Sophie's Choice

The Verdict

William Styron's most famous novel approaches the Holocaust at a slant — through a young Southern writer in postwar Brooklyn, drawn to a beautiful Polish Catholic survivor of Auschwitz and her brilliant, unstable Jewish lover. The title's terrible meaning, when it finally arrives, has entered the language. Styron is writing about the unbearable weight of survival and the limits of anyone's ability to comprehend the camps from outside, and the book is both powerful and, by design and by controversy, troubling. A serious, contested reckoning with the catastrophe's long shadow.

Who Should Read It

Why We Rated It 4.3

Historical Context

Sophie's Choice (1979) is narrated by a young writer, Stingo, and follows the Polish Catholic Auschwitz survivor Sophie and her lover Nathan in 1947 Brooklyn. It won the National Book Award and was filmed in 1982, with Meryl Streep winning an Academy Award.

Criticisms & Debates

Styron drew criticism for centring his Auschwitz story on a non-Jewish Polish protagonist and, more broadly, for a Gentile American author dramatising the camps at all. Defenders argue the book is precisely about the limits of outside comprehension. The debate is part of the novel's history.

Events Covered

Editions & Reading Notes

Read It Alongside

The Reader Bernhard Schlink · 1995 · ★ 4.3

Historical Fiction

The Choice Edith Eger · 2017 · ★ 4.6

Memoir

If This Is a Man Primo Levi · 1947 · ★ 4.9

Memoir

Where to Buy

ISBN: 978-0679736370

Read This Against

The same events seen from a different vantage point. The fullest understanding often lives in the space between accounts that don't agree.

The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank · 1947 · Jewish / Holocaust

Memoir

If This Is a Man Primo Levi · 1947 · Jewish / Holocaust

Memoir

Night Elie Wiesel · 1960 · Jewish / Holocaust

Memoir

Other Books About the Same Events

The Diary of a Young Girl Anne Frank · 1947

Memoir

If This Is a Man Primo Levi · 1947

Memoir

Night Elie Wiesel · 1960

Memoir

Man's Search for Meaning Viktor Frankl · 1946

Memoir

The Pianist Władysław Szpilman · 1946

Memoir

Maus Art Spiegelman · 1991

Memoir

More by William Styron

Frequently Asked Questions

What is 'Sophie's choice'?

Without spoiling it: the title refers to an impossible decision forced on Sophie at Auschwitz, revealed late in the novel; the phrase has since entered common usage.

Why is the novel controversial?

For centring its Holocaust narrative on a non-Jewish survivor and for a Gentile author's dramatisation of the camps — debates the book has carried since publication.