Holocaust – Hibernator's Library

2012 Book 130: Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl (9/5/2012)

Reason for Reading: One of the essays in Fantasy Media in the Classroom, talked about a fusion class which combined Man’s Search for Meaning and The Lucifer Effect with science fiction books like The Invisible Man and The Strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in which men choose “evil.” I thought since I’ve been reading a lot of books about men who choose “evil” that I’d try out Man’s Search for Meaning. I’ll try to fit in The Lucifer Effect soon. It gives an interesting perspective on why some people choose “good” and other choose “evil.” Frankl’s message was that people can choose to be “swine” or “saints,” but they make this choice over and over throughout their lives and their search for meaning is the motivation behind each decision.

My Review

In the first half of this fascinating little book, Frankl describes his years in the concentration camps (including Auschwitz) with the purpose of analyzing the behavior of people in extreme situations. He admits that someone who wasn’t there can’t give a very detailed or personal account, but a person who WAS there can’t give a detached account because they were emotionally involved. I think he did an excellent job of viewing the situation with detachment, considering the situation. This was a really interesting little memoir. The second half of the book introduces his theory of psychoanalysis: logotherapy. Logotherapy is focused on man’s search for meaning; in contrast to Freudian theory focusing on man’s search for pleasure and Adlerian theory focusing on man’s search for power. I think Logotherapy is the most sensible form of psychotherapy I’ve ever heard of. How can I argue that our happiness depends on our perceiving our own purpose? I admit I felt a little skepticism when he kept bringing up examples of how he’d “cured” someone after only one session–he must have been a particularly clever person to manage that so often. 😉 But that aside, I think the technique of finding meaning in a patient’s life is rather useful. 🙂

2012 Book 29: The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink (2/14/2012)

Reason for Reading: Filled in a 1001 Books and an International Fiction slot in my 12 in 12 challenge (and it was nice and short)

My Review 3.5/5 stars

15-year old Michael has a love affair with an older woman, who then disappears leaving him with uneasy feelings of guilt and abandonment. Years later, he discovers that she was a guard at Nazi concentration camps. While he attends her trial, and in the years following, Michael explores what it means to love someone who has done terrible things. For me, this was a new way to view the Holocaust, and so the story was very interesting. However, it’s not the type of book I generally enjoy, so this is the only reason I gave it a lower rating. I think it’s a very well written and thought-provoking book.