All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
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Book Reviews of All Quiet on the Western Front
Book Review: an anti-war masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
All Quiet on the Western Front is a gripping tale of men, life, death, and despair. It tells the story of a generation of youth lost to the rattling of machine guns and the din of artillery. Those who have not yet fully grasped life would never be able to do so after the war. As described by the author, Erich Maria Remarque, the purpose of this novel is to 'tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped shells, were destroyed by the war'. It brings to life the experiences and horrors faced by an ordinary soldier on the western front.It is 1917, and World War I has been raging for some years now. The narrator and focus of the action, German infantryman Paul Baumer, has just returned from the front. His friends and former schoolmates Tjaden, Muller, Kropp, Haie, and the elderly Katczinsky (Kat) accompany him. After a few days of rest and the arrival of some reinforcements, they are sent back to the front for an overnight stint of laying barbed wire. As the reader, you experience your first night of terrible shelling, followed by a gas attack that foreshadows the terrors yet to come. Just a week or so later, they are called back to the front in light of a coming offensive. Through the ensuing days and weeks, a frenzy of attacks and counterattacks take place, all masterfully described through Remarque's frighteningly real style of writing. The book continues in this fashion taking you through the last years of the war.
All Quiet on the Western Front is a moving story that one cannot help to be affected by. I give it my strongest recommendation. It is an anti-war novel, which should continue to be read by our youth so that yet another young generation shall not be so lost. The characters are diverse and the writing concise. Remarque has created a masterpiece of the battlefield that shall forever stand as one of the best.
Book Review: A Perspective other than the US
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is incredible. It is so refreshing to read from the "loser's" point of view instead of the US's all the time. I get so tired of only hearing our side. But it was nice to have my firm belief that other nationalities are people with valid beliefs and opinions be backed up.
I could write literally pages on the brilliance of this book, but I will refrain.
It is a nice, simple read, though a very intense and meaningful one. To clarify, it goes fast, the words are 'easy' but there's so much BEHIND the words.
As Sigmund Freud states, "(War) strips us of the later accretions of civilization and lays bare the primal man in each of us. It compels us once more to be heroes who cannot believe in their own death; it stamps strangers as enemies, whose death is to be brought about or desired; it tells us to disregard the death of those we love." Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front shows the disillusionment of war-how one can easily lose all past ideals and human emotions, how one can easily forget that his enemy is human, and how one can easily fail to remember that he is still alive.
When the reader compares each character in youth to the `person' they have become, the boys of 1916 are now no more than shadows of what they were or could have been. The only time they experience any happiness is when they are with each other, enjoying the peace of camaraderie. Erich Maria Remarque fiercely details to the reader all that is lost in a war-not only lives and money; but for those who are `lucky' enough to survive-their lives have been forfeit as well. "We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces...The first bomb...burst in our hearts. We are cut off from...striving...progress. We believe in such things no longer, we believe in the war."
Book Review: The Great War Novel of the 20th Century
Summary: 5 Stars
I am often disappointed when I return to a novel that I read and admired in my youth--but when I recently finished re-reading ALL QUITE ON THE WESTERN FRONT I found myself as moved and impressed I was some twenty years ago when I first encountered it. If ever there was "the great war novel of the 20th century," this is it, and I do not use that description lightly.The novel is flawless. Told from the point of view of a young solider named Paul, ALL QUIET presents the story of German youths who enlist during World War I under the influence of a professor, who assures them that their service will make a vital difference to the cause and bring them honor and glory. Once inside the military machine, however, they endure training that consists largely of attention to petty detail and abuse of authority before being fed into the hell of the war's infamous trench warfare--in which thousands die pointlessly as they take, lose, and re-take the same few yards of land over and over again.
Remarque's style here is remarkable, for he keeps his prose simple and direct and easy to read without allowing it to become commonplace. Great horrors are presented casually, for they are the stuff of every day life; at the same time, the occasional moment of beauty--be it the blue sky on a clear day, the solace of friendship, or the satisfaction of enough to eat--stand out in high relief against the hell of battle. And as the novel progresses and the characters change, harden, and sometimes warp and break under the stress of battle, we find ourselves repeatedly confronted with both the nobility and tragedy of the ordinary man at war.
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT still speaks in ringing tones, and it will not doubt continue to do so as long as war itself continues. Not just strongly recommended; it is required reading for all those who call themselves human.
Book Review: Frightening and tragic
Summary: 5 Stars
Erich Maria Remarque's masterpiece about a group of friends engulfed in the horrors of trench warfare in the First World War is a shocking portrayal of the terrible nature of war in the trenches and a grim reminder of the human cost of waging war.The story begins with a group of young soldiers rejoicing at their good fortune in receiving double rations. Soon afterwards, the reason for the soldiers' feast is revealed: half of their unit was wiped out in their last trip up the line. The story continues in this vein, relating both the good times and bad times experienced by the men, creating a stark contrast between moments of sheer terror and close friendship.
One thing that this book has going for it is that it doesn't read like an anti-war book. There are no diatribes against the powers that be or the evils of man, just the lives of seven young men who marched off to what they thought would be the glory of war. They live normal soldier lives and ask normal soldier questions. As you read the stories of Paul Baumer and his friends, you begin to see how men can describe their time in fighting as some of the best and worst times of their lives, how soldiers bond and find good times in the midst of the horrors of war. As his friends fall one by one, Baumer begins to see that these good times are soon to be no more, and the only thing he will have left is loneliness and the war. This is the central theme in the book: that war drains young men of their humanity and destroys them, even if they are not killed by bullets or bombs.
This is a great book. The combat sequences are shockingly vivid, and the friendship between the soldiers and the experiences they share are beautifully tragic in light of the terror the young men face. After reading this book, I don't think I'll ever watch war movies or read books about war in the same way again.
Book Review: Achtung! Halt und lies!
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a senior in high school and I was on the prowl to find a book that would fill my needs for both thrill and suspense. Not long after I began my search a friend recommended to me the classic war novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. In the beginning it seemed to have a very slow storyline but interesting none-the-less. After reading through the second chapter I instantly became hooked as the main plot of the war came to life.
This story takes place in the World War I era and shows displays directly and indirectly the involvement of the soldiers of the German army.
As is included in most novels there is the main character who must struggle in order to complete a seemingly difficult task. In his novel, the main character, Paul Bäumer, is surrounded by conflict and must ally with his comrades in the field of battle in order to subdue their common foe and become victorious in battle and strike towards the end of the war.
Throughout this story you will here of great victories but with much loss, and I am sure to the soldiers no victory is great, it is just a victory. You will also discover many great and memorable quotes as stated in the story such as "To me the front is a mysterious whirlpool. Though I am in still water far away from its centre, I feel the whirl of the vortex sucking me slowly, irresistibly, inescapable into itself." Paul Bäumer
All in all, I liked this story for its elements that make this novel seem to come to life with its highly vivid descriptions of events that occur around Bäumer and his comrades. I found very little to dislike about this story, to mention this minor dislike it is that I believe that some descriptions are unnecessarily long and at times not a necessity to the plot of the story.