Michael Finocchiaro's review of The Periodic Table (original) (raw)

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Michael Finocchiaro's Reviews > The Periodic Table

The Periodic Table
by

After reading If This Is a Man • The Truce and The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levy, I was a little disappointed with The Periodic Table because I felt it was a bit uneven. Here, Primo Levy uses elements (Argon, Hydrogen, Zinc, Iron, etc) from the periodic table (he was a chemist professionally and this saved him at Auschwitz) to describe 21 stories related to his life before, during and after his imprisonment. Some are great stories and often have a great ironic sense of humor. Others, well, they spoke less to me. I appreciated the idea as a motif, but as stated earlier, I feel the writing was uneven.

In terms of the stories I appreciated most were:
- Iron is the story of his capture as a partisan before being captured by the Nazis.
- Uranium is the story of his life after the war in customer service
- Vanadium is a confrontation with a former SS after the war
- Carbon is a more fantastical story about how we are all connected and closes the volume

Fino's Reviews of Books about the Holocaust

Nonfiction:
If This Is A Man/The Truce by Primo Levy
The Periodic Table by Primo Levy
The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levy
The Night by Elie Wiesel
Auschwitz by Laurence Rees
Fiction:
The Tatooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris
Travel to Krakow to visit Auschwitz:
Krakow:City Guide [Blue Guides]

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Reading Progress

January 27, 2018 – Shelved

January 27, 2018 – Shelved as:to-read

February 7, 2020 –Started Reading

February 8, 2020 –Finished Reading

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