If This Is a Man / The Truce

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.


Heart-breaking but informative and important   January 28, 2005
J. E. Davidson (UK)
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

A truly amazing book - I cannot promise that you will enjoy it, in fact I can almost guarantee that you will find most of it heart-breaking and painful.

It is a little like watching Kieslowski's A Short Film About Killing - on many levels you do not enjoy it but it enthrals you. The subject matter is so important and it is so beautifully made and eloquent that you feel compelled to watch (or read in the case of Levi).

Levi tells the story of his own internment in Auschwitz - he concentrates on the details of everyday life slowing building a vivid picture of how the Nazis were intent on not just killing them but breaking their spirit, humiliating them, degrading them. He captures many moments so well that they live on in the mind, for example when he describes how the terrible regime made Jew turn on Jew. He even manages to raise a guilty smile occasionally. For example, he describes the second worst thing that could happen at night was to take out the toilet bucket as it was always full to overflowing and would spill on your feet. The worst thing was when your bunkmate took it out as they shared bunks sleeping head to toe.

Levi is a fantastic writer (try the Periodic Table if you want to read something easier and more enjoyable) with a light touch. He describes his time in Auschwitz calmly, clearly, with great compassion but remarkably objectively; he gives the reader space to think and understand.

A work of heart-breaking genius


5 star books!!   May 29, 2006
A. Sinclair
16 out of 18 found this review helpful


Primo Levi recounts his time in the concentration camp as someone trying make sense of what is happening around him, and of human nature. Unlike other books on the subject it did not make me want to cry about how unjust the world was it made me want to think about life and about human nature. His prose is just unbelievable - so lucid and stuning. His observations on human behaviour are so accurate. This is definitely the best book I am likely to read in a long time!!


Many books are described as 'must reads'. This one truly is.   November 6, 1999
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I've bought this book about 6 times now and each time read it again and given it away to friends to read. The other reviews make it sound rather a depressing read. I disagree. The descent into the hell of Buna told in 'if this is a man' is harrowing but the truce is the lyrical and uplifting story of the return of human spirit during levi's odyssey home. This tale of humanity recovered deserves to be read by all. More insight into the nature of humanity here than in a thousand angst-ridden fictions. (His beautiful book the periodic table is another required read)