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Reviews'Judges' Poses Some Tough Personal JuestionsBY PAULINE M. MILLARD Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) _ "The Judges" (Knopf, 209 pages, $24) by Elie Wiesel You are locked in a room with four strangers and one of you will be chosen to die that night based on your past. How would you account for your life? What could save you? In Elie Wiesel's novel "The Judges," five strangers must ask themselves these tough questions at the home of a man who calls himself "the Judge" and who has offered them refuge after a snowstorm grounds their flight to Tel Aviv, Israel. The strangers are a diverse group: a pretty redhead named Claudia; an archivist named George; Bruce, a playboy; Razziel, a teacher at a Talmudic school; and Yoav, an Israeli soldier. The Judge offers them a room and a hot drink, then tells them that at the end of the evening one of them will be killed and they may have to choose whom. Their only ally in the house is a quiet hunchback who gives fierce lip service to the Judge but feels sorry for the group. At first the five guests think the Judge is some sort of weirdo playing a sick joke on them, but as the night progresses they suspect it's more serious than that. They concoct ways, overtly and covertly, to overthrow the Judge, believing it to be their only chance to escape, even if it means dashing through a blizzard. Wiesel, a Pulitzer Prize winner, moves the story along through the stories and inner monologues of the characters. He weaves among them _ one minute we are immersed into Yoav's memories of life in the Israeli army, and the next we are exploring Razziel's quest for knowledge about his past. The story could be seen as a fable based on the tenets of the Jewish New Year, when Jews review their past deeds and seek ways to improve. In "The Judges," each character goes through a complicated thought process to look back at his life. Some are pleased with what they see, others think it would be OK if they died that night. Everyone sees room for improvement. "It was true: Razziel needed a rest. Like a man who has lived too hard, endured too much, he deserved to be left in peace. To find his bearings. To renew himself. Razziel was suffocating. Caught in a cold and comfortless stranglehold, he felt he was a prisoner without knowing whose. But he knew why. He had committed grave errors. He was guilty of having entered the orchard of forbidden knowledge. Guilty in the eyes of God and men, guilty toward his father _ whom he knew no longer, or did not know as yet _ and above all guilty of having wasted a life: his own." The story ends somewhat abruptly but the inner workings of Wiesel's characters are the crux of the story more than are the fates of the Judge and his house guests. Even more important are the questions raised: Who is important to me? What has made my life extraordinary? Why should I be saved above the others? Like many of Wiesel books, "The Judges" will have readers wrapped up in the minds of its characters, asking themselves the same questions. |