Rating: 
Summary: Takes you there
Review: I actually read this book over six years ago for a class I was taking on the Holocaust, I came upon this book on amazon while searching another and felt compelled to come in and put in my bit on it. Even after several years, the experience of reading this book is so deeply felt. If you want a vivid account on what it was like to be a Jew in Auschwitz, read this book. I won't go into a lot of detail, since it's been so long but what I remember most is: While reading it at one point I had to put the book down and remind myself..If I'm hungrey, I can just go to the fridge, If I'm thirsty, I can go to the kitchen for a glass of water, if I am cold, I can turn up the heat...and I felt I was living in pure luxury. In this book you learn that anything has value, a piece of paper can be stuck in your shoe to keep your feet warm, a button will serve some purpose, as will a piece of string. If you find anything, you pick it up. And at one point in the book as Primo Levi and other prisoners are standing near a barbed wire fence in the dead cold of winter he writes, (I am paraphasing) If at this time last year in this spot, any of us knew we'd be here through another winter, we would have touched the fence right then. But we don't, because of only one thing, hope.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS EVER
Review: I can only say I read this book back when I was a senior in highschool and nothing has changed my opinion of it. I t is one of the most influential books of my life. As a person of color I can honestly say it made me a life long crusader for man's humanity and I vowed after reading it that I would always be a child of the light, a person daring to be comapsionate no matter what the circumstances. And to be true to myself some twenty years later I can honestly say that I have been true to that vow. Thnak you Mr. Levi
Rating:
Summary: Very moving
Review: I finished this book last night and wasn't able to sleep for the remainder because of Mr. Levi's words. I have never read such deep, profound, moving words describing the Holocaust. I highly recommend this to all. This book goes beyond the day to day description on what it was like to be in Auschwitz, but also explores the human emotions and how the Nazi's broke down so many people, but at the same time were not able to break their spirit. I am having a hard time putting into words how this book affected me. This is a book you will not forget.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling tale of a horrible event, that goes even deeper
Review: I had to read this book for a philosophy class. It is superb. The original title "If this was a man" suits the book much better than the American version of the title. This book describes what the people went through in painstaking detail leaving out many parts that are over-used in other books about the Lagers (german for death camps). It challenges you to look beyong the surface. Beyond the attrocities that occurred and take a look at where it all came from. It is scary to conclude that Germany before Nazi control is similar to the way America is now. A top notch industrial nation filled with Nationalism. While this book has recieved countless reviews from critics, it is a short easy read that will not fill you with senseless information. If you read it slowly and really think about what it says you will take away so much more. If you don't have the time, or effort to do that, just reading the tale of this man's transition into something that was no longer a man, more a living mass. Levi writes another book "The Drowned and the Saved" which tells of his return home after the concentration camp and is a good companion to the book
Rating: 
Summary: Read Alicia: My Story by Alicia Appleman instead!
Review: I have read many Holocaust biographies and autobiographies and this one was by far the worst one i have read. I could not finish the book, it was so uninteresting. i felt no connection with the author and narrator and I felt like he was making his experiences up. If you want a good book on the Holocaust try Alicia: My Story by Alicia Appleman-Jurman. It shows a true hero of the Holocaust is one of the best and most amazing books I have ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Must-read
Review: I read this book for a Holocaust Literature course several years ago, and I still remember the overwhelming horror of his account. His clinical, almost dispassionate rendering makes it more believable-- the hardest thing when reading of such extreme cruelty! I have recently read The Periodic Table, and anyone who reads Survival in Auschwitz must read Periodic Table! Every person I get to read it in turn raves, and passes it on to their friends. It is the light in the tunnel, talking of his life afterward and giving me such deep respect for this amazing man. There cannot be a single person who has read this book (Periodic Table) who has not come to love him deeply and to wish to display similar courage and humanity in the face of unbelievable horror.
Rating:
Summary: the best memoir of the Holocaust I've read
Review: I took a "History of Genocide" class this semester at Duke, and we had to read this book. It's the most well-written, compelling memoir that I've read. Levi is an excellent writer, with lucid and compelling prose and insightful ideas. Well recommended for anyone wanting to know more about the Holocaust, or about humanity in general. Be careful though - it's somewhat depressing (how could it not be?)
Rating: 
Summary: Primo: Still a Man
Review: I'm not a fan of Holocaust narrative, mostly because I've read and been forced to read in school many of this type of novel. Primo's memoir, however, sticks in my mind unlike any other. What makes Survival in Auschwitz, aka If This Is A Man, unique is the complete objectivity he writes with. He records only fact, expressing no emotion whatsoever. The effect is unsentimental and wholly horrific. His role is a recorder of events for posterity, and asks the reader to judge for his/herself the morality of what took place in the camp, not only the actions of the Nazi guards but also the prisoners themselves. He lets the reader decide whether he retained his humanity in the face of complete dehuminization. If all you know of the Holocaust is contained in Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, it might benefit you to pick this one up.
Rating:
Summary: Primo: Still a Man
Review: I'm not a fan of Holocaust narrative, mostly because I've read and been forced to read in school many of this type of novel. Primo's memoir, however, sticks in my mind unlike any other. What makes Survival in Auschwitz, aka If This Is A Man, unique is the complete objectivity he writes with. He records only fact, expressing no emotion whatsoever. The effect is unsentimental and wholly horrific. His role is a recorder of events for posterity, and asks the reader to judge for his/herself the morality of what took place in the camp, not only the actions of the Nazi guards but also the prisoners themselves. He lets the reader decide whether he retained his humanity in the face of complete dehuminization. If all you know of the Holocaust is contained in Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl, it might benefit you to pick this one up.
Rating:
Summary: survival in auschwitz
Review: I'm sorry to disagree with the majority of other review's but I thought this book was teriable. I bought it because of the high reviews but was deeply dissapointed. I have read many books about Auschwitz, and the holocust this being by far the worst. The writing style was very dry especially considering the topic. Too much time was spent talking about trivial, meaningles thing's while subject's that should have been described better were very short and non descript. I could not finish reading this book, and would not recomend it.
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