A Mad Desire to Dance: A Novel By Elie Wiesel

Title: A Mad Desire to Dance: A Novel 

Author:  Elie Wiesel

Genre: Fiction

Rating: * * * *

Publishers Date: 4/12/2010

Reviewed By: M. Richards

Paperback: 288  pages

Publisher: Schocken

ISBN:  0805212124

FTC Disclosure: Bought by me

A European expatriate living in New York, Doriel suffers from a profound sense of desperation and loss. His mother, a member of the Resistance, survived World War II only to die soon after in France in an accident, together with his father. Doriel was a hidden child during the war, and his knowledge of the Holocaust is largely limited to what he finds in movies, newsreels, and books. Doriel’s parents and their secrets haunt him, leaving him filled with longing but unable to experience the most basic joys in life. He plunges into an intense study of Judaism, but instead of finding solace, he comes to believe that he is possessed by a dybbuk.

Surrounded by ghosts, spurred on by demons, Doriel finally turns to Dr. Thérèse Goldschmidt, a psychoanalyst who finds herself particularly intrigued by her patient. The two enter into an uneasy relationship based on exchange: of dreams, histories, and secrets. And despite Doriel’s initial resistance, Dr. Goldschmidt helps bring him to a crossroads—and to a shocking denouement. 

Elie Wiesel’s A Mad Desire to Dance is a different animal compared to his autobiography Night.  This book is not for the faint of heart that may look for an easy fix.  Wiesel’s work of fiction is a beautiful and sad look into the life of a madman who spends almost his entire life fighting the demons in his and his families past.  As a hidden Jewish child, his mother fights for the Resistance in France.  His work exhorts the journey of life and not just the finale.  If you can battle the dybbuk (Jewish demon) of Doreil, Wiesel’s heroine, you will see that it is never too late to claim your life as your own, no matter the wear the journey has caused.
I was honored to have my daughter do this review. She had just finished book today and was excited enough about it to ask me to run down some more of his work so I asked her to give me her two cents worth on the book.