If Not Now, When?

by Primo Levi

Book Overview

In the final days of World War II, a courageous band of Jewish partisans makes its way from Russia to Italy, moving toward the ultimate goal of Palestine. Based on a true story, If Not Now, When? chronicles their adventures as they wage a personal war of revenge against the Nazis: blowing up trains, rescuing the last victims of concentration camps, scoring victories in the face of unspeakable devastation. Primo Levi captures the landscape and the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140084924
• ISBN13: 9780140084924
• Release Date: May 1986
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 349 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Captivating Historical Fiction

If you are looking for a nuanced and brutally honest depiction of the Holocaust, Primo Levi has always been the best author you could possibly read. Works like Maus, Night, Count the Stars, The Boy with the Striped Pyjamas, and Anne Frank’s Diary are essential reading for younger readers, and every adolescent should read at least one of these, because this disturbing and inhumane episode if history cannot go unlearned. However, for more mature audiences, Primo Levi’s memoir, Survival in Auschwitz, is equally essential to understand the spirit of resistance that remained in so many Jews against virtually hopeless odds. Furthermore, the stories of Jews who not only escaped or evaded the camps, but took up arms against the fascists, freed prisoners from the camps and lagers, and struggled to maintain their identity as a nation too often go untold. I highly recommend this novel, based on true events, about heroic Jewish partisans to fans of the film Defiance, but really to anyone who was never taught that thousands of Jews armed themselves against the fascists. The partisans of Levi’s fictional band are fully human—their hopes and despairs, struggles and victories both military and personal, and their unwavering dark humor—at a time their very humanity was denied them.

The ruthlessness of survival

Setting aside its profound Jewish interest, the book is an outstanding chronicle of WWII, rich with detail concerning the hardships, the cold, the Russian-Polish landscape, the polyglot bands of homeless partisans and refugees, their ruthless tactics for survival,and the ugliness and arbitrariness of death. My favorite book by one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.

A gripping tale of courage and survival

This is one of Levi's last works, the story is about a fictional group of Jewish partisans operating behind German lines in Russia and Poland from July, 1943 to the end of World War II. Levi himself joined a partisan band in 1943, although it was in Italy, not Russia, and he was soon captured and sent to Auschwitz. Although the plot and characters are fictional, Levi has gone to great lengths to make his story as authentic as possible. This novel is based not only on his own personal experiences, but on conversations he had with others, and on other published accounts of the experiences of Jewish partisans operating behind enemy lines on the Eastern Front (Levi even provides a bibliography at the end). This is a book of hope, not of despair. Levi explicitly eschews accounts of the death camps in this work; it is not a work of "Holocaust Literature". It is a story of the Jewish resistance with universal overtones. What makes this book more than just another "war story" is the rich cast of characters, drawn with sympathy, humor, and without a trace of sentimentality. Typical of these is the leader of the partisan band, a man of great charisma, and a brilliant decision-maker, who understands that in the forest, surrounded by enemies, with the life-sustaining morale of his small force hanging in the balance, his violin is almost as essential for the group's survival as his weapon. What gives this book such great authenticity is that none of the characters are paragons of virtue; they are ordinary, flawed people forced to draw upon every last ounce of courage and resourcefulness within just to survive to fight another day. Front and center to the survival of the group is the fierce loyalty its members have to each other. Even as the war ends and they are no longer in deadly peril, the members of the band share a common destiny in which the fate of one is the fate of all. I found this book very difficult to put down once I started it. It would be hard to find a more vivid, well-told tale of what it was like for the partisans along the Eastern front of World War II.

Gripping tale of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstan

This fictional account of Jewish partisans fighting their way through war ravaged eastern Europe is incredibly moving. The characters are so realistically human in their reactions to the chaotic conditions that they encounter. The book explores a chapter of WWII history that is not very well known and does so from the perspectives of ordinary people caught up in the swirling events and joined together by a desire to survive as well as by a common hatred of the Nazis. There is an incredible life affirming wedding scene in the midst of countless grim episodes that demonstrates the human capacity of endurance. The translation is excellent and the narrative is crisp and fast moving. One of the best literary works dealing with the European war.Unforgettable!.

If am not for myself, who will be for me?

"If am not for myself, who will be for me? If am for myself alone, what am I? If not now, when." This is a famous passage of Rabbi Hillel, and they are the appropriate words to use as title for this book. It is a fictional narrative of a group of Jewish partisans, following their track from Russia to Italy, along 1943/45. Without sensationalism, avoiding detailed descriptions of horror, and using a touch of humor, Primo Levi describes the hardships of partisans who rebelled against injustice armed themselves and carried their own personal war against the enemy, united by a commmon goal to reach Palestine. Interesting characters are developed, and a narrative always with tension and emotion. A Tale of heroism based on documented records of WWII. Primo Levi is not evasive when it comes to his honest thoughts about the enemies (whether Germans, Russians, or Polish) but his message is one of universal human solidarity. Beautifully written, with a fantastic human touch.

Stirring adventure of the human spirit

Unlike Levi's autobiographical works , this fast-paced existential adventure details the personal bonds amongst Jewish Partisans active in Eastern Europe during WW2. These brave , determined souls fight the Reich, make love, and forage for bread, while they gnaw on the meaning offered them in a world at war. An unpretentious examination of human fight, this novel ranks as Levi's most portentious examination of the heart of the rebel in the context of the Holocaust. Highly recommended.