The Judges

Rating:
Summary: Elie did it again
Review: First I must say that Mr. Wiesel's other books including Night, Dawn, and the Accident are all wonderful books.

Second, someone who is reading for action should not read the book. It doesn't have action in the book, but it does allow the reader to dive deep in philosophy.

Third, some say that it doesn't have a "realistic" plot. Can I ask, which fiction book truly has a realistic plot? I think Mr. Wiesel was trying to get the reader to "get" more out of the characters than the way the characters ended up in the cabin. I think we could all learn something from reading this book. I know I did.

I must say that this book was a good read and I recommend it to all. I would also like to recommend the other three books I mentioned earlier--Night, Dawn, and the Accident. Great books from a great writer!

Rating:
Summary: Elie did it again
Review: First I must say that Mr. Wiesel's other books including Night, Dawn, and the Accident are all wonderful books.

Second, someone who is reading for action should not read the book. It doesn't have action in the book, but it does allow the reader to dive deep in philosophy.

Third, some say that it doesn't have a "realistic" plot. Can I ask, which fiction book truly has a realistic plot? I think Mr. Wiesel was trying to get the reader to "get" more out of the characters than the way the characters ended up in the cabin. I think we could all learn something from reading this book. I know I did.

I must say that this book was a good read and I recommend it to all. I would also like to recommend the other three books I mentioned earlier--Night, Dawn, and the Accident. Great books from a great writer!

Rating:
Summary: Slow and boring
Review: I thought the book was slow and boring. I expected a lot more. w3rd.

Rating:
Summary: A cryptic novel that explores the value of a life.
Review: In Elie Wiesel's novel, "The Judges," five airline travelers are flying en route from New York to Tel Aviv. They are forced to land in Connecticut because of a severe snowstorm. An apparently hospitable individual invites them to stay in his cabin until the storm subsides. What the five passengers do not know is that their apparently kind-hearted host has a hidden agenda that is anything but benign.

The travelers, four men and a woman, have secrets and worries that plague them. One of them is terminally ill, another seeks to regain memories of his earlier life, and a third carries a letter that may have serious political ramifications. The host, who calls himself "The Judge," starts to play a malevolent game with his guests. He cruelly informs them that after they reveal the intimate details of their lives, the least worthy among them will die. Also in the cabin is the Hunchback, the Judge's servant, who is a severely deformed man that the Judge took in when no one else would care for him. The Hunchback has secret thoughts of his own that he keeps carefully hidden.

This slim novel (approximately 200 pages long) is filled with convoluted philosophical musings. The travelers engage in verbal sparring matches with one another and with the Judge. Unfortunately, none of the characters come to life, and it is unclear what the Judge, the Hunchback and the travelers are supposed to represent. What is Wiesel trying to say about the significance of an individual's life? I was unable to detect a coherent message in this novel. After having read Wiesel's touching and deeply meaningful works on the Holocaust, I was surprised by how unmoved "The Judges" left me.

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Wiesel should have just had "Q" show up.
Review: Mr. Wiesel is pretty good at developing characters, however he doesn't pay attention to the reality of details. It is not just implausible for the characters to end up at the cabin it is virtually impossible. The events getting the characters to the cabin is simply not realistic. It would have been a better story and a more reasonable if "Q" (Star Trek) had showed up and transported them there.

I am a cowgirl from Arizona and I would have put up with the Judges nonsense for about 15 minutes max. Then I would have acted. Mr. Wiesel spend why too much time on thought and not enough on action. Whatever.

Rating:
Summary: Like nothing I've read before
Review: The plot seemed so real. While reading the book, my dad had told me my aunt had once had to stay overnight at someone's home because of a simlar event like the one in the book, the book kinda hit close to home. I never had read any of Elie Wiesel's books before, but checked the book out of the library after reading the inside cover and deciding that the plot would be interesting and make a good story. However, I was disappointed. I really felt that Wiesel could have expanded a lot more on the plot. I didn't feel like I knew the charcters well enough. I didn't understand why the ending ended the way it did. It wasn't the best book I read, but it wasn't the worst.

Rating:
Summary: Rather boring in my view...
Review: Unless you like psychology and philosophy in a large dosage, I'd recommend not buying this book. I'm sure all of Elie Wiesel's other novels including Night are much more interesting. This one is particularly boring - in my view as there's nothing surprising and somewhat spicy in the story. The group is trapped in the Judge's house and throughout the story the author tells us about each character, with additional conversations and quarrels between them. But other than that, and the Judge's weird character, I couldn't find anything that captured me and excited me in this book.