The Sonderberg Case, Elie Wiesel
The Sonderberg Case, Elie Wiesel
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The Sonderberg Case

Author: Elie Wiesel, Catherine Temerson

Narrator: Mark Bramhall

Unabridged: 4 hr 57 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/24/2010


Synopsis

From the Nobel laureate and author of the masterly Night, a deeply felt, beautifully written novel of morality, guilt, and innocence.

Despite personal success, Yedidyah—a theater critic in New York City, husband to a stage actress, father to two sons—finds himself increasingly drawn to the past. As he reflects on his life and the decisions he’s made, he longingly reminisces about the relationships he once had with the men in his family (his father, his uncle, his grandfather) and the questions that remain unanswered. It’s a feeling that is further complicated when Yedidyah is assigned to cover the murder trial of a German expatriate named Werner Sonderberg. Sonderberg returned alone from a walk in the Adirondacks with an elderly uncle, whose lifeless body was soon retrieved from the woods. His plea is enigmatic: “Guilty . . . and not guilty.”

These words strike a chord in Yedidyah, plunging him into feelings that bring him harrowingly close to madness. As Sonderberg’s trial moves along a path of dizzying yet revelatory twists and turns, Yedidyah begins to understand his own family’s hidden past and finally liberates himself from the shadow it has cast over his life.

With his signature elegance and thoughtfulness, Elie Wiesel has given us an enthralling psychological mystery, both vividly dramatic and profoundly emotional.

About The Author

Elie Wiesel is the author of more than fifty books, both fiction and nonfiction. He is a recipient of the United States Congressional Gold Medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the French Legion of Honor’s Grand-Croix, an honorary knighthood of the British Empire, and, in 1986, the Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1976, he has been the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jim on September 08, 2016

This is not a book for people who want an action packed, plot driven story. Think of this as sipping brandy, savoring and reflecting on the components of what you are tasting. A lot of food for thought, especially for someone interested in pondering moral issues. When I was a younger reader, I read a......more

Goodreads review by Travis on December 14, 2010

I love books that really engage me psychologically and philosophically, and this book by Elie Wiesel does just that ****SPOILER ALERT**** in the latter part of this book, the title character, Werner Sonderberg, argues with his grandfather, Hans, about Hans's past as a Nazi Hans had been an SS officer w......more

Goodreads review by Mary on January 04, 2020

I'm struggling with finding something to say about this book. I can't say I enjoyed it, or that I learned something from it. I feel like I followed the story just fine (although the pages of philosophical questions the narrator asks himself tended to make my eyes glaze over), but I still feel like I......more

Goodreads review by Beth on February 15, 2021

Meandering philosophical thought is fine between friends who engage in discussion, but lonely such theorectical musings belong at home. (My opinion) Well, maybe not but the beginning of this (fortunately) small book annoyed me. I wanted him to get on with the story promised by the title: The Sonderb......more

Goodreads review by Kay on September 13, 2020

A great inspiring book. It’s a triumph of humanity when a survivor of holocaust opens heart and counsels those who inflicted suffer upon them!......more


Quotes

“Elie Wiesel continues to be a voice of modern humanity’s conscience with his latest work, a beautifully layered book . . . [In The Sonderberg Case] the Nobel Laureate exploits his greatest strength: words beaming through the window that peers into the author’s soul.  For a brief moment of holy catharsis, we become Wiesel.”
            -Francis RTM Boyle, Time Out New York
 
“From the first clear, simple sentence, melancholy hangs over the story, always permeating the author’s voice . . . The theme of the Jew today confronting his own family history remains powerful.”
            -Booklist
 
“Wiesel’s latest novel is full of questions . . . Is Sonderberg guilty? The answer is satisfying if not surprising, a good description of this musing, almost fablelike work.”
            -Library Journal
 
“Ambitious . . . Compelling.”
            -Publishers Weekly