It was a really lively discussion about a book that most people seemed to really enjoy (for some version of “enjoy”). Very challenging reading about the author’s experience in a concentration camp during world war 2 under German control. I was taken aback by the way that the prisoners were so systematically dehumanised and treated so callously. We spoke a lot about how Levi really only managed to survive by luck when so many of his contemporaries died, how the inmates had to follow not the explicit rules of the camp but enter into the whole bartering and trading system that the camp really ran on in order to have any chance of survival. The writing in the book always felt immediate but the subject matter was described in a detached way which I think allowed the book to be read, it would have been too much otherwise.
A really powerful book – recommended.
Our next book is “Small Things Like These” by Claire Keegan. See you at Nice Guys on Oct 4!
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