by Primo Levi
First published 2005
Primo Levi, a young Italian Jew, is deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1944. Stripped of his humanity, he fights to survive the brutal conditions and unimaginable cruelty. As he witnesses the systematic destruction of his fellow prisoners, Levi grapples with the moral complexities of life in the camp, where the line between victim and perpetrator blurs. Through Levi's eyes, we confront the darkest depths of the human experience, even as he clings to the faint glimmers of hope that sustain him.
Genres: holocaust, historical-fiction, 20th-century, jewish
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: gritty, moral-ambiguity
Setting: Poland, Oświęcim, Italy
Period: 1944
97 pages · Hardcover · Verso
Content warnings: death, violence