Considered by many the greatest war novel of all time, All Quiet on the Western Front is Erich Maria Remarque’s masterpiece of the German experience during World War I.I am young, I am twenty years old; yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. . . .This is the testament of Paul Bäumer, who enlists with his classmates in the … enlists with his classmates in the German army during World War I. They become soldiers with youthful enthusiasm. But the world of duty, culture, and progress they had been taught breaks in pieces under the first bombardment in the trenches.
Through years of vivid horror, Paul holds fast to a single vow: to fight against the principle of hate that meaninglessly pits young men of the same generation but different uniforms against one another . . . if only he can come out of the war alive.
“The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure.”—The New York Times Book Review
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A good history lesson. Confirms that there is good and bad everywhere.
This gets inside the grim reality of war. The characters of WW1 German soldiers but the story is universal.
Amazing how timeless this story is. Very well written. Interesting characters.
Certainly not a book I thought I’d enjoy, but….I did.
Informative, interesting characters; I was reading aloud for a class and ended up reading ahead.
I read this several years ago, although I don’t remember much of actual happenjngs…I will never forget the feelings it invoked. I think it’s definitely a must read. I plan to read it again.
The book and the author deserve a complete essay to be written about them. I disagree with the traditional comment that the book is an appeal to pacifism. It is a realistic and largely unromantic description of war in the trenches in WW1. The reader can make of it whatever he wants.
Incidentally, the title was mistranslated. It is NOT “all quiet” on the Western Front. The Western Front was not quiet. It was characterised by frequent artillery, machine gun and small arms fire and the deaths of hundreds of young men – if not thousands – every day. The title in German is “nothing new” on the W.F. In other words, it was the same old, same old meat-grinder that it had been for 4 yrs. The phrase used as the title of the book was supposedly taken from a high level German military report sent to Berlin in the last few days of the war.
I have seen the original film from 1931 at least 3 times and the coloured version from about 1979 once or twice. I read the book in English about 40 yrs ago, and in German recently. The story haunts me. This is a must read.
Incidentally, the book was published in 1929. In the following years it was denounced by the Nazis in Germany as being disrespectful of the gallantry and heroism of the German Army. At the same time, the German Communists denounced it as showing that the German field soldiers who were exposed to such horrendous conditions should have mutinied against the Kaiser.
Such a moving novel I went on to read the sequel.
Eye opening perspective on the universality of man and war.
One of my all-time favorites.
Helps to see the oppositions side of war.
A classic work abour life in WWI trenches, written by someone who was in them.
Great read and I didn’t realize it was written from the german soldier’s perspective.
I read a lot about WWII, but wanted to learn more about WWI, the Great War. I liked that it was told from the German perspective and showed that indeed no matter what side of the war you were on, it was hell. Very little history, simply the realities of war. A quick read.
Powerful prose
Sears
One of the best books written about The Great War.
One of the great anti-war books of all times. Written about the ‘stalemate’ in the trenches of WWI, this book is still pertinent today, at a time when we seem to forget the impact of war.
This book is a bleeping masterpiece. It is so matter of fact in describing the horror of trench warfare and the mental, emotional, and physical destruction it visited on the young men it follows that it is quietly harrowing. Yet once in a while the narrator’s voice rises into gorgeous, yet horrible, poetry. Magnificent, and a brilliant translation by A.S. Wheen.
a real classic. Should be read
I think Erich Maria Remarque captured the essence of war.It was tragic that the German Soldier was killed. It also, presents the idea to young soldiers not to trust anyone at anytime or you can lose it all.
One of my favorite books of all times.
This book is very well written. Literature at its best. Don’t breeze through this book. Enjoy the descriptive prose.