Wiesel - The Accident (later republished as Day)

Wiesel's deeply philosophical works always captivate me, and this is no different. Throughout the book, Elie struggles between life and death and his commitments to both. Who is he responsible to - his dead relatives or his living friends?

He deals with the same issues many survivors of horrible tragedies deal with - the "why am I alive and everyone else isn't?" question. Yet his grief and anguish is magnified to the extreme, and the prose he paints it with makes it exquisite.

"'I began to drink the salt water of the sea,' he said. 'There was no fear in me. I knew that I was dying, but I remained calm. A strangely sweet serenity came over me. I thought: at last I'll know what a drowning man thinks about. That was my last thought. I lost consciousness.'" (120)

"Hatred puts accents on things and beings, and on what separates them. Love erases accents. I thought: here's another minute that will punctuate my existence." (107)

"Love is a question mark, not an exclamation point. It can explain everything without calling on arguments whose weakness is based on logic. A boy who is in love knows more about the universe and about creation than a scholar. Why do we have to die? Because I love you, my love. and why do parallel lines meet at infinity? What a question! It's only because I love you, my love.
.....Yes, it was easy. I love Kathleen. Therefore life has a meaning, man isn't alone. Love is the very proof of God's existence." (81)