle off that figure without actually thinking about the impact of separation, suffering and murder on an individual human being. This book hits the reader with the stark realities of day to day existence within the concentration camp.

Levi describes the nearest thing to Hell. Working to exhaustion in the freezing cold of winter, the beatings to which prisoners have become accustomed, lice and dirt, perpetual hunger and having to go to the 'toilet' several times during the night because of the heavily watered down soup. This latter task involves a hobble through the snow in a pair of wooden shoes (one pair per hut) to use a bucket which, if full, must be emptied by the unfortunate prisoner, who will try in vain not to spill the contents on his feet. Levi puts everything of our lives into the perspective of his as a prisoner. As prisoners slept head to foot next to each other, it was always better to empty the pail than to sleep next to someone who has just emptied it.

Levi deatils the average life expectancy of a healthy human being who does not find himself a niche or with something unique to offer. It is a shocking read, and while desperate to reach the end and find something to be optimistic about, the book held my attention from cover to cover.

At the end of the book are several questions put to the author by his readers (for instance, why did the prisoners not revolt against the Nazis?). The two titles are best read together, but of the two, If This Is Man is the more profound. An essential read for anyone interested in the subject.

Outstanding
I cannot praise this book highly enough.

Levi describes his time in Auschwitz with such clarity and objectivity it's as if he wanted to report the facts and let the world make it's own mind up. Having said that this is not a cold, clinical account, as with reportage, as Levi describes great compassion in friendships he makes and horror he sees.

His story is similar to many others (obviously as they all shared an experience) but I felt as though I was given a different perspective with this book.
This becomes clearer at the back of the book when Levi sets out a series of questions that he has been asked since he wrote the first edition. Here he gives answers to letters asking "Do you hate the Germans" and so on. I won't spoil the book by revealing any of his answers but they show why Levi is so respected as a writer of the Holocaust.

Since reading this I have read many of Levi's works and would suggest reading the 'Drowned and the Saved' which goes deeper into the people he met and contains an excellent chapter on how he survived while his friend was sent on the Death March when the camp was liquidated.